ROCKVILLE – (WMAL) The Montgomery County Board of Education today is going over a new report aimed at showing the strengths and weaknesses of their special needs program, including policies that are leaving many parents feeling defeated.

“Over one-third of parents thought the decisions were being made about their children before they even walked in the room,” said special needs attorney and parent Lyda Astrove of the mediation process. “Many kids with disabilities are expensive to educate. They’re not the priority of MCPS.”

Astrove called parent involvement “critical” in developing plans for the education of a special needs student. “The groundswell in the disability community is one of frustration with MCPS. Parents are feeling that they’re not being listened to.”

The report indicates MCPS is in compliance with state and federal guidelines for special needs education, though parents say just meeting the minimum requirements is not enough.

“I believe that there’s always room for improvement,” said School Board Member Rebecca Smondrowski, who is also the parent to a special needs child. She requested the audit take place. “I don’t believe that getting services for our children should be so hard.”

She indicated she hears similar concerns of hardships for parents that feel their concerns fall on deaf ears within the school system.

“Frequently, our parents end up going into mediation or disputes out of frustration. I’m hoping through an action plan, we can look at trying different ways to intervene earlier on,” Smondrowski said. “Parents know their children. Parents are our students’ very best advocates. We need to make sure that we’re hearing them.”

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