The Department of Education is currently having specialists from Hawai’i conduct a re-assessment of the 800+ SPED Students, as the DOE Director is concerned that the majority of the SPED students have been identified as students with speech problems, however that may not be the case, as these students do not speak English.

The explanation was given before the House Education Committee last week when DOE Director, Vaitinasa Salu Hunkin-Finau, SPED Assistant Director Jeanette Vasai Tilo and Human Resources Director Sonny L Thompson appeared to answer questions on a variety of areas within DOE, including the problems with SPED.

During the hearing, the DOE Director pointed to what she saw as two big problems with the local SPED — it spends too much money on personnel, and not necessarily qualified personnel, and current SPED students need to be reassessed, as it’s possible they do not have learning disabilities — they just don’t read or speak English.

For personnel, Vaitinasa explained that in the U.S the budget for special education allocates 40% for personnel and 60% for resources, however for the local SPED it’s 90% for personnel, leaving only 10% for materials. She said when she was appointed to DOE there were a lot of employees working for SPED and she instructed that there would be no more hiring in this division “because its spends so much on personnel.”

Vaitinasa further pointed out that DOE has been trying to hire professionals, to no avail, who have expertise in areas of SPED — “especially for the students whom are severely disabled” — and are certified and licensed to conduct assessments to determine and diagnose as to what type of disability each student has.

The DOE director noted that there are those who are currently working for SPED that have majored in working with disabled students who have degrees already; however, _they need to undergo training and that takes money to hire people to conduct these types of training.

She said currently DOE is looking for a “behavioral psychologist, speech pathologists, occupational therapists who are licensed and certified in the special education area, but the process is difficult because of their salaries — DOE cannot afford them. The DOE Director pointed out that SPED does contract local psychologists who do session with the students.

For SPED students, Vaitinasa noted,“We are trying to hire professionals to conduct the reassessment of Special Education students because for many years, 80% of students have been identified to have speech problems, my concern is that this is because they probably don’t know English… or do they have a disability?”

She said that currently they have a professional from Hawai’i who is conducting the reassessment of these students to determine which is which — a student with learning disabilities or one that cannot read or speak English.

Vaitinasa assured the lawmakers after the reassessment, DOE will then focus on hiring the professionals that are needed.

Earlier this week, Sandra Scanlan told Samoa News via email that speaking on behalf of the SPED parents, “what we parents are fighting for, is not a battle AGAINST SPED, or the Fono, or ASG, or DOE, but it is a fight FOR OUR CHILDREN and their right to a specialized/adapted education.

“Whatever force is obstructing our children's right to a free and appropriate public education is what we are challenging. If this past summer's team had been an actual federal audit, and we failed to make changes in six months time as we have done, we would no longer have our SPED program, over 900 kids would be without a school, and over 300 employees out of work.”

The outspoken parent said that it “would be wise for us to adopt the recommendations given by this Hawai’i team, putting our egos aside, and work together to save our SPED program and ensure that it runs with quality and integrity.”

She further pointed out in a separate email that American Samoa says it is unable to recruit professionals due to its inability to provide salary and benefits that attract off island personnel.

“This came directly after stating that the reason they spent 90% of the 6.4 mil. on personnel was because of the cost of off island specialists.

“Though off island recruitment is difficult, it is not impossible and this has not been the reason we have not been able to hire as can be shown by the following examples,” Scanlan wrote.

She pointed out that three years ago, Mrs. Vivian Edmonds, SLP with 30 years experience in special education and autism, offered her services to SPED when her husband was hired by ASG. She was literally “dropped in SPED’s lap” but they were not able to hire her.

“We did not have to pay her relocation, housing, and she was willing to work for the low AS salary; the position was unfilled; why were we not able to hire her?” Scanlan asked.