HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Some parents are not happy after they just learned their school district is shutting down the school where their kids with special needs are thriving.
The parents say the decision is setting their kids up for failure.
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“I don’t want my son going back to a general education school. They can not handle that, mother Cassandra McDonald told Channel 2’s Tom Jones.
“My baby needs this. He needs this,” grandparent Quinteina Harris insisted.
They don’t understand why the Henry County School System is closing down a school that has helped transform their children.
“I am pleading with you to find a way to keep this school intact,” parent Ashleigh Sawyer said.
The parents received a letter from the school system saying their Pre K-5 special needs children would return to their home schools because its contract with the Schools of Scholars program will end after this school year.
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McDonald said her son will have a hard time adjusting.
“He’s not mentally stable to deal with that,” McDonald said.
She says no one could handle her seven-year-old when he was in his home school.
“He was getting suspended multiple times a week,” McDonald said.
Then he moved to the School of Scholars, a specialized program for kids with special needs.
“Because of them, my son is a totally different person,” McDonald explained.
The school district says students will continue to receive support when they transition to their home school. It says it created a mental health and wellness facilitator for each of its 53 schools.
It is in the budget to add nine more support positions, including psychologists and behavioral intervention coaches.
Some of the parents are skeptical.
“My assumption is that the mental health facilitator is not going to be in the classroom in the elementary school,” Sawyer said.
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The parents are pleading with the school system to reconsider its decision.
“Taking this school away from them, taking these teachers away from them, that’s not fair,” McDonald said.
The parents say letting them know the school is closing at this late hour is not helpful at all.
Jones asked the school district why it is ending its contract. He even reached out to a couple of board members. But no one has explained why.
The parents say no one has told them either.
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