FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A group of Exceptional Education parents are joining together to speak out against what they say are injustices against their children who have disabilities.
Lola Green said her eight-year-old son with autism’s anxiety peaked after he started getting hit at school.
“It’s so hurtful… It’s like I can’t even keep him safe,” Green said.
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She pulled her son out of his South Fulton school because she said staff didn’t follow a safety plan she had her advocate create for staff to be trained.
“It’s not stressful to just me,” Green said. “It’s stressful to him because he’s trying to regulate.”
Green realized she wasn’t alone. She found a group of other parents who have children with disabilities, who were concerned about their safety in school.
Elizabeth Peterson and her husband ended up pulling their son with autism out of his North Fulton school after his kindergarten year because of rising concerns.
“He wasn’t getting the support that he needed clearly,” Peterson said. “His behavior was getting worse. He wasn’t making progress on any of his goals.”
The Petersons filed a few complaints with the Georgia Department of Education (DOE).
They said their son fell in the hallway and broke his tooth and it wasn’t handled appropriately.
They said their son needed a device to help with his communication and the school took nearly a year to provide it.
They also said changes were made to their child’s educational track, but they weren’t given the opportunity to review the decision.
The DOE sent Peterson a 41-page resolution, which found the school district was out of compliance.
“We were concerned about the overall lack of support and his injury, and they were found out of compliance for not supporting his physical disability,” Peterson said.
The resolution gave the district until September 2024 to revise its procedures and until November to train teachers.
Fulton County Schools released the following statement when Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers asked them about the complaint and compliance with the resolution:
“Fulton County Schools does not comment on individual student matters due to confidentiality, but we remain committed to providing great educational opportunities and experiences for all our students. We take the needs and safety of our students with disabilities very seriously and when a parent shares a concern, we contact the parent(s) to discuss those concerns along with potential solutions. The District also complies with all procedures related to formal complaints and student safety allegations.”
Peterson said she hasn’t been updated.
“We haven’t heard anything from them or from other parents indicating that they’ve made any changes,” Peterson said.
She also said even though her other two children are in Fulton County Schools, she doesn’t think she would send her son back.
“His communication ability is very low, so I’m nervous to put him in a place where we’ve had so many problems,” Peterson said. “He can’t say ‘Hey, this happened to me today,’ so at this point, I’m not sure we’d be comfortable putting him back into Fulton Schools.”
The parents said they are working on creating a Special Education Parent-Teacher Association to help support other Exceptional Education families across the district and metro Atlanta area.
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