Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, AL) November 9, 2007

HEADLINE: Confusion over Oak Hill closing raises questions: Does the Tuscaloosa City School System administration's left hand know what its right hand is doing?

That's the question that begs to be answered in the wake of an announcement from Superintendent Joyce Levey about the pending closure of Oak Hill School that took city Board of Education members by surprise.

Oak Hill, in west Tuscaloosa, serves students with special needs. It has an enrollment this year of 97.

Levey said Wednesday the closure is part of a five-year process to bring the schools in line with federal regulations.

The No Child Left Behind Act says special education students should receive educational services with their peers 80 percent of the time. The Individuals with Disabilities Act says children should be educated in the least restrictive environment to the "maximum extent appropriate."

Beginning with the 2003-04 school year, many of the students at Oak Hill have been transferred to neighborhood schools.

In April 2006, the city system announced that all elementary schools would have self-contained classes for children with special needs in the 2006-2007 school year. Under the closing plan that Levey spelled out Wednesday, the remaining middle school and secondary Oak Hill students will transfer in August to neighborhood schools.

We do not fault the administration for seeking to comply fully with the federal regulations. Failure to do so would jeopardize essential federal funding.

We also agree in most cases that students with special needs should be taught alongside non-disabled children whenever possible.

The problem is that the Oak Hill closing was announced in a news release Wednesday - and the school board hasn't even voted on the issue.

Board member James Minyard said he learned of the planned closing by word of mouth. Also apparently taken by surprise was Earnestine Tucker, the board's other African-American member. She said parents "need to be notified and should not have to hear it [word of the closing] from the street."

A restructuring plan that Levey announced in April as a way to cut costs and better utilize resources envisioned no changes for Oak Hill, the Tuscaloosa Center of Technology and Arcadia Elementary School.

And on Wednesday, school board chairman Dan Meissner said the Oak Hill closing is not official, since the board has yet to vote on it.

"The board clearly has not made any final determination," Meissner said. "The staff is clearly looking into what our options are and will make a recommendation at an appropriate time."

Clearly - to use Meissner's word - Levey thinks otherwise.

It's clear that the board and the superintendent are not on the same page. The city school administration badly needs to get its act together.