Clover Park School District Board Public Comment

Clover Park School District is a district near Tacoma, Washington that serves 12,000 children. It is near, and has schools on, the Joint Base Lewis McChord. More than a third of children are military dependents, and thus highly mobile. The district updated their Strategic Plan with several goals, one of which referenced military students and students with disabilities: 

"Goal 2 aims for the district and schools to more directly engage with families to ensure all subgroups at a school are properly served. This goal emphasizes elevating student and family voice in decision-making and building a sense of belonging among everyone in the school community."

In working with the district, I determined that improving communication would improve school service and family engagement. I provided my public comment to the Board on September 9, 2024. The text is below, and my public comment begins at 31:42 of the CPSD Board meeting on September 9, 2024.

My Public Comment

Good evening, esteemed board members. My name is Shannon Sankstone, and I am a non-attorney special education advocate, and the owner of Advocacy Unlocked. I empower parents to advocate for a FAPE for their children with disabilities. Thank you for allowing me to provide my public comment, and thank you for your service to our children.

As you know, IDEA emphasizes parent participation and written communication in the education process. Additionally, it mandates that parents have access to necessary information to effectively advocate for their children. However, the Clover Park School District falls short of these expectations.

The district's website lacks easy access to the student code of conduct, comprehensive special education policies, isolation and restraint policies, and, most importantly, email contact information for relevant professionals. This absence of information creates significant barriers for parents. 

Although phone numbers are provided, email addresses— necessary for maintaining clear, documented communication, per IDEA—are conspicuously absent. I, personally, have spent over three hours searching for a principal's email information. This hinders effective dialogue, places undue burden on parents, and leads to real and detrimental impacts on students because parents do not know their rights and the district has provided obstacles, not access, to resolving issues. 

The solution is straightforward. I ask the Board to update the website to include:

3. Procedural Safeguards: IDEA states that school districts can provide procedural safeguards on their website. I encourage Clover Park School District to take this action, in alignment with other districts, such as Olympia School District.
4. Special Education Policies
5. Email Addresses for Professionals

I know that Washington regulations only require school districts to provide procedural safeguards to parents once a year, but IDEA does allow for this to be posted on a school district's website. By making these updates, Clover Park will align with IDEA and nearby school districts, and encourage positive school community relations.

Thank you for hearing my comment, for your attention to this matter, and your service to our children.