‘We must do better.’ Kids with special needs excluded at school, Ky. district finds.

After students with special needs were left out of school trips and activities, the Fleming County superintendent has begun “a top-down review of policies and procedures relevant to exceptional children at Flemingsburg Elementary School and across the district.”

“Though the incident in question occurred this week, there appears, from an initial review, to be other instances we also need to review. Unfortunately, this may impact students across the district,” Superintendent Brian Creasman said Friday in a statement on the district website.

Kristy Layne said in a Facebook post that her son Seth, a sixth-grader, was left out of watching a parade where graduating seniors visit the elementary schools before graduation, which included his older brother.

Casey Vice confirmed to the Herald-Leader that her son Jonathon, who is also a sixth-grader at Flemingsburg Elementary, was left out of a video showing the sixth-graders as a baby, and then one in a cap and gown as they graduate middle school.

Layne said on Facebook her son was also left out of a fishing trip., and she told WKYT he was left out of a Lexington Legends baseball game.

She told the Herald-Leader, “Yes he was left out of both trips even after I was told that his name printed on the 6th grade roster for the trips and somehow they say they ‘dropped the ball.’ He is autistic”

“He may not mean anything to them, but to us, he is our world. The struggles he has every day do not go unnoticed to this momma!” Layne said on Facebook. “For him to love school the way he does and to be left out…the only comfort I have is that he does not realize the disregard that he was shown.”

“I will say that kids learn respect and love for individuals with disabilities from the adults around them, and this has certainly fell short of the right way for a school system to acknowledge all students equally regardless of their differences,” Layne said.

Layne said in a message to the Herald-Leader that Seth’s civil rights as a disabled child were violated in that school staff not only excluded him from activities “but they also violated his IEP and his civil rights. “

“He was not taken to the lunchroom with his peers. He was not taken to spend time in the ‘regular’ classroom as he was supposed to. He was kept in the room and only out for bathroom breaks and recess,” Layne said.

Vice said in a message to the Herald-Leader that “no child deserves to be left out especially kids that are left out in so much. ”

She said she has two children, ages 12 and 7, who have Down syndrome.

“My biggest concern is nothing changing and in a few years I get to go through the heartbreak again because once again kids with special needs (were) overlooked,” she said.

In response, Creasman’s statement said he was aware of a situation that occurred at Flemingsburg Elementary School regarding the inclusivity of students with special needs that “goes directly against our mission, vision, and our intensive focus on equitable learning experiences for all students.”

“As Fleming County Schools is a self-reporting school district for incidents such as this, we have already reported this to the United States Office of Civil Rights and the Kentucky Department of Education,” Creasman said.

Other agencies may be notified once the district performs a full review of the situation, he said.

“Excluding any student from any school-sponsored activity or experience, based on learning or physical ability, is not who we are as a school district,” Creasman wrote. “Following a comprehensive review, the district will develop an action plan to better train staff so things like this do not occur in the future. Furthermore, safeguards to protect students will be implemented immediately. As a district, we must do better for our students.”