The schoolchildren will be transferred to other classes, sometimes meaning longer commutes to other schools. It's part of the beleaguered district's attempts to deal with a $640-million deficit
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
With its fountains, gardens, playgrounds, murals and spotless walkways, Frances Blend School in Hollywood looks more like an oasis than a battleground over the future of education for the disabled.
The well-ordered campus for young blind students conveys the message that no detail, no extra care, is too trivial or wasted in helping the neediest in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
This level of care, intermittent districtwide, grew out of decades of effort by educators and advocates, who sometimes sued the district to secure rights.
But now officials plan to spend much less on the disabled: 200 classes will be shut down, as well as a specialized campus, the West Valley Special Education Center. Blend also faces cutbacks; but just as alarming as these overt moves, critics say, is a pervasive focus on saving money by limiting services to individual children.
