AUSTIN, Texas — In a press conference Thursday, Austin ISD leaders said they are making strides in fixing issues within the district's special education department, a program that some employees previously called a "toxic work environment."
It comes more than a year after the Texas Education Agency (TEA) ordered the school district to address a backlog of evaluations that kept some students waiting months to enter the special education program.
Lisa Flores has a son who was evaluated for special education.
"The backlog made it so that all evaluations were really rushed," Flores said. "Honestly, the evaluation left a lot to be desired. It wasn't in all areas of suspected disability. It wasn't comprehensive."
Austin ISD Superintendent Dr. Matias Segura says a lack of staff and data management systems contributed to the backlog. He says they have hired more help and are moving to a new platform to track special education issues.
"What we're wanting to accomplish is a seamless platform that aligns everything to get our teachers exactly what they need to support our students," Segura said. "We find ourselves at a place where we are becoming more stable than not."
But UT Austin professor David DeMatthews said it is concerning to hear the superintendent taking issues with a platform when it comes to students and their needs in the classroom.
"Even if there's problems with the system, even if they're transitioning from one system to another and there's training and there's some implementation challenges, the school still should be making progress, providing services to students," DeMatthews said. "It's the school district's job to make sure that's happening, whether there's a computer system or not."
DeMatthews acknowledges the school district is in a challenging place, saying the state has not done its part to support special education.
"If I was a parent of a child with a disability in any part of Texas, I would be concerned," DeMatthews said.
They are concerns that Flores refuses to hold back on.
"I just hope that there's the bravery to look at things with honesty and improve them with honesty rather than just saying 'well, we've corrected all these things, but then it's not actually getting to kids,'" Flores said.
Under an agreement with the Texas Education Agency, Austin ISD has until September 2025 to fully move over to that new platform to track changes to the special education system.