The Georgia Department of Education is scrutinizing how City Schools of Decatur identifies students for special education services because of the system’s history of over-identifying Black students for these services.
“Currently, the City Schools of Decatur is under state oversight for our disproportionate identification of Black students, specifically, for special education,” CSD Superintendent Dr. Gyimah Whitaker said during the Dec. 10 school board meeting.
The problem has been going on for several years, a district spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for CSD said the district is not under investigation but is receiving targeted support from the Department of Education. Decaturish has filed a records request seeking additional information about the oversight the state is providing.
Whitaker said there are a couple of processes the district isn’t doing with fidelity, one of which is Child Find.
“Child Find refers to the policies and procedures in each state that ensure that all children with disabilities, birth through age 21, who live in the state and are in need of special education and related services or early intervention services are identified, located and evaluated,” a fact sheet from GaDOE says.
Last school year, the GaDOE noticed a trend that for seven years, “there has been disproportionate identification of our Black students in special education, particularly in the category of Specific Learning Disabilities,” the CSD spokesperson said. “This means that a higher proportion of Black students in CSD are placed in special education compared to other racial or ethnic groups.”
The Department of Education has done site visits to conduct a root cause analysis, and CSD is waiting for feedback on the targeted support it will receive.
“Significant Disproportionality status is an indication of the equity work that needs to be done in the schools,” the CSD spokesperson said. “The All In Decatur Strategic Plan calls for equity to be interwoven in everything we do.”
CSD is also creating three new equitable outcomes positions. These staff members would move between the elementary schools to help support students and improve the multi-tiered systems of support process. Whitaker said these are not central office staff positions.
“These individuals will help have the key conversations that need to be had from an equity standpoint around students,” Whitaker said at the school board meeting. “It’s some support that is necessary, and because, from an equity standpoint, you should not have the over-identification of special education students, specifically Black students.”
This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.
