Speaking up for special education outreach

Dustin Chandler wanted to establish a way for families to get answers for their questions about special education. He wanted to create a resource for parents who might not know what their rights are in regard to special education. So he created the Special Education Community Alliance.

The group, which first met in August 2016, has received positive feedback in its first year and taken steps to provide more resources to parents, said Chandler, an Inverness resident and parent of a child in special education.

“I think the community reaction has been very positive, and I think the parents in our school systems and especially special education think it’s needed,” Chandler said.

Being a parent of a child in special education can sometimes be a challenge, Chandler said. 

“You’re almost put out on an island, and there’s not a lot of information,” he said. Parents sometimes have to turn to each other for information about Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, as well as what resources are available to their families, especially if they’re unsure who within the school system can answer those questions. While it is nice to hear a positive community reaction, Chandler said it is also difficult to know some parents have had to go through the school system without important answers.

“It’s one of these things to where it feels good to hear that parents are getting benefits from it, but your heart kind of breaks because you know parents have needed more information … during their child’s whole education experience,” Chandler said. “If we can help each other out, that’s what we need to be doing.”

Robin Schultz, a member of the SECA steering committee, had a child in special education while he attended Hoover schools. His son was given an IEP in ninth grade, which helped his educational experience, but Schultz didn’t have many answers.

“When parents have questions but don’t know who to ask, there really are very little resources,” Schultz said. SECA, he said, has helped open doors for parents with children in special education and possibly opened the eyes of parents whose children aren’t in special education.

The group meets every other month, and a steering committee helps select a topic for discussion for each meeting. At those meetings, Chandler said he has had parents approach him to say thank you for starting the group, or say they wish SECA had been established when their children were younger.

“When you’re doing it alone and you feel like you have no help, it’s pretty hard,” Chandler said. “And we want to try to provide a place where they know they have other parents to talk to, they have Claire Moore [with Hoover City Schools].”

Since its first meeting, SECA has formed a steering committee and started to work with Claire Moore, Hoover City Schools’ new director of instructional support. Moore has been extremely helpful at establishing steady communication with the school system, Chandler said.

“The response from them [the schools] has been very, very positive,” Chandler said. “I’m a firm believer that communication is really key to anything, so if we have better communication between special education parents and especially in our schools, you can accomplish a lot of things.”

One change that has come out of communication with the school system is the implementation of Hocus Focus, Chandler said. Hocus Focus is an instructional tool that includes arts-integrated education, and will be implemented in Hoover schools in November, Chandler said. 

SECA also works to make sure its relationship with HCS is not an adversarial one, Schultz said. By maintaining an open dialogue, they are able to discuss potential issues as they come up, and work together on a solution when possible, he said.

“I’m a big believer in working with the schools for the best education experience for all children, so I hope we’re creating an example to where we’re creating … a positive, strong relationship with Claire and Hoover City Schools so that we can work together,” Chandler said.

For more information about SECA, go to facebook.com/SECAHoover.