Isolation and injuries: Parents say school autism program plagued by problems

Victoria Rojas' son Diego, 12, arrived home from school with a black eye in November.

Cynthia Howard's son Carter, 10, came home with what looked like carpet burns.

Melissa Shields' daughter Lily, 12, was physically assaulted by a bully.

Brandon Valdez's son Jeremiah, 8, had a large cut on his foot that was covered in blood one day, and an "oozing" scratch down his neck another. When Valdez inquired about the incidents, school officials claimed its records showed somebody had reached out to him about it, he said. They hadn’t.

April Hines' son Ralph, 11, had straight lines of bruising across his leg.

“Each one of them has come home with some sort of damage," Hines said. “My son is damaged, and I'm just supposed to take it.”

Six families said their children in Peoria Unified School District's autism program came home with mysterious bumps and bruises in late 2022 and throughout 2023 that officials at Kachina Elementary School in Glendale left unexplained or unacknowledged. Those parents accuse Peoria Unified of changing reporting procedures so incidents go undocumented, having understaffed classrooms that led to student injuries and dismissing their concerns. Staff members, meanwhile, told The Arizona Republic children are not safe in the program and problems have been longstanding.

"They can't admit they have a problem within the program," Howard said. "It's been detrimental to our child."

Because autistic children are sometimes nonverbal, their families rely on the adults in the room to communicate when something goes awry. Otherwise, they are left to their own imaginations.

Peoria Unified leadership takes accusations of physical harm seriously, spokesperson Danielle Airey said. The district has found no credible information that children were abused or mishandled by employees despite "at least eight meetings with parents and staff from Kachina," Airey said.

Airey said due to threatened litigation, no other district employee could comment.

What the parents see as Peoria Unified's persistent and potentially endangering practices, followed by what they feel are inadequate responses from district leaders, have prompted them to flee the district and solicit outside help.

Three families that spoke to The Arizona Republic have transferred their children out of Peoria Unified's autism program, with two leaving the district for a private school. A fourth parent has been trying unsuccessfully for months to transfer her son and has engaged the help of federal education officials. Three other families that remain are pleading for transparency about what's going on in the program.

School's new incident reports leave gaps, staffers say

Peoria Unified's autism program, ARISE, serves more than 300 students across seven campuses. About 50 attend Kachina. ARISE students are placed in separate classrooms from students without autism.

Peoria Unified changed the structure of the ARISE program several times in recent years, sometimes mixing students with all levels of need and, at other times, splitting them into groups of similar need. Airey did not respond to a question about how students are currently placed within the program.

Five people who work at Kachina and asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation said recent procedural changes introduced barriers to student safety.

The Kachina staffers decried a change to how the school tracks physical incidents, which they said limits who is allowed to document injuries or contact families. Earlier this school year, administrators directed staff, including nurses, to stop filling out a “dated, school-created form” on paper that required follow-up from both the school nurse and an administrator before a report was sent home to families.

That form was replaced by a document that may only be filled out by teachers and administrators, cutting nurses out of the process and restricting other employees' ability to report physical injuries. The form states it “is only applicable if the behavior was dangerous in nature to the student or those in their environment" and that parents should be contacted only if the "team" deems it necessary. The "team" is not defined.

Nurses still document injuries if a student is sent to their office. They enter notes into the district’s digital system, but nurses may no longer contact families directly.

Employees said the reporting changes leave some incidents unreported.

Airey said the district's practice for documenting injuries has not changed.

In multiple emails to Kachina Principal Austin Chandler, parent Howard challenged the reporting change and said families were being “met with resistance or indifference” when they spoke up. Howard said classroom incidents were leading to "severe injuries" and allegations of abuse were not properly investigated.

The principal told Howard he did not believe the program operates under unsafe conditions or with inadequate support. In an Oct. 27 email, Chandler said he welcomes parental feedback.

“In some instances, however, the feedback is not well-founded, is based on unsubstantiated rumors and faulty assumptions, or results from differences of reasonably held opinions about what is needed or appropriate," Chandler wrote. "Such scenarios do not reflect indifference or improper resistance."

Understaffing leads to injuries, parents allege

Valdez’s son Jeremiah requires supervision via one-on-one support throughout the school day, according to his individualized education program. An IEP is a legal agreement describing what services a child's parents and school officials have decided the student must receive.

That’s why Valdez was perplexed by a string of injuries that went unnoticed, or at least unreported.

“He started coming home really upset. I started noticing a lot more marks on him and bruising, and he seems to be more scared of stuff,” Valdez said. “Every single time I ask about one when I call, they have some far-out story that didn’t make sense.”

When Valdez said he called Kachina about bruising on Jeremiah’s face, the school said another student had punched Jeremiah because he refused to let go of her lunch bag. Had a one-on-one assistant been present, Valdez said, those injuries would never have happened. The school should have contacted him regardless, he said.

“Anything to the head — a kid falls and smacks his head, it looks like he could have hit his head — I think parents should know,” said Michelle Downie, who worked as a board certified behavior analyst for Peoria Unified from 2014 until 2022.

It is not an administrative best practice to restrict reporting duties to certain employees or limit the types of incidents that are reported, she said.

Injuries among autistic students aren’t all that unusual. Some kids lack spatial awareness and might cause harm by walking into classroom objects or bumping into other students, Downie said.

But if injuries go undocumented, however innocent they might be, parents could fear sinister causes. Downie attributed underreporting in part to insufficient staffing at schools on the whole.

“Nobody sees it because there’s not enough eyes on the kids,” Downie said. “And that’s a shame because if public schools staffed their classes better … we would see so much improvement, so much better outcomes.”

In an October email to Chandler, the Kachina principal, Howard accused the school of reassigning one-on-one aides to support entire classrooms, “effectively breaching” students’ IEPs. Multiple staff members corroborated Howard’s accusation, saying instructional assistants this year were told to stop supplying one-on-one support due to short staffing.

Chandler rejected such claims in a response email to Howard: “It is inaccurate to suggest that there is broad failure to meet the service needs of students in the Arise program. To the extent that staff turnover may leave the school temporarily unable to provide a particular service in a specific instance, the school will offer compensatory services.”

Appropriate special education staffing levels depend on the needs of the students in a given classroom, experts said. The district declined to say how many students require one-on-one support and how many employees work in one-on-one capacities, citing the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA governs parental rights over the release of their children’s education records.

'I will never let him go back'

Sandy Zelenka said she is “scared to death” her son Levi might be sent back to a Peoria Unified school.

Public school districts must provide every resident student a free and appropriate public education regardless of disability status. If students' districts are unable to meet their needs, they must field the costs of transferring students elsewhere.

That's what happened to Levi. But when Levi's IEP team assembles each year to discuss his placement, they suggest returning him to an ARISE program, Zelenka said. And each year, Zelenka fights to keep him out.

In 2019, when Levi was in second grade, he cried uncontrollably on his way to Paseo Verde Elementary, another ARISE school, his mother said. She knew something wasn’t right, she said.

Her fears were confirmed by an assistant she said took her to a small, unfurnished, uncarpeted room “no bigger than a closet.”

Zelenka said the assistant told her that’s where staff had been putting Levi for extended periods of time after placing him in physical restraints.

Zelenka documented the room with photographs and threatened legal action.

As she advocated for Levi, she learned more that concerned her, including finding out from other parents of instances where Levi was carried by staffers, she said. In an email exchange, Levi’s teacher said she “was just made aware” of an incident that had occurred more than 48 hours earlier.

Peoria Unified transferred Levi to a private school in 2020.

“This child has been through hell,” Zelenka said. “I will never let him go back.”

Shayna Wofford, a former ARISE program teacher and a board certified behavior analyst, said she regularly voiced concerns to administrators that classrooms lacked appropriate support for students.

“These kids are not getting a quality education,” said Wofford, who often advocated for her students to receive transfers. Administrators "were very aware of the situation. The problem that I found is they're only aware when they are about to get sued.”

Wofford said there was an incident in her classroom at Marshall Ranch, another ARISE program school, where an assistant dragged a child across the floor by the arm. Wofford immediately contacted her administrator, who removed the assistant from her room. That assistant continued to work at the school in another classroom.

Administrators let problem staffers stay on because it's tough to hire a replacement, Wofford said.

“We have many educated teachers that do things that are unethical, but what is the consequence? Because where are we going to find another teacher? Where are we going to find another assistant? ... That’s their mentality, but it can’t be,” Wofford said. “We could be picky. We should be picky. These are children's lives that we’re dealing with here.”

Wofford said district hierarchy dissuades staffers from questioning the administration's decisions about employee discipline. She left the district in 2020 after a decade and now works in special education in Virginia.

Airey, the Peoria unified spokesperson, said an employee found to have harmed a child may face termination or consequences from law enforcement, depending on the situation.

In response to The Republic’s request for information on the number of special education students Peoria Unified sends outside the district and the cost associated with those transfers, the district stated it “does not have any students that are sent to other schools due to their accommodations not being met.”

In addition to Zelenka's son, The Republic spoke to another parent who said her child with autism attends a private school paid for by the district.

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Peoria Unified withheld student records from parents

Multiple employees allege the district is purposefully hiding records from parents because they prove Kachina failed to meet the needs of students with autism. One employee told Howard to file a complaint with the Arizona Department of Education.

Airey said Kachina lacked a speech therapist for one quarter of the 2021-22 school year, but parents were offered compensatory services to make up for the lapse. Nineteen parents accepted that offer, she said, and four parents declined. Howard, Rojas and Hines said they never received any offer at all.

“We are grateful that it was only the start of the school year that we were without (a speech therapist), and that we were able to offer the compensatory services,” Airey said.

Peoria Unified records obtained by The Republic show that for six months of the 2021-22 school year, no one was billed for providing speech therapy to Rojas' and Hines' sons, suggesting the students did not receive any of their required speech minutes. They went two additional months with fewer minutes than promised that year, the records suggest.

In an October email to Principal Chandler, Howard requested copies of her son Carter’s IEP, the services he received that year and the types of therapies and number of minutes he received the previous two years. At Chandler’s suggestion, Howard submitted an official parent record request form on Oct. 16.

Emails show school and district employees passed Howard from one individual to the next as she attempted to obtain copies of her child’s records. One employee told Howard she had those documents readily available but could not release them without district approval, emails show.

More than three months after her initial request, Howard was instructed to instead fill out a public records request. That Feb. 1 request is still pending.

And Rojas, who made her first request in November, said she had yet to receive all of her documents.

Her advocate, Elizabeth Ashline, supported those claims. Ashline is a special education teacher and adjunct professor at Alliant International University who is assisting Rojas to ensure fair treatment at IEP meetings.

"It makes me think that they're trying to hide something, that they don't want what's going on out there to the public or to the parents," Ashline said.

The district disagreed. In a March 5 email, Executive Director of Exceptional Services Lori Garcia told Rojas all of the records from her initial request were provided in December.

“I reaffirm that the District has operated — and continues to operate — on student-centered principles, and remains committed to complying with its legal obligations in working through points of disagreement and conflict,” Garcia’s email stated.

Under FERPA, schools may not take more than 45 days to fulfill a parent’s request for their child’s records. Schools can use that 45-day period to redact information as necessary if documents mention other students.

Rojas made her initial request more than 100 days ago. And more than 160 days later, Howard is still waiting for her son's records.

“It’s just very hard to take their word. Because if they wanted the best for Diego, then why haven’t they done that simple thing of giving me my records?” Rojas said. "They are hiding something. They don’t want the truth to come out.”

Months later, parents still seek answers from school district

Rojas removed Diego from Kachina after his black eye. She has been pushing the district to transfer him ever since, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is now investigating her case after failed attempts at mediation.

Kimberly Peaslee, a special education consultant, said parents with concerns about the treatment of their special education students should first approach school leaders. Start with the principal, she said, then contact the district's superintendent or special education director. The special education director is the person most responsible for a special education program's success, she said. Peaslee is a past president of the Arizona Council for Exceptional Children, a professional association dedicated to improving education for special needs and gifted students.

Read the document: U.S. Department of Education's letter to Victoria Rojas on Peoria Unified

Should working with school leaders fail, as some parents say it has in Peoria Unified, there are several routes for outside intervention, Peaslee said.

Raising Special Kids, a nonprofit group that supports families of students with disabilities, partners parents for free with an experienced advocate who can help them resolve conflicts.

Parents can also elevate their concerns to the Arizona Department of Education's Office of Dispute Resolution and the Office for Civil Rights. Both can launch investigations, often including site visits and interviews. The Office of Dispute Resolution investigates procedural violations of the federal law outlining special education requirements. The Office for Civil Rights investigates allegations of discrimination.

Diego's last day at Kachina was more than four months ago.

“I can’t send him back to school knowing he’s not safe,” Rojas said. “I would like answers about what happened.”

Howard pulled Carter from Kachina in October after his teacher resigned over what Howard said was a lack of support in her classroom. The Republic could not reach the teacher for comment.

Peoria Unified transferred Carter to a private school in December, where he’s thriving today, his mother said.

Shields pulled Lily at the same time after the teacher who resigned informed her of two physical bullying incidents that went undocumented.

The district transferred Lily to a new school outside of the ARISE program, where she was named choir student of the month in March and celebrated at a school assembly. At Kachina, she wasn't allowed at assemblies, Shields said.

But Lily's new school is still within Peoria Unified, a district that breached her mother's trust.

“Every morning I have a little breakdown letting Lily go to school because I don't trust them,” Shields said. “It hurts so hard to know ... that these people in their lives who are supposed to be trusted have hurt them.”

Hines said she just wants her son to be happy and his basic needs fulfilled. Valdez said he’s been worn down to the point where he no longer asks questions.

“It’s just been a constant — every year, every semester — battle with them,” Valdez said.

Peoria Unified maintains parents have brought no credible concerns to its attention.

Reach the reporter at nicholas.sullivan@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Isolation, injuries: Parents say autism program plagued by issues