NEWS

Former Yorktown student threatens lawsuit

Emma Kate Fittes
efittes@muncie.gannett.com

UPDATE: Nick Hiestand called The Star Press Monday to say that the family is not “threatening” Yorktown Schools with a lawsuit.

Hiestand clarified that his family is “currently trying to go back and forth with the school.” The Heistands are working on providing the district a list of requests. Heistand also clarified that a GoFundMe effort launched to help pay for “legal fees” will go toward paying for a lawyer the family hired after Yorktown Schools began bringing legal representation to meetings with the Hiestands.

On Monday, Hiestand said he “can’t say for sure” if he will file a lawsuit if the school system fails to meet the family’s requests.

EARLIER STORY:

MUNCIE — A former Yorktown Community Schools student is threatening a lawsuit against the district.

Sheri and Nick Hiestand feel their son, Grant, was pushed out by the district. Grant has Down Syndrome, but has been taking general education classes since kindergarten. He passed each grade and started Yorktown High School last year with the intention of earning a diploma.

However, Grant failed most of his classes as a freshman, including a special education class that was meant to help fill in gaps and help him in other classes. As a result, the Hiestands said school officials wanted to place Grant in full-day special education classes and work toward a certificate of completion instead of a diploma.

"We don't care what grades he gets," Nick said. "We want him learning."

The family hadn't filed a lawsuit last week, but as of Sunday, their GoFundMe account has raised $2,040 in a couple of weeks toward a goal of $20,000.

Yorktown Superintendent Jennifer McCormick declined to talk about Hiestand because his information is confidential under FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

However, she said at Yorktown Schools, goals are set for students with special needs on an individual basis. A teacher, administrator and parents typically meet and discuss the student's "present level of performance."

This year the district has 259 students receiving special needs services, which is about 10 percent of the student body. Last year, 17 students who received special education services graduated.

"We feel like we have a really good program," McCormick said. "We always have room to grow but we are pretty proud of the program we are providing."

Yorktown is also part of the Delaware-Blackford County Special Education Cooperative. McCormick said if a student needs resources the district can't provide, he or she can go to a different district participating in the co-op, such as Muncie Community Schools.

McCormick said transportation is provided for students with special needs in the co-op, and the schools have even paid mileage for parents to transport their children to those other districts.

The Hiestands chose to take Grant to a nonprofit school for students with special needs in Indianapolis, Worthmore Academy, instead of staying within the co-op. Sheri works for Muncie Community Schools, and they didn't want their son in the same school district, Nick said.

Worthmore Academy costs $9,100 each year. If the Hiestands file a lawsuit, they would ask for Yorktown to pay for the academy and gas.

Worthmore is not accredited by the Indiana Department of Education, or any other agency. School founder and leader Brenda Jackson said the school does not administer the ISTEP+ exam because all of its students have special needs and likely would fail.

Therefore, the academy can only offer students a nationally accredited diploma through an online program, not a state-approved diploma. All of the 20 students at Worthmore are working toward a diploma, Jackson said.

"I don't believe in the certificate of attendance thing," Jackson said.

Both Jackson and Grant's Orton-Gillingham tutor, Mary Binion, said they believe Grant will be able to earn a diploma. Both also said Worthmore is likely a better environment for him with more one-on-one help and a slower pace.

"If you teach him in a way that he can learn it, he will learn it," Binion said.

The Hiestands have had a few families reach out saying they feel a similar situation happened to them at Yorktown Schools. Nick said pushing special needs kids away from a diploma is a larger, systemic problem.

ISTEP+ scores are a big part of how both teachers and schools are evaluated in Indiana. Statewide, in 2013-14 special education students only had a 41.8 passing percentage.

"Any kid that doesn't test well, the school system has to look at them a little sideways," Nick said.

There is little evidence that students with special needs are pushed away from a diploma at Yorktown Schools. Of the 71 students receiving special education services this year, six of them are getting certificates of completion. Last year there were seven out of 72, according to numbers provided by the school district.

There has not been a large spike in the number of students getting a certificate between any grade in the past two years. The number of students in special education at Yorktown has also stayed relatively steady over the past 10 years, fluctuating between 15 and 11 percent.

The Heistands said they are hoping not to have to take legal action. They just want their son to get a diploma. Grant said he hopes to one day go to the University of Indianapolis, where one of his older brothers attends.

Nick said if they don't file a lawsuit, they will donate the money from the GoFundMe account to some organization helping students with special needs.

Contact families & education reporter Emma Kate Fittes at 765-213-5845 and follow @EmmaKate_TSP