Prompted by the impending exodus of autism specialist Ken Turcotte from the Sumner School District, families of children with autism, autism advocates, and supporters arrived in droves to the May 25 board of directors meeting to encourage careful attention to hiring a qualified replacement.
Turcotte is currently the learning intervention specialist at Emerald Hills Elementary School. He fulfills the role of autism specialist on a part-time basis, but wears several hats, including student evaluations, assisting in behavioral intervention, observation of students, recommending placement for students, and connecting parents with outside services.
“This week I spent a great deal of time speaking with people in the district,” Melanie Roach said. Roach and her husband, Pierce County Councilman Dan Roach, are the parents of a son with autism. “We have to look at what we are replacing.”
Councilman Roach cited the growing number of autism diagnoses as a reason to pay close attention to the hiring of an autism specialist, and for families affected by autism to “work hand-in-hand” with the district in finding a suitable successor to Turcotte.
The Roaches were just the most high profile speakers on an issue that drew impassioned and sometimes emotional support. Nearly an entire third of the Performing Arts Center, where the meeting took place, was commandeered by people who had come showing solidarity.
“‘It takes a village’ is never truer than when raising a child with autism,” private autism specialist Breanne Paul said.
District parent Jill Harsh expressed three specific desired goals for the families at the meeting: first, to advocate the hiring of a replacement for Turcotte; second, to assist the school district in meeting its mission to educate all children in its service footprint; and third, to request a special education advisory board for the district.
Finally, parent Tara Wilson brought her third-grade son Riley as a direct example of the positive effects of specialized learning intervention.
“Some of the behavioral aspects of the condition can be a difficult challenge,” she said. “My son would bite himself, he would hit his head on the wall.
“He is a success story.”
Wilson passed off the microphone as her smiling son walked up to take her place.
“I go to Maple Lawn Elementary,” he said. “My favorite subject is science. Outside school, I like to play Pokemon and with my best friend. Thank you.”
Though no action was set on the agenda to deal with the issue that evening, school board directors praised the evening’s showing.
President Sherm Voiles said it was the best and most well-organized public comment section he had heard.
Director Jeff DeMarre reflected on the importance of quality autism education, citing an adult nephew who hadn’t been brought out of his shell by his school’s special education program.
In other school board news, the board:
• unanimously approved the district’s new bullying policy.
• initially reviewed textbooks for mathematics and a video game design course to be taught at Mountain View Middle School. The board will vote on whether to incorporate the text books at a future meeting.
• unanimously approved support for the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools.
