High-Achieving Lee School Accused of Rejecting Low-Performing Students

By LESLIE WILLIAMS HALE
Naples News
November 22, 2009 .

Twice this month, the Lee County School Board was bombarded at a meeting with allegations against the principal of one of its top-performing schools.

The Sanibel School, a National Blue Ribbon School, is in many ways the feather in the school district’s cap.

But it is now the subject of investigations by the district’s Office of Professional Standards and Equity, as well as the federal Office for Civil Rights.

The school’s students regularly achieve some of the state’s top scores on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests (FCAT).

Some of the most serious allegations center around the principal of the school. Parents of students and former students at Sanibel say Principal Barbara Von Harten has forced children out of the school because they were either low performers or exceptional students who would work against the school’s stellar FCAT scores.

Von Harten didn’t return a phone message left with her office’s staff last week.

The Office for Civil Rights is responsible for investigating schools accused of violating civil rights laws, including denying legally guaranteed services to students with disabilities.

Both the district and the federal investigation stem from a Nov. 3 board meeting, when roughly 10 parents critical of Von Harten and the school spoke before the board, listing grievances such as poor response to bullying problems, denial of services to exceptional student education (ESE) children and fiscal mismanagement.

Charlotte Harlow, a former employee of the school who performed data entry work in Von Harten’s office, said she became concerned during the 2000-01 school year when Von Harten asked Harlow to pull the names of every ESE student and parent at the school. One by one, those parents came to Von Harten’s office for meetings, which Harlow said she can still recall vividly.

“She very calmly, and collectively told them, in a very matter-of-fact way, as if she was trying to do it to help them, and tell them the best thing for their son or daughter was to go to such and such school, and she would make recommendations,” Harlow said.

Harlow said she believed Von Harten was trying to push those students out because she feared they might drag down school scores.

“I know that’s what her intention was,” Harlow said. “And she certainly achieved that. Almost all of them (transferred to other schools).”

However, a contingent of parents supporting the school also flooded the board chambers during last week’s board meeting, the most recent one, to tell the board that the allegations against Von Harten are the byproducts of “rumors and gossip.”

“I listened carefully to the parents who presented (Nov. 3),” said Jeff Turner, a parent of three, at last week’s meeting. “I respect their right to air their grievances, but they do not speak for me.”

He was one of about 18 people speaking last week in support of the school; roughly as many people spoke critically about the school.

However, the parents who brought their concerns to the board this month say that until they made their public appeal, nothing was done to address their concerns. A group of parents made a similar rash of complaints to the board in 2007.

Superintendent James Browder said the district has conducted one other investigation into Von Harten, but it was closed without any findings against her.

“We have been to the state department of professional standards,” said Claudia Foster, a parent, at the Nov. 3 meeting. “They all say it needs to be addressed locally. We have tried to address it locally, with both the district’s department of professional standards and with the superintendent’s office. The superintendent’s office has known about it since 2002.”

Copies of e-mails and letters given to the Daily News by parents date to 2004, and outline problems to administrators and district staff, including complaints of teachers and administrators not following Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for students.

An IEP is the document that outlines how to best educate a student with a disability, and includes treatments such as speech therapy or intensive reading time. It is developed through the cooperation of teachers, therapists and parents, and allegations of IEPs not being followed typically are addressed by the Office for Civil Rights.

Browder confirmed last week that an Office for Civil Rights complaint had been issued, and district spokesman Joe Donzelli said that the district is investigating some of the allegations against Von Harten as well. However, he said the specific allegations being investigated cannot be identified until after the inquiry is completed.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/nov/22/high-achieving-lee-school-accused-rejecting-low-pe/

naplesnews.com
1100 Immokalee Road
Naples, FL 34110
239-262-3161 Send us an email
2009 The E.W. Scripps Co.