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Special‑education advocate tells board caseloads and timeline misses put services at risk
Summary
In public comment Sharon Saroff urged the State Board to ensure district accountability after citing long special‑education evaluation delays, high caseloads for speech and language therapists, and alleged misinterpretation of least‑restrictive environment rules.
During the public comment period of the Maryland State Board of Education meeting, Sharon Saroff spoke about special education concerns she said she is observing across the state, particularly in Baltimore County, Howard County and Anne Arundel County.
Saroff said clinicians are serving “case loads of record high numbers,” and that she knows speech and language therapists with caseloads she described “as high as 30 students.” She told the board she has seen parts of psychological evaluations used in place of full psychological evaluations and alleged that some school systems have “a blatant disregard for federal timelines,” with timelines “that are 3 months overdue.”
She also raised concerns about misapplication of least‑restrictive environment principles, saying some systems interpret the requirement by moving students to a corner of the general education room and calling that inclusion—“outside gen ed,” she said, “No, it's not.” Saroff called on the board to act now to hold school districts accountable for compliance.
Board members thanked Saroff for her comments; MSDE staff did not respond during public comment, noting the board takes remarks under advisement.
