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Council of Elders representative urges systemic reforms to special education in HCPSS
Summary
A public forum speaker representing the Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County urged the Board to pursue systemic change in special education, citing longstanding concerns about compliance, nepotism, and the need for broad community input and stronger IEP oversight.
At the public forum portion of the meeting, Twanda Brown, speaking on behalf of the Council of Elders of the Black Community of Howard County, urged the Board to take systemic action on special education services and compliance.
Brown said the issues raised earlier by other community groups are not new and cautioned that personnel changes alone "will not resolve these issues." She asked the Board to ensure that any review or reform efforts include a broad set of community stakeholders and to use compliance tools so that individualized education program (IEP) decisions are applied fairly across the district.
"We would like to ask this board to provide support regarding changes to how special education is done, to make sure that we are in compliance for IEPs across the board, not just folks that have connections or know the right people or voice their opinion, but everybody," Brown said.
She also urged the district to consider systemic practices used in prior administrative transitions, including reapplication of staff when appropriate to match personnel to roles and to review alleged nepotism and placement concerns raised by community members.
Board members did not take action on the comments during the public forum; Brown's remarks were recorded as part of the public record and the Board acknowledged receipt of community testimony.
