Commentary: Sonoma Valley Unified School District’s special education and the bare minimum

If you don’t have a child in special education, you may not understand what it is we are fighting so hard for.

We are fighting for the minimum. The very least that a public school district is required by federal and state mandates to provide.

That’s what an educational mandate is: it’s the minimum required by law.

A school district can always do more, but they cannot do less.

Sonoma Valley Unified School District has for years, by their own admission, failed to meet their mandate — meaning they’ve failed to provide the minimum.

The Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC) was formed by parents with the intent of collaboration with the district to ensure our kids receive the minimum. It worked for a while. Then the district refused to collaborate with us this year. This left us no other option but to fight for our children to receive the minimum and the protection of their civil rights.

The burden of doing this falls on a group of parents who are already providing 24/7 care for our disabled kids, who often have full-time jobs of our own, who have Independent Education Plan meetings where we endure retaliation, gaslighting and intimidation. Parents who are pushed into this shame pit being made to feel like our kids are a financial burden on the district, when all we’re “demanding” is the minumum mandated by law, which the district receives federal funds for.

Imagine for a moment, if you will, being hated so much for expecting and demanding the minimum, that a superintendent and school board trustees allegedly have a secret meeting over steak and wine in an expensive steak house and conspire against you and other parents who are just fighting for the minimum.

Imagine that.

Imagine that when they get caught and you call it out, they continue to launch attacks (often very personal) against you and the other parents.

Simply because you fought for the minimum that they are required to provide.

Imagine fighting for the least amount of your child’s civil rights and being made out to be the unreasonable party in this fight.

That’s what we are dealing with.

That’s what this is about.

Parents fighting for their children to have the least that is required of a public entity paid with tax dollars to provide our children with something they have the absolute right to have.

We hope to find support in this fight for the minimum, beginning on Thursday, Feb. 10, at the SVUSD school board meeting. Other ways to support this cause include emailing the SVUSD trustees demanding they meet their minimum and stop parent-silencing tactics and of course sharing our message with your community.

As Brené Brown wrote, “Daring leaders who live into their values are never silent about hard things.”

Celeste Winders has four students who have attended Sonoma Valley schools, and is a professional special education advocate.