Message from the Director of Special Education

In 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, better known at the time as Public Law 94-142, to change what was clearly an untenable situation. Despite compulsory education laws that had been in place nationwide since 1918, many children with disabilities were routinely excluded from public schools. Their options: remain at home, or be institutionalized. Even those with mild or moderate disabilities who did enroll were likely to drop out well before graduating from high school.

We’ve come a very long way since that historic piece of legislation was passed thirty-three years ago.  Today, in the Moorpark Unified School District, approximately thirteen percent of the student population receives special education services, ranging from consultation by specialists with a student’s regular education teacher to specialized classrooms that provide direct services for the entire school day.  An Individual Educational Program (IEP) Team determines the specific services to be provided to each eligible student on the basis of the student’s unique needs.  The IEP Team is responsible for providing the services that are educationally necessary to help each student make progress in the curriculum.  Parents are integral members of the IEP Team.

Our special education department is committed to working closely with school sites and parents to make sure each eligible student receives necessary services.  Special education is definitely not a “one size fits all” proposition.  We firmly believe that by working together, parents and school staff will agree on programs and services that will help each child with special needs experience success in school.  That is our goal as a department and as a special education staff.