‘Relieved and Suspicious’ – Parents of Severely Disabled Students Respond to Removal of Houston ISD Relocation Plan

After two months of contentious meetings, critical news and uncertainty, the Houston Independent School District announced yesterday that students with severe disabilities will remain at TH Rogers Specialty School.

The program is well received by parents who report that their children are making tremendous progress despite often unfavorable prognoses. The district planned to separate them into campuses closer to their homes. That decision was reversed on Thursday.

You might think that the parents feel pure relief. Their feelings are actually more complex.

“I feel relieved, but I’m also cautious,” said Julie Beeson, mother of 15-year-old student Bo Obin.

“I feel relieved,” said Kelly Milner, who continued to fight despite her daughter pulling out of the program last year. “I am suspicious. I am impressed and grateful. And I’m very sad.”

“I still don’t trust HISD,” said parent Jose Sanchez. “That trust has been eroded.”

They feel insecure about the way the process has unfolded since November.

“November 15th is a day I will never forget,” said parent Anitra Washington. “This will go down in history.”

“They sent the letter home in backpacks,” she recalls. “I was just delighted and shocked … it was important to me and it deserved a conversation, not a letter.”

The letter advised that students with severe disabilities would be placed in schools closer to their homes.

“We were stressed, hurt, devastated,” Sanchez said.

District officials cited federal law as the basis for their decision. This requires special education students to be integrated into the general population rather than isolated when appropriate.

This plan was put on hold in December. On Thursday it was the other way around. This time, the parents received an email.

“I actually read it twice,” Washington said. “I really did. I read it twice.”

The post said the district could keep students together at TH Rogers while still complying with the law.

The announcement also came hours after Houston Public Media released a detailed account of the situation. Our report describes a similar move that has already taken place this school year, when the district split the program for deaf students at TH Rogers.

Beeson wants the deaf program to stay at Rogers.

“Most deaf children spoke English as a second language,” she said. “I think the parents were just in survival mode and I really think they were trying to put up a fight. But I think a lot of what they lacked was to let it play out in the court of public opinion. And I think that’s one thing that really helped us was the media, especially NPR, because it wasn’t just dirty laundry. It was, “Let’s go deep and crack the code, help us look behind the scenes.”

HISD Superintendent Millard House II cited parental support as the driving force behind the decision to keep the program at Rogers.

“I am pleased to announce that HISD will not be moving students into the PSI program at TH Rogers following the decision pause before the holidays,” he wrote. “HISD is committed to meeting the TEA requirements for a minimally restrictive environment to keep the program at TH Rogers intact and to better involve our parents and families in decisions that affect our students, now and in the future. The feedback, advocacy and involvement of our community has been critical in achieving this outcome.”

Even after the victory, the parents plan to keep fighting to keep the program at TH Rogers forever.

“I need them to be careful,” Washington said. “Because it’s our lives that you mess with.”

“How can you trust someone who burned you?” Sanchez asked.

In December, Superintendent House said his goal was “to take a break and have as few changes as possible for students going forward.”

So far, this goal has been achieved. A county spokesman told Houston Public Media that “the program will remain at TH Rogers.”