Report cites
obstacles to meeting
Felix benchmarks

The Sept. 11 attacks are blamed
for the difficulties in meeting
the state's obligations

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

The Sept. 11 attacks have compounded already complicated issues related to recruiting certified special education teachers to meet key benchmarks in the Felix consent decree, a report says.

In his report to U.S. District Judge David Ezra, Felix court monitor Ivor Groves said there are obstacles to meeting the required special education teacher numbers. He recommended that the state and the plaintiffs negotiate a resolution appropriate under "current circumstances."

But a Felix plaintiffs' attorney said she's not about to negotiate anything that will result in special needs children or the law being ignored.

"We negotiated those numbers a long time ago. Those numbers are set by agreement," attorney Shelby Floyd said.

The report submitted to the court this week details the state's progress from Sept. 7, the date new benchmarks were set, to Nov. 1, the deadline the state education system had to meet certain mandates to avert receivership.

While the report says the state still has issues to meet before being released from the consent decree, it also paints a much rosier compliance picture and it doesn't include a recommendation for a receiver.

The consent decree resulted from a 1993 lawsuit filed for special needs student Jennifer Felix. It alleged the state was violating federal law for failing to provide appropriate mental health and educational services to disabled children.

Groves said that hiring a sufficient number of certified special education teachers could prove formidable.

By Nov. 1, the department was supposed to have 85 percent of special education teachers in the state certified but instead it has only 75 percent.

Groves said a national teacher shortage, the Sept. 11 attacks and Hawaii's resulting economic troubles are causing difficulties in recruitment.

People are less willing to make major moves that relocate them from friends and family and the state may not be in the best financial shape to take extraordinary measures to overcome the problems, he wrote.

About 128 teachers contracted by Columbus Educational Services are helping to fill the need, especially in schools with less than 50 percent certified special education teachers, the report says.

Floyd said the Department of Education could have made better choices sooner in how it attacked the recruiting problem.

"There may be benefits to my clients negotiating what additional supports to get in lieu of certified teachers but as far as ignoring the needs of the kids and the law of the land, I don't think we're prepared to do that."

The plaintiffs' attorneys have until Nov. 16 to respond to Groves' report. A hearing is scheduled Nov. 30.