Socorro school district defends controversial special education program changes

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Socorro School District (SISD) responded to critics of its changes to its special education program. The District had transferred special education clerks to other departments, prompting backlash.

"It was determined that some of the duties they were performing, work [that] should have been performed by some of our professional staff," James Vasquez, Deputy Superintendent at SISD, told KFOX14 about the decision.

Vasquez said the move freed up space for new special education employees.

"It was also because of that move, we're able to create other positions to provide support to our diagnosticians or specialist speech-language pathologist and so forth," Vasquez said.

The District had also been criticized for removing special education instructors who did not have a bilingual certification when teaching a class with bilingual students. The District said this was Texas Education Agency (TEA) policy.

"If there are bilingual students and they're in that classroom, they also have to be bilingually certified . There have been some cases where we've been able to issue waivers from my understanding, but generally, we want all of our teachers in that type of situation to be certified both in special ed and in bilingual," Vasquez said.

The crux of the criticism SISD received was from parents who believed their children in special education weren't receiving the support they were promised.

"What I would encourage parents to do if they feel that their child is not being properly served, or that their campus is in violation of the student's IEP (Individualized Education Program), I would encourage them to call the campus administration or the campus diagnostician. And set up a [review] meeting. So these issues could be addressed because we always want to ensure that all of our special ed students are receiving the services that they require," said Vasquez.

RELATED: SISD's special education department threatened by staff cuts

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