Letter to Falcone Released; Special Ed Probe Findings Coming

Darien Public Schools special education staff was severely demoralized and students' education plans were put at risk, Superintendent Stephen Falcone was told in a Sept. 7, 2012 letter near the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

The Board of Education referred to the letter on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in a statement from the board reacting to Falcone's sudden resignation last week. The eight-page letter was released Wednesday after outside lawyers for the school district redacted names that identified individual students.

In another development Wednesday, Sue Gamm, the attorney hired by the Darien Board of Education to investigate the school district's practices regarding special education, will issue her findings first in a PowerPoint presentation to the board on Nov. 4, the board announced. Later, she'll release a written report.

The letter was from Julie Bookbinder, a former official in the district's special education department. In the letter, Bookbinder criticizes the way Deirdre Osypuk, then the new director of special education, was running the department. Osypuk was suspended with pay earlier this year at about the same time as an investigation into the town's special education practices was started.

Excerpts from the letter

Bookbinder, who had just left her position with the school district, told Falcone in the letter that the special education staff was in turmoil and severely demoralized:

"In responding to my departure email, people's spontaneous comments to me have included that: They have never seen anything like this in their 20+ years in education. They have described the situation in the department as 'disastrous,' 'horrific,' 'depressing,' 'stressful' and just being 'hell.' They report that they go home crying and are feeling despondent." [...]

"People are shocked at the number of derisive facial expressions, disparaging remarks, and outright insults from Deirdre. [...]

"I told her [Osypuk] that I could not fathom why decisions relating to speach-language pathology services were being made without seeking any input from the single Ph.D.-level speech-language pathologist, or from any of the many talented, experienced SLPs [speech-language pathologists] we have on staff." [...] I further pointed out that [...] I could not understand why she did not seek input from people who actually know the students before making decisions." [...]

"There is a general feeling that the district is no longer being forthright. If an IEP cannot be delivered as planned, the parents are not told immediately; the information is withheld so that the parents have the impression that the district is not being honest. [...] For reasons I do not understand, aide assignments were a secret until the morning of the first day of school. Both staff and parents have had the feeling that administration was being obstructive."

"The main point that has come up in both one-on-one conservations [conversations] with Deirdre and in in-service presentations is how much special education costs, how little the law requires and how 'ridiculous' our IEPs are. There is not discussion of providing the students with the best programs and services we can, like we do for students in regular education. It is clear that the goal is to provide the minimum amount of services the law requires, if that. This is disappointing in a district that strives to provide a truly excellent education to students who are not in special education."

After giving some alleged examples of cases in which she indicated Osypuk treated special education staff dismissively and hurt the education of special education students, Bookbinder wrote the following in the last page of her eight-page letter:

"In 28 years in the field, I have worked with many different special education administrators and other program directors, and I have never experienced anything even remotely like what I have experienced over the last month. Quite simply, I decided to leave because I fealt that I could not work under the current conditions in the department: disrespect for professionals, dishonesty, obstructiveness, and inappropriate, unethical decisions that are not in the best interests of students. I cannot work under these conditions; none of us should have to.

"I also decided to write this because the comments that have been made to me over the last few weeks have been overwhelming, and your staff members do not have a voice. They are fearful of losing their jobs. It is clear that open and honest discussions are not welcome, professionals' knowledge, experience and expertise is not valued unless it is in complete agreement with the directives from administration, and no one wants to be the next victim of a public humiliation. It has been horrible to witness the sadness and stress that so many staff members are feeling.

"I hope that something can be done so that a reasonable level of service can be maintained for the students of Darien, and I also hope that the deplorable conditions in the department can be improved. People should not have to endure this, and it will only detract fro their ability to work effectively with their students."

Manner of making the letter public

The Board of Education recently has made a point of trying to appear open in its communication with the public, but releasing the letter from Bookbinder was done slowly, with small bureaucratic hurdles and in a manner that made it somewhat more difficult for the public to read the letter.

Despite the fact that the Board of Education cited the letter in saying that it was dissatisfied with Falcone's administration of the district, Acting School Superintendent Tim Canty only made the letter public more than a week after the board's statement, and then only after a Freedom of Information Act request was made by at least one news organization.

"Please note that the district has redacted confidential student information exempt from disclosure under the FOIA," Canty wrote in an email when he released the letter.

Darien Patch later requested the letter and was told a separate Freedom of Information Act request would need to be made for release of a letter already made public.

When the copy of the letter (in a form redacted by the district's outside lawyers to remove certain names) finally was made public, the format of the PDF file did not allow copying and pasting -- despite the fact that the document would have needed to have been edited in that more accessible format in order to redact the names.

The letter from Bookbinder was referenced in the statement Board of Education members issued shortly after Falcone's resignation on Tuesday, Oct. 22:

"For many months now, the district has been in turmoil over concerns regarding special education procedures, practices and services. [...] However, concerns have continued, and at this time the board has concluded that new leadership is required.

"For example, just this Friday the board learned that in September 2012, Dr. Falcone received a letter from a respected staff member outlining numerous concerns about our schools' special education procedures and practices put in place at the start of the 2012-2013 school year," the board stated in an announcement read by Chairperson Elizabeth Hagerty-Ross at a board meeting that night.

"However, Dr. Falcone did not share this letter with anyone, including the board. While we understand that Dr. Falcone would wish to address on his own the serious concerns expressed, we disagree with that approach and believe that consulting with the board was necessary.

"After substantial consideration, we have decided to accept Dr. Falcone's resignation."

Investigator to release findings

Here is the board's statement about Attorney Sue Gamm releasing her findings after probing special education practices in the district:

The Darien Board of Education has been notified by Attorney Sue Gamm that she is prepared to share her findings on the Special Education investigation.

A key findings presentation and PowerPoint will be delivered at a special meeting of the Board of Education on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013 at 7 p.m. in the Darien High School Auditorium.

All are invited to attend this meeting. The complete report will be delivered to the Darien Board of Education within a few weeks after the presentation. The Board will promptly share the full report with the school community.

Thank you.

Editor's note: This article was updated with quotes until 5:52 p.m. Wednesday. Other changes were made later.