School allegedly refused special needs kids

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – The Idaho Department of Education is investigating a charter school in this southern Idaho city amid allegations that a brother and sister with special needs were denied enrollment.

Xavier Charter School, as a public charter school, cannot deny enrollment to students on that basis.

The department is sending a complaint investigator after Twin Falls resident Heidi Conner reported that her son and daughter were denied enrollment based on their special needs.

The department could not comment on the complaint, said spokeswoman Melissa McGrath, but released a statement that said: “Charter schools are public schools and as such, are required to follow the same federal laws regarding special education that all other public schools are required to follow.”

Conner said that Cindy Fulcher, Xavier’s director, pressured her to pull her children out of the charter school because of their special needs.

She said her daughter is autistic and her son has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

“I had already received acceptance letters for both my kids, but I wanted to introduce the team of people (a therapist and two service coordinators) who are familiar with what my kids’ needs are,” Conner told The Times-News. “But when I met with Cindy, she told me that the school wasn’t able to work with my kids because they had special needs.”

The complaint that Conner sent to the Department of Education was also signed by a developmental therapist and service coordinator for Conner’s daughter to back up the allegations.

Conner said Fulcher declined to give her a formal letter explaining why her children were denied enrollment.

The complaint states that Fulcher told Conner that her children would be put on a bus and sent to the nearest elementary school if they were enrolled at Xavier.

School officials did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“My whole reason behind this is not to put the school out of business, because I think it’s philosophies are a great alternative,” Conner said. “But what I don’t want is for it to be doing business like it is.”