KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
The Kansas City School District is facing criticism for its services to special needs children.
Three groups say special needs students are falling through the cracks.
This comes two years after the Kansas City School District stopped sending 50 students a day to Niles Prep School. Parents of former parents are reportedly claiming that the district is inadequately helping students deal with their behavioral, mental and emotional issues.
Andrea Flinders, head of the local teachers union, says the district is not serving the students properly. She said these outside programs helped children adjust and now, in the Kansas City School District, suspensions are piling up.
"When you have one or two kids in your classroom constantly disrupting, that is taking away from the instructions and all the children in the classroom," she said.
The school district emailed a response to KCTV5. It did not directly address the concerns.
The district said it has a team that addresses each child's special needs so that special needs students are mainstreamed. The goal, the district said, is to provide the necessary support and services.
"At such time as those intensive services are deemed to be insufficient to appropriately educate the child within their home school, a more restrict (sic) setting may be considered and offered as an appropriate placement," according to the statement.
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