The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

We are parents of children with autism who live and work in the Santa Barbara area. For 15 years, the Santa Barbara School District’s Special Education Department has been ineffective and dysfunctional. Although small groups of parent advocates moved up through the system, they were never able to get a foothold of support from the community and the staff due to fear of retaliation. This all changed in the fall of 2008, when a group of dissatisfied parents banded together to petition the Santa Barbara School Board to make significant changes. 

The initial group of five parents met with representatives from the Autism Society and area board because the school district was out of compliance with their children’s IEPs. After bringing their concerns first to their classroom teachers, then to their site principals, and finally to the Director of Special Education, all to no avail, the parents, assisted by their community advocates, determined to bring their dilemma, respectfully and objectively, straight to the SB School Board during public comment. They simultaneously filed a formal request for an agenda item at the next available meeting, intending to describe to the school board in greater detail many of the violations that were occurring in the Special Education Department.

Coincidentally, the Parents of Special Education co-chairs were attending that very same school board meeting on behalf of one of their members – the mother of a kindergartner with autism – who was enduring a grueling experience at an SBSD site. These co-chairs were astounded to learn that there were many other parents experiencing the exact same difficulties.Word spread quickly through the special education community, and the two groups joined forces.

Over the next year, by maintaining a continuous presence at board meetings, building collaborative partnerships within the school and parent community, establishing an independent Special Education Advisory Council, and nurturing relationships with individual board members, this small (but growing) group of thoughtful, committed people succeeded in compelling the board to hire an outside agency to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Special Education Department, unseat the top levels of entrenched and ineffective special education administration, and begin the process of building a new department from the inside out and the ground up.

This is the story of parents who came together with a single voice, supporting each other emotionally while collectively building their advocacy skills, and realizing their power was in the numbers of parents who would stand up and publicly hold the Board of Education responsible. Learning objectives include developing a template for parents to use in communities nationwide, strategies for building collaborative partnerships between various parent groups and between parents and school staff, planning suggestions for approaching a Board of Education, practical advice on forming and controlling your public message, and foundational instruction in parent/community advocacy, including the “Ten Myths Used by Special Education Administrators” and "Ten Rules of Advocacy."