Del Norte Unified is launching a new workshop series that urges parents to not only advocate for their special needs child, but be a voice for special education issues at a regional level.
DNUSD’s six-week IEP Empowerment Series starts Feb. 5, Special Education Executive Director Jennifer Armington told Redwood Voice Community News. Its goal is for DNUSD to offer a place where parents can air their concerns about special education issues as well as to arm them with information they need to advocate for their children, she said.
A larger goal is to get parents involved in DNUSD’s Collaborating on Meaningful Parent Advocacy for Student Success, or COMPASS, group. One or two parents involved in that group can then bring Del Norte-specific concerns to the committee advising the Humboldt-Del Norte Special Education Local Plan Area.
“We’re up here and they’re down there, so many of the services feel a little bit disconnected,” Armington said. “We do have a community advisory committee, that’s what SELPA provides, but a lot of time they don’t have a voice at the table from Del Norte.”
Operated under the Humboldt County Office of Education in Eureka, the Humboldt-Del Norte SELPA comprises 32 school districts as well as the Humboldt and Del Norte County offices of education. It serves roughly 3,550 special needs students.
Armington said she hopes the IEP Empowerment Series and potential involvement in COMPASS will empower enough parents and families to take an interest in how policies and practices surrounding special education are developed.
“I know first and foremost it’s about their own child,” she said. “But it’s important to have a voice to support others who (don’t have the) loudest voice.”
The IEP Empowerment Series will consist of six workshops held on Thursdays from Feb. 5 through March 12. There will be two sessions available — an afternoon session with lunch provided and a late afternoon session with childcare and light dinner provided.
The first session will walk parents through the process of obtaining an individual education plan for their child as well as inform them about what their rights are. The second session will focus on student eligibility for special education services and the third session will focus on IEP goals.
The fourth session will focus on behavioral and mental health supports, while the fifth session will touch on academic accommodations and modifications. The sixth and final session will inform parents on how to give and withhold consent as well as how to resolve any potential disputes.
“We hope parents walk away feeling like they have a voice,” Armington said.
The IEP Empowerment Series comes about two years after DNUSD was named as a defendant in a lawsuit the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) spearheaded on behalf of the families of six special needs students against the State of California.
In Olivia R. et al. v. State of California et. al., the plaintiffs alleged that a staffing shortage resulted in their children having to miss school. DNUSD reached a settlement agreement with DREDF and the plaintiffs that included coming up with viable solutions to address the staffing shortage.
On Friday, Armington said that while the IEP Empowerment series wasn’t a direct result of the Olivia R. suit, it is part of her department’s efforts to re-establish trust with the families it serves.
Part of the settlement agreement was for DNUSD to come up with an action plan to ensure that special needs students didn’t lose out on their education because of a staffing shortage, said Armington, who was hired in May 2024, near the conclusion of the lawsuit.
“There’s been so much focus on getting ourselves into compliance as well as doing a lot of professional development to build internal capacity,” she said. “I can’t say we are whole with staffing, but we made a lot of growth in that particular area.”
DNUSD’s action plan has been finalized, Armington said, but the implementation plan is still being developed. The school district has been collaborating with a technical assistance provider, a requirement of the settlement agreement, and DREDF to finalize the implementation plan, she said.
Armington noted that the sixth and final session in the IEP Empowerment Series focuses on alternative dispute resolutions and it may have come about with the Olivia R. lawsuit in mind.
“Our students are with us, especially in our department of special education, 60 days before their 3rd birthday all the way until they’re 22 years of age. Statistically that’s longer than most marriages last,” she said. “It’s important for us to get along. We’re not always on the same page, but it’s important for the benefit of the children that we’re all here to serve to figure out ways that, when we do have a dispute, we can solve it amicably and with the least amount of impact.”
To register for the IEP Empowerment Series, click here. For more information, call Michele Bettencourt at (707) 464-0725 extension 10222.
