As Oakland Public Schools begins the long process of investigating the possible mismanagement of special education dollars on the new administration building, many taxpayers and parents of special education students are looking for a pathway for expressing their views and opinions.
One such pathway is the county Parents Advisory Committee (PAC) for Special Education.
The Oakland Public Schools website states that the PAC is the only systematic and legally mandated mechanism through which the views of parents with special education students can be presented to the Oakland Schools board. This means that the PAC is an input system through which a variety of viewpoints can be considered when making decisions that impact the education of disabled students.
However, members of the organization find that bringing public viewpoints together and then presenting the ideas to the county board is easier said than done.
According to PAC chairperson Dr. Lynne Tamor, involvement in the PAC is not mandatory, so gathering opinions can be hard; and once viewpoints are garnered, getting the Oakland School Board of Education to listen can be even harder.
“We are the only official parent voice,” said Tamor. “Some district’s take this group very seriously and encourage parent involvement. Other school district’s, well, it’s not even really showing on their radar.”
The primary responsibility of the PAC is to provide parent input for the Intermediate School District’s (ISD) master plan concerning special education. The group can also advise the board on “any matter that the committee deems appropriate to the improvement of special education services within the ISD,” as stated on the website.
Another important responsibility of the committee is to provide information to parents and local school districts. Also, parents and local districts can direct any information for the county board through the committee.
The PAC is composed of two locally selected volunteer representatives from each of the 28 local districts as well as representatives from statewide and national special education organizations and members at large. In total, the committee should have more than 60 members.
“There are 49 members at the moment,” said Tamor. “We probably only have 15 to 20 really active members.”
Currently, when the PAC or parent representatives bring information forward to the Oakland Schools board, they are not given a spot on the agenda, but allowed a few moments during public comment.
“We normally just attend the meeting and voice an opinion during the comment period,” explained Tamor. “It’s very frustrating on every front. We just feel that the board really doesn’t listen to anybody outside of a specific group.”
Locally, Oxford has two representatives on the PAC: Jim Hockenberger and Holly Bartley. “Oxford has some strong representatives who work hard for the district,” said Tamor. “Parents should really use that resource.”
According to Dr. Jerry Oermann, director of special education for Oxford Schools, the district didn’t have any representatives until about four years ago. He added that even today there tends to be a lack of interest in the group because Oxford Schools deals with few special education issues.
“Here I tend to work with my parents well and deal with things locally,” he stated. “I practice advocacy with my parents.”
During the Jan. 14 school board meeting, Hockenberger and Bartley requested a monthly spot on the board’s agenda; however, Superintendent Virginia Brennan-Kyro asked the representatives to continue working directly with Dr. Oermann instead.
“This gives them a network to work through,” she said. “They really work directly that way.”
“(The PAC) has really enhanced our programs and provided a wonderful source of education for our parents.”
In regards to the Oakland Schools use of $18.6 million in special and vocational education funding to build the district’s new $29 million administrative building, Oxford parents have not really voiced an opinion to local officials. “There’s been no increase to a great degree in PAC use,” said Oermann, “however some have come forward.”
He added that most local parents are either not aware of the issue or don’t understand the situation fully so they are not seeking any information.
“From my understanding of the situation, I don’t think Oakland Schools has taken any money away from me,” said Oermann. “As far as I understand from looking at the books, I’ve gotten my share of the tax dollars.”
The PAC is preparing a written document in regards to actions they would like to see the Oakland School board take in relation to district policy.
“We want to see a broader public input channel,” said Tamor. “We really think that there’s an absence of public input in the Oakland School’s meetings.”
Some of the recommendations from PAC include assigning an Oakland Public Schools board member to attend the PAC meetings, changing the board meeting time to an evening hour so more people are able to attend, placing the public comment period earlier in the meeting instead of at the end and forming a permanent budget oversight committee that includes representatives from the 28 local districts.
In addition to their list, committee leaders have also encouraged representatives to open and expand the lines of communication within their districts in whatever manner they choose.
“This doesn’t seem like it would be a time consuming position, but it really is,” said Tamor. “These volunteers are expected to do a lot outside of the group in order to be strong advocates for their districts and their children.”
Officials from the committee have decided not to make any recommendations in relation to the investigation of Superintendent James Redmond.
“We don’t feel that we have enough information on that issue,” said Tamor.
The PAC holds open meetings on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the Oakland Schools administrative building. Tamor emphasized that anyone can attend and participate, but only representatives can vote.
“I encourage anyone to either go through their representatives, come to a PAC meeting, or attend an Oakland Schools meeting – getting involved and getting public participation is what’s important.”