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Jacob's ladder

March 8, 2007

JACOB RANGEN IS 13 YEARS OLD AND TALL FOR HIS AGE, with fine, blond, slightly disheveled hair. Wire frame glasses with thick lenses give him the studious look of a youthful Harvard physicist teaching a class of undergraduates. He plays the trombone and baritone horn. He talks and acts normally. In fact, he is normal, with a normal kid's aspirations. Except for a few problems.

Jacob is trying to climb the ladder of his life with several rungs missing. These are steps on the ascension of life most of us take for granted. First, he is legally blind. Second, he has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, often referred to as high functioning autism. Finally, a brain injury, caused by a fall in 4th grade, triggers up to 22 seizures a day, ranging from mild temporal disassociation (zoning out), to fainting and collapsing on the floor.

Oh, and Jacob currently has one other disability: the Clark County School District. In a seemingly bad decision, the district has denied appropriate accommodations for him to attend school safely. One time, after this shortsighted academic ruling, he went to use the restroom during class time. There, alone, he had a seizure, collapsed and cracked his head against a bathroom door. Following this incident, both his medical doctor and a clinical psychologist insisted Jacob immediately be pulled out of school for his well-being, and schooled at home until appropriate accommodations were provided. But the district balked, refusing to supply either homebound services (a teacher sent to the home) or a full-time aide to enable him to attend school.

That was more than a year ago. During this time Jacob has sat out of school, ignored by the frequently brutal bureaucracy of education. A month ago, Child Protective Services was enlisted by the district to roust the Rangen family for their son's educational neglect. But the CPS agent, puzzled about the school district taking so long to act on this case, found no wrongdoing, citing Jacob's valid medical paperwork. In fact, parents Carl and Caroline Rangen have two other sons happily attending local schools. Yet the matter still was suspiciously referred to truancy court by the school district.

At the truancy hearing this past week, Juvenile Hearing Master Stephen Compan said, "It does seem to me there is a medical reason for this child not to be in school." To which he diplomatically added: "The school district does [a good] job. But it's a big school district. We are always fighting to develop more resources to help kids with disabilities."

He granted the case a 30-day continuance, then astutely hooked the Rangens up with a public defender to help them take action against the district (out of his jurisdiction) if the Rangens' battle turns into a civil matter.

One profound twist to this story is that Jacob's mother, Caroline Rangen, has worked in the district for a decade, presently as an assistant in special education. She has been a vocal critic of inequities and alleged illegalities, not related to her children, within the system. Speaking out repeatedly at school board meetings -- against empowerment schools and against the governance policy of the board itself, plus other significant issues -- she has become a persistent gnawing gnat on the fat ass of the gargantuan beast of Clark County public education. Faces of administrative head honchos curdle when they see her approaching. Once, possibly for her activism, the district tried to fire her, but, in a David and Goliath conflict, she body-slammed her bullying, behemoth-sized adversaries in arbitration and kept her job. Several insiders say the actions by the district against her son are "to get back at Caroline" for speaking out. Surprisingly, at the truancy hearing, school board member Shirley Barber, against whom Rangen has routinely vented, showed up in support of Rangen's son. Setting aside the divisiveness of petty politics, Barber was demonstrating that the school district's concern should be for all kids, even ones of parents who disagree with district policies. "Yes, it's probably ... retaliation," Barber boldly told one television reporter.

Unfortunately, thousands of children slip through cracks in our schools on a daily basis -- due to lack of funding for qualified teachers for all programs, for all students. Like Jacob Rangen. And that's too bad. Because, as with most kids, Jacob has normal aspirations while climbing the ladder of life. Someday, he would just like to play his trombone in the high school band.

Chip Mosher is a simple classroom teacher.

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