In 2002, Jessica Day took the stage to accept an award for courage, a value celebrated that year by the Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools.

This year, Jessica’s using courage to stand up to the school district and call for change.

As a teen with cerebral palsy, Jessica, of Prior Lake, pursued her goal to leave the district to attend a school she felt could better meet her needs.

Jessica said Prior Lake High School couldn’t match the opportunities at River Heights Charter School in West St. Paul.Jessica Day, 15, of Prior Lake worked
to change schools this fall.

The sophomore’s decision to branch out was the beginning of a much larger process for her and her family – a process the family spoke out about at the beginning of this school year.

The question of transportation funding to and from her new school hung in the balance.

According to Jessica’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP), transportation was required to meet her educational needs. However, as a student using open enrollment, she had to prove her needs weren’t being met locally.

When her family wasn’t able to resolve the issue at the district level, her father, Thomas, and grandmother, Annelise, placed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Education that led to a hearing request.

Transporting Jessica and lifting her in and out of a standard vehicle was too much for both he and his daughter, Thomas said.

“I just can’t lift her,” he said. “It was too big a strain on her.”

Dan Stewart, supervising attorney at the Minnesota Disability Law Center, said very few complaints reach the hearing process annually.Jessica now gets paid
transportation to and from
her new public charter school.According to the state Department of Education, there were 34 hearing requests in 2006-07 and 39 hearing requests in 2005-06.Putting that in perspective, “There are around 130,000 kids in Minnesota with disabilities,” Stewart said.

Jim Mortenson, due process hearing coordinator for the department, said only a small fraction of requests reach a hearing; most cases are settled.

Jessica’s family did reach a settlement and was reimbursed for transportation costs of $138 a day.

“The general rule is that the district will provide transportation,” Mortenson said. “Schools located outside of the resident’s district can be more problematic.”

Doug Kern, director of special education for Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, said the district makes efforts to meet student needs locally.

“In general, the IEP team looks at if they are able to meet a child’s needs in the home district,” Kern said. “With an IEP, we look at if a student is progressing in goals.”

Kern said he was unable to specifically discuss Jessica’s situation due to privacy laws.

Looking back, District 719 has had eight hearings and 12 complaints at the state level since January 2000, according to the most recent updates on the state Department of Education Web site.Day works with staff with a
project-based learning curriculum
that incorporates various subjects.

In contrast, District 720 in Shakopee has had six hearings and three complaints, and Lakeville has had one hearing and seven complaints since January 2000.

As the family researched how to act on Jessica’s behalf this fall, Annelise said the process was overwhelming.

The amount of paperwork and meetings required to prove Jessica’s need to leave the district was becoming hard on Jessica and the family, she said.

“I don’t think anyone is wanting to do something hurtful,” she said. “It’s just that the system doesn’t allow for anything different.”

Thomas said they decided to pay for transportation when they learned that the process to move Jessica to the other public charter school with state-funded transportation could take months.

Jessica said administration looked to her grades as a sign of whether she was thriving at Prior Lake High School.

“They base that at looking at my grades. I would never, ever in my whole entire life think of failing a subject just to show I’m unhappy where I’m at. I would never jeopardize my grades.

“Education is one of the most important things to me. I love school. I love to learn,” Jessica said.

In the bustling hallways of the high school, Jessica said she wasn’t allowed to walk using her crutches as often as she liked. When she did, she was accompanied by a paraprofessional, which limited her ability to mingle with other students.

“At Prior Lake, it’s just so jam-packed,” Thomas said. “I know she could walk [for that distance] without anything. They just wouldn’t let her. I had to go get a doctor’s note so that she could walk to class without her crutches.”

Jessica said her teachers were overly cautious.

“The teachers don’t trust me and listen to me when I say I can do things,” Jessica added. “I’d get yelled at and told not to do that. Even after you’d send stuff [notes]. No disabled child wants to hear, ‘You’re just going to fall.’”

Thomas said the family has realistic expectations of Jessica’s physical limitations.

“All kids are going to fall, but that’s to be expected,” he said.

Jessica said experiences in physical education classes in the district were another reason for the move.

“I would have an adapted phy ed teacher, but they would make me participate with mainstream gym. They’d make me do [activities] in adapted ways.

“All the kids are against me because the team I play for doesn’t like how slow I am, and the other team laughs at me because I make it so much easier for them,” she said.

Her dad said when report cards came, they impacted Jessica negatively.

“She gets an ‘F’ in the running long jump,” Tom said. “Why can’t they put an ‘E’ for excused or a ‘P’ for pass? She feels like dirt for that,” he said.

In her first days at the charter school, Jessica said the smaller setting allowed her more freedom, and the teachers let her work at her own speed.

“I’m really enjoying my first two days here. They’ve been a relief for me, which gives me a better sense of accomplishment,” she said.

“They trust me like they would another kid,” Jessica said. “I’ve met more people and actually talked to people. I think I fit in a little bit better with the kids.

“I’m able to work without an aide. I write my own journals, papers and stuff. I do everything by myself without having an aide. I just have the help of a teacher.”

Annelise said placing Jessica in a small setting, where she didn’t have to move from class to class, also was more appropriate.

“Geographically, it’s so much easier for someone with motor-skill issues,” she said.

At the charter school, Jessica tackles physical education outside of class by exercising in the pool or taking adapted horseback riding lessons.

When the other students go to the park, Jessica said, she participates at her own pace.

“[My teacher] suggested we go for a walk. That way, I’m still getting fresh air and partially included in being able to go outside.”

Jessica added that she’s being challenged at her new school in class, too.

“Last year, for me, it was just a review of the year before,” Jessica said of her freshman year.

“I wanted to ask for harder words. You’d think if I was getting all ‘A’s  and ‘B’s on my spelling test that they would move me up,” she said. “Last year, I was just fed up with it. I didn’t even try. I’d see the same words given to me on spelling tests repetitively.

“It’s high school. It should be harder. I just didn’t care anymore because it wasn’t a challenge,” she said.

Annelise said Jessica made an effort to make Prior Lake High School work, but she helped Jessica stand up for her needs when it wasn’t a fit.

“Jessica has tried really hard to conform,” Annelise said. “You don’t need added barriers. The mobility issue is major.”

Susan Wayne, parent advocate and trainer with the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER), consults with parents every day so they can understand the processes involved with special education.

“The vast majority of those parents are disputing the provisions or lack of provisions on an IEP,” Wayne said.  “We do quite a bit of mediation to try to get parents and school districts working together.”

“We try to teach the parents how to advocate for their own child,” she said. “Personally, I think the system is extremely complicated. I don’t know that there’s a way around that. It’s a legal process.”

Wayne said parenting a student with special needs is a unique challenge.

 “It puts you into a whole new world,” Wayne said.

Now that Jessica has been at her new school for a couple of months, Annelise said she’s thriving.

“She’s very energized, very motivated. She feels very empowered. She loves it and she’s happy about going to school,” Annelise said.

“It’s really difficult to compare curriculum because this is such a different setting. I don’t suppose all kids would do well with it, but with Jessica, it’s ideal,” Annelise said.

“I’m loving it here,” Jessica said.

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.