In April 2021, we learned of a non-verbal autistic boy who was physically restrained more than 30 times over a period of two months before his parents were even notified.

Some of these restraints lasted up to 20 minutes and had up to 9 adults present. He was restrained twice on his first day in our district. He was 12 years old.

We then learned of a KLSD special education teacher who “retired” in early 2020 as a result of abusing her non/minimally verbal autistic and disabled students. The abuse includes choking a child, pushing a child into a wall, and locking children in bathrooms as punishment. These children were 5-7 years old.

As a result of these events, we have formed a group called KLSD Special Education Advocacy.

We are a group of over 200 concerned parents (and friends) of children receiving special education services in the district. We are united in our goal of making the district a better place for our kids.

This group has decided to advocate for our children by appealing to the BOE, supporting awareness and positive change, lobbying local politicians, and allying with similar advocacy groups.

We have 5 main goals:

1. An end to restraints and seclusion in our schools, until a major overhaul is conducted at KLSD

2. Cameras in self-contained classrooms where students are non/limited verbal

3. Autism-specific training for staff

4. Accountability and Transparency (including an immediate independent third party review of these two recent events)

5. Disability representation at the OSS level

Dec 16,2021 -KL Times