Parent tells Whitehall-Coplay board her son faces ongoing barriers in special education

Laurie Ann Feynill addressed the Whitehall-Coplay School District Board of School Directors during public comment on Oct. 27, saying her son, who receives special-education services in the district, has ‘‘been facing barriers in this district for quite some time.’'

Feynill said she has repeatedly encountered a ‘‘tug of war’’ with the district over services and described classroom situations in which ‘‘there might be another complex barrier’’ in student groupings that leave her son unable to follow or understand instruction. She raised a specific concern about how assessments are handled: "A lot of them are telling me they're not going over their work with them. So how would you feel as a parent if you don't know where your kid is struggling to see why are they getting that wrong on a test?" Feynill said she also asked whether quizzes and tests could be sent home for parents to review and that requests have been refused.

"My son has been stuck at a certain level for his learning. And they're downright stuck and there's no improvement," she said. She closed by saying the process is a "hassle" and thanked the board for listening.

The board's public-comment procedure (policy 903) was read into the record before speakers were called. The meeting transcript shows the board did not respond with a public, on-record policy change to the items Feynill raised during the meeting; subsequent district action was not announced on the record.

What was said at the meeting is recorded here. The transcript does not specify any immediate administrative directives, investigations, or timelines resulting from Feynill's remarks. For clarity, the district acknowledged multiple new and reassigned special-education staff later in the meeting but did not explicitly connect those hires to Feynill's public comments during the Oct. 27 meeting.