The Spotlight Returns to Special Education in Elmbrook

Fairview South in Elmbrook is life-changing for families and children that are able to use it.

Two impassioned parents spoke out at the 11/15/22 Board meeting with concerns about special education. One parent noted a high volume of special education staff resignations over the last year - almost all of them leaving Elmbrook, and only one retiring. Another parent raised concerns with Fairview South, a facility that serves Elmbrook's most vulnerable students, where another district was told students cannot be placed at Fairview South because it is closing.

Fairview South is a facility dedicated to children that do not thrive in the traditional classroom, but can be life-changing for the families and children that are able to use it. Fairview South serves children that are medically fragile, have significant intellectual disabilities or with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Elmbrook community welcomes and supports these children, but it is unclear if senior leadership feels the same way.

Closing Fairview South and not valuing special education staff seems to align with recommendations Elmbrook received in September 2013 from Elise Frattura, who is the co-founder of ICS for Equity. (Elmbrook worked with ICS for Equity from 2012 - 2021; find out more about ICS here.) Frattura's executive summary of her report on special education says "Elmbrook will make a strong effort to serve all students in the schools and classroom they would attend if they did not have a disability." (Excerpt below.) This is the ugly application of seemingly positive terms like equity & inclusion in schools; it means putting kids in general education even if that is not their best learning environment.

These recommendations were affirmed when Tanya Fredrich (Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning) was interviewed for The Inclusion Podcast on 3/8/2019 where she discussed “equitable systems” and implementing inclusion in Elmbrook.

For teachers that may disagree with 100% inclusion for 100% of the kids with IEPs in our district, Tanya states that the conversation with the teacher involves telling the teacher that (at 24:17) ”it might be time for them to think about envisioning their future differently.”

Adding to that, we previously pointed out Glassdoor reviews, especially for special education staff, that echo frustrations. (Pictures below.)

Not only that, graduation rates for children with IEPs have plummeted - going from 95.77% in 2010 to 67.35% in 2019, which is the most recent data from DPI.

These concerns are in stark contrast to the District's stated mission "to educate and inspire every student, to think, to learn and to succeed." Every student means every student. But does senior leadership feel the same? And will Board members actually hold senior leadership accountable?