Carmel Unified officials present special-education trends as parents raise concerns about communication and inclusion

Carmel Unified School District special-education leaders on Tuesday gave the school board a detailed update on enrollment, placements and state monitoring while parents pressed the district for clearer communication, stronger inclusion practices and answers about high teacher turnover at some sites.

The district’s director of special education, Steve Gonzales, told the board the department serves about 318 students with individualized education programs (IEPs) and is monitoring IEP implementation as part of a state compliance requirement that the district will submit by June 30. “We are monitoring it right now, and then we'll be turning it in, by June 30,” Gonzales said.

The presentation included staff and placement data that illustrate the department’s priorities. The district reported roughly 82.4 full-time equivalent special-education staff: about 36 support staff and 18 teachers. Of the students with IEPs, the largest primary category was specific learning disability; other-health-impairment and speech/language impairment were also sizable groups. The board was shown that 76.8% of special-education students receive instruction in the general-education classroom 80–100% of the time, while 14.9% are in the general-education classroom 0–39% of the time.

Why it matters: parents and advocates said those numbers do not reflect their day-to-day experience at some sites. Multiple parents described delays in communication, frequent turnover among special-education teachers at certain schools and safety issues during transportation. David Baird, a parent, said a trusted teacher’s removal left his family and others scrambling for continuity. “Inclusion is not a favor. It's a fundamental requirement under the law as part of providing a least restrictive environment,” Baird said.

Parents asked for specifics the presentation did not provide, including site-level counts of aides, numbers of students placed out of district and how many students with IEPs have been suspended or restrained in recent years. Mary Petso, a parent, read a long list of detailed questions covering transition tracking after graduation, the ratio of students to aides, and which evidence-based reading interventions the district uses.

District response and next steps: Gonzales and newly hired program specialist Julie Ramirez said the department is expanding monitoring and building capacity. Ramirez, who introduced herself as “the new program specialist for Carmel Unified Special Education,” described plans for more site-level collaboration, targeted professional development and work on bias and inclusive practices with outside partners. The district reported work with Stanford University on inclusive practices and said some services that formerly required county placements have been returned to Carmel Unified campuses.

Board direction and staff commitments: board members and staff agreed to increase outreach and transparency. The district said it is: - Considering a local Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for special education and planning recurring parent briefings and “special ed 101” sessions at school sites; - Revamping the special-education section of the district website and exploring multiple communication channels beyond email and phone; - Scheduling more face-to-face, provider-specific meetings (related services, behavior analysts, school psychologists) and school-site visits so board members and stakeholders can see services in action; and - Continuing state-required compliance monitoring (SIM) and IEP implementation reviews the state is auditing.

What was not decided: the item was informational; there was no board vote. Board members asked for regular, reportable follow-ups so the board and public can track changes in access, staffing stability and outcomes.

Context and caveats: Gonzales noted the district’s small size can make percentage-based indicators volatile: a small number of students can change a technical compliance indicator substantially. The presentation flagged an over-identification indicator for autism among multiethnic students that the district and state analysts are reviewing. The district also said it currently has about 40 pending IEPs and reiterated the legal obligation to provide a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Ending: Board members thanked parents for their comments and district staff for the presentation and asked staff to return with more regular updates and concrete metrics on outreach, staffing and inclusion progress.