Keep Felix oversight,
says court appointee

The special master says state
efforts have deteriorated and
more work is recommend

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

Hawaii's public schools should remain under federal court supervision for another 18 months because of a deterioration in the state's efforts to improve services for special-needs students, a court-appointed special master has recommended.

"I am recommending to the judge that rather than any diminished federal court oversight, there would be continuing oversight at least to the same extent that there has been over the past several years and at least through Dec. 31, 2003," Jeff Portnoy said yesterday.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra has scheduled a Sept. 10 hearing to determine whether the state has complied with federal law and the 1994 Felix consent decree, the court mandate aimed at improving educational and mental health services for special-needs students.

In his report to the court, Portnoy cited the need to replace Ivor Groves, who resigned as the court-appointed monitor of the state's compliance with the Felix decree. "It's a very serious concern to me and another very important reason why I think diminished court overview at this time would be unwarranted," Portnoy said.

Groves said he is leaving because he did not expect to stay on past April 30 and as a result has made other commitments that prevent him from continuing to be the court monitor.

While Portnoy recommended Ezra find that, as of March 31, the state was in substantial compliance to the decree, he also said the current court supervision should continue because of concerns that have surfaced in the months since Groves' April status report.

Portnoy said Groves noted issues raising questions about the state's commitment "to sustain the progress that's already been made." In a June 30 supplemental report to the court, Groves wrote, "Unfortunately, at this time, it appears the conditions specified as being necessary to sustain and refine performance are not being met and there are increasing indicators of deterioration in performance."

Some of the problems that Groves cited include:

>> Progress made in personnel recruitment is in jeopardy.

>> The state Departments of Health and Education are in the midst of major program transitions that include special-needs students.

>> The integrated special education computer information system still has bugs to work out.

Shelby Floyd, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the consent decree, said the plaintiffs' position all along has been that the state was not in compliance.

"I think it's even clearer, looking at the facts, that there was not real compliance," Floyd said. "By the monitor's own analysis there are (school) complexes that haven't met a minimum of 85 percent of kids getting appropriate services and then you have benchmarks that aren't met and still aren't met."