Racine School District redux

It is possible that the Racine district has even more problems than the ECASD lately!!
Maria


Racine Unified's director of special education quits

By DANI McCLAIN
dmcclain@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Oct. 22, 2007

Racine - The Racine Unified School District's director of special
education resigned Monday effective immediately, district officials
said.

The resignation of Renee Pfaller follows a Journal Sentinel report
this month that an autistic 3-year-old student in the Red Apple
Elementary School preschool program had been consistently strapped
into his chair without his parents' consent. The boy's parents had
pulled him out of the preschool program after receiving confirmation
from the state Department of Public Instruction that the school's
actions did not comply with state guidelines on restraint.

Racine Unified's chiefs of academics and human relations received
Pfaller's letter of resignation Monday morning, said Stephanie
Kratochvil, a district spokeswoman. The letter did not give a reason
for the resignation, Kratochvil said.

Pfaller had been on a leave of absence for about a month and was
expected to return Friday.

Late this summer Racine Unified received a comprehensive report on the
district's special education services, the result of a months-long
study completed by a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee education
professor. The district will not release the findings until they are
presented to the school board at a meeting Nov. 12, the district's
academic director said.

Pfaller had been Racine Unified's director of special education for
six years. She had served as a special education supervisor for two
years before taking the helm of the department.

Ann Laing, a former district area superintendent who retired in June,
will fill Pfaller's position until a replacement is hired, Kratochvil
said.



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