Middle school inadequate

If typically developing Cheney Middle School students are in need of a new school, Cheney special needs students are in dire need. My son just turned 14; he is autistic and was supposed to move from the grade school to the middle school this year.

On the last day of school last year, my husband and I visited the Cheney Middle School self-contained classroom to meet the teachers. As we walked out of the portable we were both in shock. The “classroom” consisted of two adjoining rooms that were very small and cluttered with a “time-out room” that was not even the size of a closet. There was little if no natural light and it looked like a school setting from the Third World.

Our son is now at Cheney High School and will miss the middle school experience solely because the physical space was unacceptable. Students with special needs typically stay in public education until they are 21; we do not anticipate keeping our 14-year-old at the high school until he is 21.

Barbara D. Baines

Cheney