Nahant parents fed up over SPED

NAHANT – Parents are alleging a conflict of interest exists in the Special Education program at Johnson Elementary School, which led to some children being deprived of services.While some parents claim their children went without required services, it has been alleged that SPED program team leader Ann Haskell’s child is receiving individualized attention.As team leader of the SPED program, Haskell is responsible for developing and implementing the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for her own child, as well as those of other children.Michelle Kourkoulis, whose child is in the same SPED class as Haskell’s child, alleges Haskell made sure her own child received SPED services and neglected the needs of other SPED children.”Her child supposedly requires one-on-one services every day,” Kourkoulos said. “Her son was in the same class as my son last year. Her kid got one-on-one services every day but my son, who is supposed to get 30 minutes of one-on-one services a day hasn’t been getting them. My son has been on a full IEP since second grade and my child isn’t getting the services the school is supposed to be providing according to his IEP.”A former Johnson Elementary School teacher, who had the Haskell and Kourkoulis children in his classroom last year, confirmed aide Gayle Billias was assigned as a one-on-one aide for Haskell’s child daily for 80 percent of the day. The former classroom teacher said the remaining 20 percent of the aide’s day was spent on lunch duty and her own lunch break. He said Billias did not work with other students and also confirmed other students in the class, who were on IEPs did not receive one-on-one classroom aides in accordance with their IEPs.Calls to Billias, Haskell and Superintendent Joseph Lisi were not returned.Kourkoulis said not providing services to SPED students and the alleged conflict of interest is just the tip of the iceberg. She alleges the SPED department engaged in fraudulent activity.”These people are supposed to be educating and looking out for my son,” she said. “Instead they are lying. Haskell told me Gayle (Billias) was providing services for my son so I asked for a log and Gayle (Billias) never signed it because she didn’t provide services for my son.”Kourkoulis said she was in a meeting with school officials when Billias was called into the room and asked to sign off on the log by Haskell, which would state she provided services for the Kourkoulis child.”She said she would not sign it because she said she never sat with my child,” Kourkoulis said. “Haskell is writing progress reports on kids she never saw and she is asking aides to sign documents saying they provided services to kids that they didn’t provide. It’s criminal.”School Committee Chairman Jim Devereaux declined to comment on the alleged conflict of interest, but the state Department of Education has taken notice of the issues with the SPED program at Johnson Elementary School.According to a recent DOE mid-cycle report issued by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Nahant school district has resolved some non-compliance issues since its last review, but many problems have not been corrected.”Where the district has failed to implement its Coordinated Program review Corrective Action Plan, the department views these findings to be serious,” the report states.According to the report, the district failed to provide services outlined in individualized education plans (IEP), changed services some students were receiving without conducting a complete evaluation and failed to provide proper documentation.”Student records and interviews indicate that several students have IEP services that are not being provided with the frequency and duration specified in the IEP,” the report reads.