“Guiding Through Change: How Small Colleges Are Responding to New Realities”: A Live Conversation with Three Small College Presidents
August 2, 2025, by Dean Hoke: Over the past several months, higher education has experienced an unprecedented wave of transformation. The elimination or curtailment of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, shifting federal financial aid policies, declining enrollment in traditional undergraduate programs, and heightened visa scrutiny and geopolitical tensions pose potential risks to international student enrollment, an area of growing importance for many small colleges.
Dr. Chet Haskell, in a recent piece for the Edu Alliance Journal, captured the mood succinctly: “The headlines are full of uncertainty for American higher education. ‘Crisis’ is a common descriptor. Federal investigations of major institutions are underway. Severe cuts to university research funding have been announced. The elimination of the Department of Education is moving ahead. Revisions to accreditation processes are being floated. Reductions in student support for educational grants and loans are now law. International students are being restricted.These uncertainties and pressures affect all higher education, not just targeted elite institutions. In particular, they are likely to exacerbate the fragility of smaller, independent non-profit institutions already under enormous stress.”
Small colleges—often mission-driven, community-centered, and tuition-dependent—are feeling these disruptions acutely.
As we enter the third season of Small College America, a podcast series that spotlights the powerful impact of small colleges across the nation, my co-host Kent Barnds and I wanted to mark the moment with something special. Rather than recording a typical podcast episode, we’re hosting a live webinar to engage in a timely and candid discussion with three dynamic presidents of small colleges.
Join us for a special Small College America webinar:
“Guiding Through Change: How Small Colleges Are Responding to New Realities”
Wednesday, August 27, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Eastern
Our panelists bring deep experience, insight, and a strong commitment to the mission of small colleges:
Dr. Andrea Talentino is the president of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She previously served as provost at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y., and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. In her administrative work, she has focused on building strong teams and developing a positive organizational culture.
Dr. Tarek Sobh is the President of Lawrence Technological University. A distinguished academic leader, he previously served as Provost at LTU and as Executive VP at the University of Bridgeport. An expert in robotics, AI, and STEM education, Dr. Sobh has published extensively and presented internationally. He is passionate about aligning academic programs with workforce needs.
Dr. Anita Gustafson, President of Presbyterian College, is a historian and long-time faculty leader who assumed the presidency in 2023. She has been a strong advocate for the value of the liberal arts and the importance of community engagement. Dr. Gustafson returned to PC after seven years as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a professor of history at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.
This one-hour webinar will explore how small private colleges are navigating today’s evolving environment and planning strategically for the future.
When Los Angeles mother Tania Rivera signed a crucial document for her son Luis’ special education program in 2022, she was hoping he would be able to return to in-person classes after two years of distance learning.
Butthe individualized education program, or IEP, required for all children who need special education, was available only in English. Rivera’s first language is Spanish.
Later she was told Luis, who has autism, would have to continue with online learning because the document did not specify that he needed in-person classes. In addition, she says, the document removed his occupational therapy for handwriting because a language interpreter erroneously said she objected.
“It is a big disadvantage that we have, because I have some English, but it is very basic,” Rivera said in Spanish. “If we’re talking about educational terms or legal terms, the meaning can be lost with just one word” mistranslated.
Monthslong waits and faulty or incomplete translations of special education documents are widespread across California for parents who speak languages other than English, according to special education advocates. They say these problems violate parents’ rights to participate in their children’s education plans under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law that regulates special education.
A proposal in the state Legislature, Senate Bill 445, aims to solve some of these problems, but its fate remains uncertain because of concerns over potential cost.
“I’ve never seen a timely translation and I’ve never seen all documents being fully translated,” said Lisa Mosko Barros, founder of SpEducational, an organization that works to educate parents to be advocates for their children with special needs and improve their access to high-quality education. Mosko Barros has worked with dozens of families in Southern California, including Rivera, and trained hundreds of others on navigating the IEP process.
She said she has heard the same complaints over and over.
“I literally spoke to one parent this morning in the Inland Empire who a couple of years ago signed an IEP and didn’t realize she was signing consent to eliminating speech services for her child who is non-verbal with autism,” Mosko Barros said. “It really can make or break a child’s access to a free and appropriate public education.”
Rivera’s son Luis, now in eighth grade, remained in online classes since fifth grade until this fall and regressed as a result, his mother said.
In total, he lost three years of in-person classes, first in 2020-21 when all students had distance learning, again in 2021-22 because he has chronic asthma and his pediatrician recommended he stay home since vaccinations against Covid-19 were not yet available for children. Then, in 2022, the translation problems kept him out of in-person schooling foranother year.
“He has had academic setbacks, and socially, he regressed a lot because it was three years without interaction,” Rivera said.
When asked how long the district takes to translate special education assessments and IEP documents, the Los Angeles Unified School District communications team wrote that “the District works to parallel the IEP timeline for consistency and return the translated document within the same 30-day timeframe.”They declined to comment on Rivera’s case.
Rivera and almost 200 other people attended an online meeting in September with state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, at which parents shared how long wait times and poor-quality translations have hurttheir children with special needs. They expressedtheir support for Portantino’s bill, which would require IEPs to be translated into a parent or guardian’s native language by a “qualified translator” within 30 calendar days of an IEP meeting or a later request.
Current federal and state laws require that school districts “take any action necessary” to ensure parents understand IEP meetings, and state law requires they translate a student’s IEP at a parent’s request, but no time frame is specified.
“I believe strongly that parents can best advocate for their children when they have the knowledge to do so. Not being able to read an IEP because of language barriers is unacceptable,” Portantino said. “We must find a way to translate IEPs more quickly.”
Portantino said the issue is personal for him because he struggled with dyslexia and ADHD as a student and received limited help from the schools he attended.
“I largely depended on developing my own learning methods, which included lots of repetition and good listening skills,” Portantino said. But he wants to make sure other children can get the help they need.
The bill passed the Senate, the Assembly Education Committee and the Assembly Appropriations Committee with no opposition. But an analysis by the Assembly Appropriations Committee found that the bill could cost the California Department of Education $409,000 annually and could cost school districts between $6 million and $16 million, which might also have to be reimbursed by the state. Believing there was a risk the bill could be vetoed this year because of those costs, Portantino said he chose to make it a “two-year bill,” giving it more time to be discussed in the Legislature and with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
San Francisco Unified School District passed a policy in 2022 to ensure “every effort shall be made” to translate special education documents before meetings so that parents have time to read and understand them. It also requires meeting times to be extended to allow for interpretation.
Carmen Rodríguez is one of dozens of parents who pushed for that policy. Rodríguez has two children with disabilities. Before theSan Francisco Unified policy passed, she said, she waited eight months for a written translation of the first assessment of her older son, who has anxiety and a learning disability, and a year for the IEP for her younger child, who has dyslexia.
“If it’s not in my language, how am I going to understand the document? How do I know that it really says here what my child needs?” Rodríguez said in Spanish.
In addition, she said IEP meetings were often cut short because the district limited them to one hour, with no extra time allowed for interpretation.
Belén Pulido Martínez, senior community organizer for Innovate Public Schools, an organization that worked to get the San Francisco policy passed, said the policy empowers parents.
“Now in San Francisco, the district is training their special ed teachers on the policy, and we’re super happy about that because it’s not just a piece of paper that’s going to die in an office. It’s being implemented,” Martínez said.
Matt Alexander, the San Francisco Unified Board of Education commissioner who worked with parents to write the policy, said school districts have to prioritize translation and interpretation if they want parents to be engaged.
“In our district, over half of our families don’t speak English at home. So if we care about communicating with our families, we have to provide interpretation,” Alexander said. “Step one is, have a clear policy. Step two is, make sure you’re being accountable to families who are directly impacted. Is it working? How do we make it better?”
Rodríguez said since the San Francisco policy passed, several other mothers have thanked her. She said she would love for SB 445 to pass so parents in other districts can also benefit.
“So many children in many different places, many different schools, are not receiving the support they deserve, and their parents have to battle to get an evaluation and to get documents translated, and they find it really hard,” Rodríguez said. “It’s a really, really long document, and it’s a long process. And if it’s in our language, then it will be much easier for us parents to process and understand the document and the evaluation given to our children.”
The federal government has not fully funded special education in decades, leaving the bulk of the costs to school districts and the state.
Alison Yin/EdSource
When Erica Mazariegos heard that a shocking number of special education teaching positions remain vacant, she was not surprised. With over 27 years as a special educator, Mazariegos is dedicated and passionate, yet says “the stress of recent years has led me to question my ability to carry on. There will come a point when I must prioritize my health over my career.”
Like Erica, special education teachers throughout U.S. public schools have been vocal about their concerns regarding working conditions after the pandemic, particularly the shortage of resources and staff support. The attrition rates among special education teachers soared following Covid-19, and educators have endured heightened levels of job-related stress, prompting an increasing number of them to exit the profession.
This exodus has left schools grappling with severe teacher shortages. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 45% of schools reported unfilled positions in special education roles, with 78% citing difficulties in hiring special education staff for the current school year. The situation in California closely mirrors the national shortages, with the Learning Policy Institute describing the teacher shortage in California as a “five-alarm fire.”
The stress experienced by special educators is not only deeply ingrained in the inherent nature of their roles but also in the perceptions surrounding them. A key contributing factor is the idealization of special education teachers by schools, often portraying them as extraordinary individuals who are characterized as nurturing and self-sacrificing, willing to prioritize their students’ well-being over their own. It’s commonplace to hear general education teachers express sentiments like, “I could never do what you do.” This portrayal creates unrealistic expectations for special educators, adding to the systemic sources of stress, which include unequal resource allocation and a shortage of adequately trained support staff.
Padma Vajhala, an early-career special education teacher with two years of experience, highlights many stressors in her job, such as individualized education program meetings, conducting paperwork checks, navigating uncertainties about parental consent, encountering subtle racism in schools, and adhering to the core mission of special education — differentiated teaching for each student. But, she underscores that these stressors are overshadowed by the primary source of stress: daily management of challenging behavior exhibited by her students in class without enough staff support. She points out that her stress affects students by hindering effective instruction, classroom management and the modeling of social-emotional skills. Stressed teachers are more likely to react unpredictably and employ ineffective behavior management strategies.
While it remains crucial to address such systemic causes of stress as lack of staff support in the classroom, schools must simultaneously implement programs dedicated to teaching self-care strategies and allocate resources to support these educators’ mental health and overall well-being. These initiatives should involve professional development programs that prioritize physical wellness, encompassing exercise, dietary choices, and sleep, to sustain energy levels and enhance emotional resilience.
Additionally, it is imperative to equip special educators with training in social-emotional learning skills. This training should cover the establishment of clear boundaries between their professional and personal lives, mindfulness practices, participation in yoga, and learning relaxation techniques. Acquiring these skills can significantly reduce stress levels among special educators while providing positive role models for students concurrently learning these skills in their classes.
Most importantly, special education teachers can create communities of practice informally with their colleagues based on shared interests, facilitating connections with colleagues, mentors, and therapists to seek guidance and share their experiences. Moreover, these communities of practice can leverage self-reflection practices to recognize and manage stressors effectively.
A notable approach is reflexive visual journaling, a creative process that intertwines written reflection with images, drawings, and other visual elements. This practice has demonstrated considerable effectiveness in early detection of burnout indicators, pinpointing triggers, and aiding individuals in navigating and coping with stress. Zachary McNiece, assistant professor of counselor education at San Jose State University, emphasizes the importance of visual journaling, stating, “In today’s post-Covid world, while teachers act as front-line mental health advocates, they can experience the after-effects of trauma their students have faced over the last few years; visual journaling creates a means for teachers to slow down, allow space for their feelings and reactions, and let go of the emotional residue of secondary trauma exposure, so they can improve their wellness and support their students.” These self-reflective practices can also be embedded into teacher preparation programs to support new special education teachers.
Preventing burnout in special education cannot be solely an individual responsibility; it requires collaboration from schools, districts and policymakers. Special educators are pivotal in fostering an inclusive and equitable education system.
It is essential that schools prioritize special educators’ well-being by supporting and implementing targeted self-care strategies to sustain their passion and dedication. This approach not only safeguards the mental and emotional health of educators but also enriches the educational experience for students with disabilities, ultimately contributing to the development of a stronger and more compassionate society.
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Sudha Krishnan is an assistant professor at San Jose State University’s special education department, Lurie College of Education,and a Public Voice Fellow with the OpEd Project.
The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
Jeannette, a student in special education in the Merced County Office of Education’s adult transition program, folds El Capitan Hotel towels as part of a housekeeping training program that teaches work and life skills. For student privacy, the county office did not disclose Jeannette’s last name.
Credit: Courtesy of Merced County Office of Education
As guests check out of El Capitan Hotel in downtown Merced, a group of students wearing Merced County Office of Education (MCOE) shirts or lanyards enter recently vacated rooms to strip the beds, empty the trash bins and vacuum the floors.
For more than a year, students like Alondra Fierros, who always has a smile on her face, have separated and washed the hotel’s dirty linens while Jayden Flores has neatly folded the clean hotel towels into stacks of eight without looking up from the task.
Most of the students, ages 18-22, are diagnosed with varying degrees of autism and/or other disabilities, are in special education in the county office’s adult transition program and learning how to do laundry and clean for the first time.
Despite their limits, the students obtain skills as part of the county office and hotel’s housekeeping program.
“I clean the place, and I take a bunch of dirty bed sheets and towels and put them in the laundry room and wash them,” Flores said about tasks he learned by shadowing and observing housekeepers.
Through hands-on experience at the hotel, students gain skills to work in the housekeeping and hospitality industry — whether at El Capitan or elsewhere — after they graduate. And they develop life skills for adulthood.
Eliazar removes El Capitan Hotel bedding to be washed, one of his duties in a housekeeping training program through the hotel and Merced County Office of Education. Eliazar is a student in special education in the county office’s adult transition program. The county office didn’t disclose his last name for to protect the student’s privacy. Photo courtesy of Merced County Office of Education
“At this age, we’re really trying to (give them) more experience in the community,” said Laura Fong, an assistant superintendent in the Merced County Office of Education.
Vocational training programs have traditionally tailored jobs around special education students’ needs, such as a Fresno restaurant with modified cash registers to accommodate students who can’t read.
This is not the case with Merced County’s program which, instead, integrates students into the housekeeping career, making it one of a few in California and across the nation to do so. The program now serves as a model for other districts aspiring to integrate students with disabilities into careers and society.
From model room to real world experience
The office of education launched the housekeeping training program in October 2022 for its special education students to gain work and life skills in a real world setting, Fong said.
Before the program’s creation, students practiced their skills in an “isolated” mock hotel room, which worked for a while, Fong said.
But it wasn’t enough. The students couldn’t apply what they learned to their life because those skills weren’t being used in a real-world environment. They weren’t observing housekeepers’ work, and therefore couldn’t comprehend the logic behind the tasks they were being instructed to do. They weren’t working alongside employees, so they weren’t learning how to interact with others or the proper ways to behave in a work setting.
The county office sought a collaboration with the hotel, which had built the hotel room replica.
Fong said the yearlong program is critical for the students “to be in the actual field,” get on-the-job training and be able to model employees’ behavior, which in turn provides them with real-world experience while allowing them to interact with others.
How county office’s training programs work
Once Merced County special education students finish their shift at a training site, they return to the classroom or visit another training program for the remainder of the day. In class, one of their tasks is to formulate their resume to include their on-the-job training experience.
Working in the actual hotel “really teaches them responsibility,” said vocational trainer Lorie Gonzales, who accompanies the students to their training programs to supervise and assist them, if needed.
With Gonzales checking their uniforms and attire before a shift, students learn that they must dress appropriately for a job. They learn about the importance of being on time because they’re expected at the hotel for their respective shifts and must clock in once they’re there.
Hotel staff are primarily responsible for training students for the housekeeping tasks, said Robin Donovan, managing director of the hotel.
The students remove dirty sheets and linens, vacuum and straighten rooms, so a housekeeper only has to make the bed and clean the bathroom. Once the housekeeper takes over, students sort, wash and dry the laundry, then vacuum the hallways and stairways and wipe down art and other fixtures mounted on the wall.
The work skills, such as changing sheets and cleaning, become independent living skills that students need in their personal lives, Fong said.
“We want them to be prepared. Not only can they go out and find a job in this industry, doing this work, they can also transfer those skills to living on their own, independently,” she said.
Meg Metz, director of people and culture at El Capitan, said the hotel staff were at first worried about how they’d adapt to working with the students. Now, however, the staff looks forward to working alongside students, Metz and Donovan both said.
Donovan added that hotel staff enjoy their shifts with the students who they say are reliable and hardworking and bring positivity to the workplace.
“They do quality work,” she said, “and with the biggest smiles.”
But the social interactions extend beyond connecting with hotel employees. The partnership with the hotel allows students to engage with hotel guests as well, including those who may still be in their rooms.
“When I come to work here in the hotel, I say, ‘Knock, knock. Housekeeping,’” Flores said as he knocked on a third floor hotel room door.
Gonzales, the vocational trainer, has coached the students on being courteous whenever they run into guests in the hallways and stairways. The students, for instance, tell guests to use the elevator first, Gonzales said.
Expanding opportunities for students with special needs
The housekeeping program isn’t the only vocational training program for individuals with disabilities in Merced County or the surrounding Central Valley communities. Since opening in the 1980s, Wired Café has been a coffee shop where adults with disabilities gain skills that prepare them for the workforce, according to Fong. It is owned and operated by Merced County’s education office as well. Students learn and grow as they take orders and fix and serve smoothies, lattes or sandwiches.
Mimicking Wired Café, the Fresno County education office established Kids Café in 2017 as a work-based learning environment for special education students, county office leaders Christina Borges and Liza Stack said.
Krystal vacuums a hallway at El Capitan Hotel. Krystal is one of about 20 students in special education in the Merced County Office of Education’s adult transition program who is participating in the county office and hotel’s housekeeping training program. For student privacy, the county office did not disclose Krystal’s last name.Photo courtesy of Merced County Office of Education
In their uniforms and aprons, students working at Kids Café complete a variety of tasks, including: preparing and serving food, such as pizza, sandwiches and salads; sweeping or mopping the floors of the restaurant; clearing and wiping the tables after customers leave; stocking inventory; laundering; baking and packaging cookies or scones; weighing and bagging chips; and working the cash register.
The Fresno County office adjusted aspects of the restaurant to accommodate students’ needs and abilities, thereby fostering independence and ensuring student success, Stack said. Restaurant modifications include visual task cards with pictures as well as step-by-step instructions, color-coordinated towels for different cleaning tasks, and a modified register in which 4C means four slices of cheese.
How Kids Café operates
The café provides two-hour shifts for most special education classes during the school year, with longer shifts offered over the summer and winter breaks. Students with special needs living in one of Fresno County’s 30 regional areas for special education services and enrolled in a county-operated program can participate. Participating students may have autism, be deaf or hard of hearing or have emotional disabilities, to name a few. Thirty-three Fresno County special education students, up from 19 last school year, have worked at the restaurant so far this school year.
Starting around July 1, the Fresno County education office will partner with local businesses throughout the county to provide other types of vocational training for students with disabilities and offer employment opportunities in maintenance, facilities and technology at the county office.
“We’re really looking to expand into those areas to give students something more than just restaurant work,” Borges said about integrating students into existing businesses rather than only designing programs for them. “We want to go beyond our students being in one restaurant at one location.”
Much like the Merced County housekeeping training program, Fresno County’s planned expansion would create more vocational training that integrates special education students into careers, rather than tailoring jobs for students — a move that, Borges hopes, will show businesses the value of these students.
Even the California Department of Rehabilitation has worked to close the employment gap for people with disabilities and, in 2022, launched an initiative with the Institute for Workplace Skills & Innovation), a workforce development organization, to employ people with disabilities in allied health care, clerical and manufacturing jobs as part of the Ready, Willing and ABLE program.
In August, the department and organization again partnered to establish Career Launchpad, a vocational skills and career transition program for students with disabilities — an often “overlooked and undervalued” community, a media release at the time said.
Students with disabilities are valuable to the workforce
Overall, vocational training programs such as those in Merced and Fresno exemplify how valuable students with disabilities can be to the workforce, leaders of Merced and Fresno counties said.
“Our students being seen as active, valued members of society is one of the most important things that comes out of this,” Stack said.
Flores, one of the Merced County students, aged out of the housekeeping training program in December when he turned 23. Gonzales, his vocational trainer, said she had hoped his employment with El Capitan Hotel would continue, especially because he could work independently in the training program. The hotel was unable to hire him because they had no open positions. He now participates in the Haven Program, a community-based center serving adults with disabilities.
“I hope in the future, there’s more businesses that will hire them after they graduate,” Gonzales said. “… They’ve proved to us that they are capable.”
As Merced and Fresno counties implement and expand programs throughout their communities, Borges hopes the community’s attitude will change toward students and individuals with disabilities.
“Our students with disabilities,” she said, “have a role in the workforce.”
A special education teacher walks down a hallway with her student in a Northern California school.
Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource
A growing concern has emerged in California regarding the educational rights of students with extensive support needs.
These students, who often require ongoing assistance in physical, communication, or social support, may not be receiving the mandated instructional minutes set by the California Department of Education. Further, recent studies suggest that special education teachers spend only 20% of their daily time on actual teaching, with students receiving most of their instruction from paraeducators and other service providers. These findings point to wide-ranging implications for how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is really implemented in schools.
When one of us, Sara Caniglia-Schulte from San Jose State University, observed one such class as part of her supervisory responsibilities, I returned feeling disappointed by how much free time the students were given in class: Four paraprofessionals were sitting along the perimeter of the classroom, two students were on a computer, one was lying over a large exercise ball, one was holding his visual schedule, asking the adults in the room, “What’s next?” and the other students were pacing around the classroom.
Although separate special education classes for students with extensive support needs have long been viewed as critical for providing intensive individualized support and education, researchers have noted that these students may spend substantial portions of their school day engaged in noninstructional activities such as extended periods of games, choice or play time, movie viewing, or other activities unrelated to academic instruction.
To be sure, students with extensive support needs may have diverse cognitive, sensory, physical and communication needs that necessitate frequent breaks and more flexibility in the classroom. However, the question arises: How much is too much? Instructional time is equally vital in special education classes, enabling students to learn and acquire new skills.
Having been a teacher in a special day class for students with extensive support needs for over 18 years, I (Sudha Krishnan) am painfully aware of the number of times classroom instruction has stalled. In a special day class environment, numerous distractions from instruction exist naturally as a part of the classroom setup. These may include disruptive student behaviors such as interruptions, loud sounds, screaming and interpersonal interactions that divert attention from instruction. At times, extreme behaviors may require evacuating the classroom to ensure everyone’s safety. Additionally, when paraeducators need to take breaks as per their contract, free or choice time may be allocated so that the few remaining staff need only supervise without providing instruction. Moreover, there are regular classroom interruptions by service providers like speech therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists or physical therapists — whether they do the therapy in class or pull students out for sessions in their offices. Bus delays at the start of the school day or early dismissals to accommodate bus schedules (to avoid disrupting pick-ups/drop-offs at other schools) may also reduce instructional time. Research suggests that such interruptions and distractions significantly disengage students and decrease instructional time in the classroom.
Further, excessive unstructured time can pose unique challenges for students with significant disabilities. Overall, students benefit academically and behaviorally when meaningfully engaged in learning. Students may engage in unproductive or potentially harmful behaviors without proper guidance and supervision. Prolonged periods of free time without meaningful choices or structured activities may lead to boredom, frustration and disengagement, ultimately hindering overall development and progress. Finally, limited access to structured learning activities may impede academic progress and skill development, perpetuating educational disparities and hindering students’ ability to reach their full potential.
There are many strategies that teachers can employ to provide breaks for students while engaging them productively. Structuring the free time to include peer models to play games or other activities could improve interactive play skills. Preferred activities that require fine or gross motor skills to get kids moving could increase engagement, and simply allowing the students to move outside could improve student performance throughout the day. Providing simple visual schedules and structured activities may provide students with options to use their free-choice time meaningfully.
There is also an urgent need for more research into and scrutiny of the amount of instructional time spent in special day classrooms for students with extensive support needs and the level of student engagement during this time. If parents can demonstrate that the school district failed to provide the instructional minutes stated in the individualized education plan, they may be provided compensatory education funded by the district, which can prove costly. Current research in this area has raised stark equity questions and challenged the fundamental design of special education.
It’s time to confront these realities head-on and question whether special education has been designed in a way that leaves some students behind.
The New York Times reported that a cartoon about Trump by Art Spiegelmaan was removed by the executive producer of the PBS show “American Masters.”
Trump has proposed defunding both PBS and NPR.
The Times wrote:
The executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning “American Masters” series insisted on removing a scene critical of President Trump from a documentary about the comic artist Art Spiegelman two weeks before it was set to air nationwide on public television stations.
The filmmakers say it is another example of public media organizations bowing to pressure as the Trump administration tries to defund the sector, while the programmers say their decision was a matter of taste.
Alicia Sams, a producer of “Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse,” said in an interview that approximately two weeks before the movie’s April 15 airdate, she received a call from Michael Kantor, the executive producer of “American Masters,” informing her that roughly 90 seconds featuring a cartoon critical of Trump would need to be excised from the film. The series is produced by the WNET Group, the parent company of several New York public television channels.
Stephen Segaller, the vice president of programming for WNET, confirmed in an interview that the station had informed the filmmakers that it needed to make the change. Segaller said WNET felt the scatological imagery in the comic, which Spiegelman drew shortly after the 2016 election — it portrays what appears to be fly-infested feces on Trump’s head — was a “breach of taste” that might prove unpalatable to some of the hundreds of stations that air the series.
Note that the four panels are divided by a swastika.
Art Spiegelman drew a graphic novel called Maus, which received the PulitzerPrize in 1992. The book is about his parents’ experiences during the Holocaust.
Instead, with leaders of three other legislative ethnic caucuses also expressing support, they have introduced a bill to strengthen and broaden existing anti-discrimination protections based on race and ethnicity to include new wording to apply to national identity and religion.
The Assembly Education Committee will hold a special hearing on Assembly Bill 715, introduced by Assemblymembers Rick Zbur, D-San Francisco, and Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, on Wednesday afternoon at 1:30. That is the final day for moving forward any bill for possible passage this year.
“AB 715 demonstrates solidarity among California Legislative Diversity Caucuses to resolutely stand with the Jewish community to adopt meaningful legislation to root out hate in our classrooms,” Zbur said in a statement.
The bill would add teeth to the uniform complaint process in schools and create a state-level antisemitism coordinator to oversee compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
It also would apply anti-discrimination protections to content taught in class and to the contractors who write the courses’ lesson plans and train teachers. Although the bill does not mention ethnic studies, it presumably would apply to groups affiliated with the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, which compares Israel’s repression of Palestinians with European colonialists’ subjugation of people of color in Africa and Asia, and white American settlers’ mistreatment of Native Americans. Many of the complaints and lawsuits charging antisemitism have been against schools and districts that use the Liberated Ethnic Studies course content.
Zbur said that school districts have ignored or delayed responding to complaints by Jewish families of bias and a hostile school environment. “Families should not have to file lawsuits,” he said.
The key sections lay out broad intentions; the exact language is still being negotiated, Zbur said, and will be added as amendments to the bill in the coming weeks.
The Jewish Caucus’ prior bill, to replace the current ethnic studies voluntary framework with academic standards, would have faced years of contention and low odds of passage. It was opposed by the California Teachers Association and ethnic studies faculty at California State University and the University of California, who have created alternatives to the state-approved framework. The bill would have applied only to high school ethnic studies, not all courses and grades.
The chairs of the Legislative Black Caucus, the Legislative Latino Caucus and the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus signed a statement endorsing AB 715. However, many groups that oppose the ethnic studies standards bill are gearing up to fight AB 715.
“Repackaging censorship under the guise of combating antisemitism does a disservice to the very real fight against hate. We already have laws protecting students from discrimination. AB 715 would effectively silence educators and erase Palestinian voices,” Hussam Ayloush, CEO of the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wrote in a statement.
In 2021, the Legislature passed legislation requiring that all high schools offer a semester-long course in ethnic studies, starting in fall 2025, and for all students to take it for a high school diploma, beginning in 2029-30. But the law requires state funding to take effect, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has not proposed any funding, and indicated he would not do so in the 2025-26 state budget. Since AB 715 also would create a state mandate, it’s unclear whether Newsom would sign it.
I’ve disavowed potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, radish and beets.
Growing up as a Jain, I never ate these root vegetables or had second thoughts about my faith and this practice. At home, my mom prepared authentic Jain Gujarati meals with rotli(flatbread), daal(lentil soup), bhaat (rice) andshaak (vegetable curry).We found Jain-friendly restaurants in the Bay Area, and while traveling abroad, we microwaved meals in our hotel room and carried ready-to-eat foods.
It was always possible for me to follow my faith-based diet, until I enrolled in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as a freshman two years ago. Suddenly, I would be forced to eat from a meal plan, cook in a communal dorm kitchen or find suitable off-campus dining options.
Little known outside of India, Jainism is an ancient religious faith whose central tenet is ahimsa, or nonviolence toward all living beings. Jains traditionally do not consume animal products such as meat, eggs and honey, nor root vegetables, in accordance with this principle to avoid harming organisms living in the soil.
Some may perceive the Jain diet to be a list of limitations. However, it is meant to be the opposite. In fact, it has empowered me to make more mindful and compassionate choices when it comes to my lifestyle and consumption.
Being so closely connected to and influenced by the Bay Area’s Jain community, my faith has now become an integral aspect of my background, culture and identity, and is the reason behind my commitment to the Jain diet throughout college.
As I prepared to leave for Cal Poly in September 2022, I was unsure of how I would be able to find Jain food as a freshman on a meal plan. I decided to contact campus dining before starting school and, to my surprise, they responded swiftly. After exchanging preliminary emails discussing my unique dietary needs, we came up with a plan.
I met with Kaitlin Gibbons, a registered dietitian for the campus dining program, and we created a specialized meal plan, rotating between four dishes each week. This included pasta, stir-fry, a veggie wrap and quesadillas. She also introduced me to the chefs and kitchen staff who prepared my food as I picked it up every day.
Cal Poly works with students who have food allergies, gluten intolerance, follow vegan or vegetarian diets or who, like me, have faith-based diets.
“I (work) one-on-one with students with dietary restrictions to assist in empowering them to self-manage their dietary choices on campus, allowing them to actively participate in the college dining experience,” Gibbons said.
To meet the diverse needs of students, Gibbons collaborates with executive chefs like Chris Dunham and culinary teams to offer inclusive meal plans.
Of course, my limited range of meals meant that, unlike my peers, I could not make spontaneous lunch or dinner plans to grab food at just any eatery. I also had a number of leftover dining dollars because I couldn’t purchase most other food/snack options. To use up my dollars, I had to frivolously buy granola bars or random candies from the campus market.
As a result, I stocked up on snacks, homemade dehydrated foods, and brought cooking ware like an Instant Pot to make quick meals in my dorm’s kitchen.
Nevertheless, I am grateful to Cal Poly’s dining team and to Kaitlin for understanding and accommodating my dietary needs; however, this is not the case for all students on other campuses.
My friend Arushi Shah is a biomedical engineering sophomore at the University of California Riverside, and she similarly follows the Jain tradition of avoiding root vegetables.
Shah said that during her first year in college, she was not on a meal plan because her college refused to accommodate her diet and offer suitable options.
“I wished they could make at least one to two dishes for me,” Shah said.
Instead, she found creative alternatives to prepare food in her dorm all year long. This included taking dehydrated meals from home, packing non-perishables and storing frozen food in her fridge.
“I actually asked my mom to make me instant food items where I just add hot water and it’s ready,” Shah said. “Other times I would go upstairs to my suite kitchen and make easy dishes that didn’t require a lot of meal prep.” Some of the meals she made included sandwiches, dosa and fried rice.
If you are in Shah’s position, she suggests “learn how to cook if a kitchen is available, and learn how to do very simple things that don’t require much time and small amounts of ingredients.”
Transitioning to college is challenging, especially while navigating dietary restrictions and advocating for your needs. To take the first step, get in touch with your school’s dining program, and relay your dietary needs to them.Preferably, you can reach out before committing to a school as accommodations may not always be guaranteed. As awareness of various faith-based dietary customs grows across colleges, we can hopefully become more inclusive in how we serve our students.
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Riya Parekh is a third year political science major concentrating in pre-law at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.
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A special education class at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland.
Alison Yin / EdSource
California schools will soon have a template for special education programs translated into 10 languages in addition to English.
Advocates and parents of children with disabilities who speak languages other than English say it is a tiny step forward, but there is still work to be done to fix long waits and faulty translations experienced by many families statewide.
“Ultimately, if parents can’t receive translated documents, they can’t meaningfully engage in their child’s education,” said Joanna French, senior director of research and policy strategies at Innovate Public Schools, an organization that works with parents to advocate for high-quality education. “They can’t provide informed consent. They can’t ask questions or push back on the services that are being proposed.”
A bill introduced last year by state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, would have required school districts, charter schools and county offices of education to translate individualized education program (IEP) documents within 30 days. But the bill stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers decide whether the state has enough money to pay for legislation. This spring, the bill was revived, and Portantino revised it to require the California Department of Education (CDE) to create guidelines suggesting, rather than mandating, timelines for translation and how to identify quality translators and interpreters. But that version, too, was eventually scrapped.
The version of the bill that finally did pass the Legislature and was signed by the governor requires a template for IEPs to be translated into the 10 languages most commonly spoken in California other than English. The translated template must be made available online by Jan. 1, 2027. The template, which can be found in this document, includes categories of services, but also has blank space for language adapted to each student.
“Obviously, whenever you get a partial victory, you take it and you celebrate,” said Portantino. “This is an incremental improvement. Having the template is a good thing. But obviously, these are individualized plans, so my hope is that someone takes up the mantle to get individual plans translated in a more timely manner.”
Aurora Flores said she has had to wait sometimes six or seven months for special education documents to be translated into Spanish. Her 10-year-old son has Down syndrome and autism and attends school in the Long Beach Unified School District.
“It’s really sad for us Spanish-speaking parents because the points that you want to clarify, you can’t understand. They just summarize really fast, with an interpreter, but sometimes it’s not a certified person,” said Flores in Spanish.
Individualized education programs are required for students with disabilities who qualify for special education, and are updated each year or when needs change. Before schools can implement these programs, parents must agree.
The person most affected by long waits for translations is her son, Flores said, because it takes longer for her to sign off on new services that he needs.
“When you least expect it, you realize the next IEP meeting is coming up, and you have just received the documents from the last one,” Flores said.
A spokesperson for Long Beach Unified, Elvia Cano, wrote in an email that the district “is dedicated to ensuring that all families, regardless of their primary language, have timely access to critical educational information, including Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).”
However, she said getting high-quality translations of special education documents can be challenging.
“Translating IEPs requires specialized linguistic and technical expertise. Translators must be fluent in the target language and possess a strong understanding of educational terminology. Finding professionals with these qualifications can be challenging, especially for less commonly spoken languages. Additionally, the complexity of IEPs and the volume of translation requests may extend the timeframe for completion,” Cano wrote.
Portantino said that some felt the previous version of the bill requiring the California Department of Education to create guidelines for translation “was too onerous, too much pressure.”
“I think the education community didn’t want to be forced to do things. I think there were districts who felt they don’t have the personnel, and I think CDE felt the overall structure was not in place,” Portantino said.
Holly Minear, executive director of student services at the Ventura County Office of Education, said she thinks most school districts and county offices understand the importance of giving families a written translation of IEP documents in a timely manner, but it is sometimes a challenge, especially when the translation is for a language that is not common.
“I think a lot of districts use internal translators, and if you have someone out sick or on leave, or if districts work with contract agencies, sometimes the timeline is more than 30 days,” Minear said.
Minear said the Ventura County Office of Education has two Spanish-English translators on staff, but they use outside agencies for other languages like Farsi and Mixteco, an indigenous language from southern Mexico. She said she thinks the template will help districts and translators do a better job.
“Although our IEPs differ … I think we use a lot of the same terms, a lot of the same language,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to having it on the template, because if there’s ever a word or phrase you need, it’s there for you, and it’s free.”
Sara Gomez, who has a 4-year-old with autism who attends preschool in Santa Clara County, said she thinks the law is a good step forward.
“I think the law is positive, in that it gives a sense of alarm that translations need to be done urgently,” Gomez said. “But we still don’t have a required timeline.”
Gomez said she has had to wait three or four months for her son’s individualized education program to be translated into Spanish. Gomez, who is from Venezuela, speaks English, but her husband speaks only Spanish.
She said she has heard of other parents waiting up to a year for translations, leaving them unable to make informed decisions about their children’s education.
“Even four months for a young child make a big difference,” Gomez said in Spanish. “When they are the youngest is when they need the most help.”
Advocates and families said they will keep pushing the state for guidelines about how to access qualified translators and a time limit for translations.
“We understand that districts experience challenges in finding qualified translators, especially for less common languages, and turning around documents quickly,” said French, from Innovate Public Schools.
However, she said, different districts have very different timelines for translations.
“We don’t believe it should be that inconsistent, if a parent lives in one district versus another,” French said. “There should be equity across the state about what a parent should expect in terms of translated documents.”
Allegra Cira Fischer, senior policy attorney for the nonprofit organization Disability Rights California, agreed. She said she was dismayed to see that the 30-day timeframe was removed from the bill.
“Parents tell us that sometimes their student will have a better teacher or a better case manager and they’ll get things in a more timely manner. But parents shouldn’t have to rely on an especially committed teacher or case manager,” Fischer said. “This is a situation that is really untenable and ultimately is harmful to children with disabilities.”
