A complaint has been filed on behalf of Arlington parents who say their children requiring special education are not being served as they should.

The issue arises as Arlington public schools have made strides after the state alleged a variety of violations in 2005 and as Mark Ryder, the new director of special education, is reshaping how special-education is delivered.

The complaint dated March 23 was sent to Emily Wood, who works in Program Quality Assurance for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in Malden. It was signed by Trish Orlovsky, who is co-chair of Arlington Special  Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC), a state-mandated parent volunteer group that acts as a resource to parents of children with disabilities in the Arlington schools.

Ryder was asked to comment April 11 and April 16. He responded April 22, and his reponse will be published in full.

Titled "Possible Procedural Violations filed on Behalf of children from Arlington Public Schools," the letter says, in full:

"Based on input we have received from parents through phone calls and in communication on our confidential listserve, we believe we have received enough sufficient concerns for the Special Education PAC to file a complaint to the DOE over possible procedural violations.

{mosimage}"Other district issues for the past year include the following. The issues include:

"1. Removal of and changes to programs, personnel, and services for the language-based students in grades 7 & 8 at Ottoson middle school during this school year, without parent notification (prior written notice) and outside of team meetings.

"2. Progress reports not provided to students on IEPs at Ottoson Middle School, this school year, along with regular progress reports.

"3. Students in co-taught program removed from classroom without parent notification (prior written notice) and without conducting a team meeting to discuss change of services/placement.

"4. Elementary Student in the Dallin Elementary School therapeutic program did not receive academic support specified in IEPs  followup.

"5. Students at Bishop School who were to receive OT [occupational therapy] services in small group did not receive most sessions of this related services in the past year in 08/09.

"6. Student[s] who were to receive speech and language services at Hardy School did not have a SLP  [speech-language pathologist] on staff to provide services in first term of this school year.

"7. Parents at Hardy School were not informed of the laps in services (written notice is required by law) and no information was provided to parents about how they could access providers to satisfy services required by student IEPs.

"8. Social skills and pragmatics provided by AYCC [Arlington Youth Consultation Center] in all elementary school in the district offer few if any services in September and June, and a large gap in the winter and spring that coincide with the college academic schedules, which does not match the public school calendar in Arlington.

"9. PT [Physical therapy] sessions in all elementary schools miss more than reasonably allowed number of service days due to one PT serving 7 elementary schools and also needing to attend team meetings at all schools throughout the year.

"10. At Ottoson Middle School, Special ed teacher removed from Academic Support classroom, with an aide left to provide instruction for students on IEPs (grades 8)

"We will ask as a remedy for the violations (if found to be of substance) to be arranged with each family involved, upon mutually agreed schedule, the following:

"1. Compensatory services for all academic instruction that was removed or altered for all students involved at OMS [Ottoson Middle School].

"2. Professional development from properly trained presenter from the Federation for Children with Special Needs for all OMS staff in the requirements of team meetings and involving parents as members of the IEP [individual education plan] Team, requirements for providing progress reports.

"3. Professional development and training for a credentialed outside agency such as the Federation for Children with Special Needs, prior written notice when the district proposes to change the services of any child on an IEP.

"4. Compensatory related services for above items involving PT, social skills and pragmatics and counseling provided by AYCC."

Copies of the letter were sent to Ryder, Kathleen Bodie, interim superintendent; and Denise Burns, then chair of the School Committee.

{mosimage}This story was first published April 13, 2009, and has been updated since then.