Special education is the most expensive department in the county school system's $330.1 million budget and also the most complex. But howeffective is it?

Just ask the military families with disabled students who make a point of requesting assignment to Fort Meade. Anne Arundel County and Fort Lewis, Wash., are the top two choices for military families with children requiring special education.

"Soldiers are asked to make choices about their next move," says Kathy Baker, Fort Meade Community Liaison coordinator. "Some maneuverto get here."

Baker attributes the preference to an extensive school program that has had experience dealing with a full range of disabilities.

Fredrealea Shaw is stationed at Fort Meade. Her 7-year-old son, Bennell, spent the first 3 1/2 years of his life in the hospital. Now, he's a special education student at West Meade Elementary, where he is being mainstreamed -- worked into the general student population.

"He started school at age 5 on the level of a 3-year-old," his mother said. "Now he is 7 and at the level of a 6-year, 6-month-old. I'm pleased with the special education program at West Meade."

Of the more than 11,600 students of military families in the county, 371 -- 3.2 percent -- are enrolled in special education classes. By contrast, about 14 percent of the general student population is enrolled in at least one special education course.

This year, the federal government will pay $240,000 to the county's school system to help defray the costs of educating military dependents.

Not everyoneis pleased that the military thinks so highly of the county's special education system. For years, critics have charged that such an influx of military families helps drain the special education budget.

Ken Lawson, the school system's assistant superintendent for student support services, believes those concerns are blown out of proportion.

"We did a study to determine the level of participation of military-dependent families and whether it was greater than non-military families," Lawson says. "We assumed it would be disproportionate. Yes,there were significant numbers, but the percent wasn't way out of line, in spite of the Army directing families here."

State, federal guidelines

Of course, county school officials have little say overwhere the military sends its personnel. But insofar as special education is concerned, that lack of control is nothing new -- almost every aspect of special education is controlled by strict federal and state guidelines.

Public Law 94-142, requiring that all children, no matter their handicaps, be provided a public education through age 21, has been on the federal books since 1975. Principals who want to make sure they are following the letter of the law swear by it. Parentsconcerned that their children's needs are met know it by heart.

But Law 94-142 isn't static. School systems must continue to monitor the courts for amendments that may drastically change what services they must offer.

Those changes often come with substantial price tags attached.

For students in special centers, student-teacher ratios are set at nearly one teacher or aide per child. Specially-designedschool buses, with seat belts or wheelchair lifts, are required.

Every three years, Anne Arundel County is evaluated by a team from the state Department of Education. The county is due for a review next year. The last time the county was evaluated, it was responsible for teaching 8,600 disabled students. That number has since risen to 9,100.

During the last evaluation, a team of eight state and regional special education professionals reported some problems, mostly in bookkeeping. Annual financial reports were inconsistent with the approved budget, some student records were incomplete and the county's "Parent-Guardian Rights" brochure failed to list all parental rights as required by law (it has been updated since the last review).

The state surveyed 33 parents of children receiving special education aboutinformation the school system was required to provide them. Fifty-eight percent said they were informed of their legal rights as a parentof a handicapped child; 91 percent said they were asked for written permission to have their children tested for special education; 27 percent said they were told that free transportation would be provided for their children, and 31 percent said they were told that signing their child's education plan meant they were approving it.

The evaluating team, however, gave the school system high marks for staff training and its efforts toward mainstreaming. They also cited the county's Parent Infant Program as a successful method to solicit communitysupport in early identification of special education students and making sure parents understand the services available to them.

"By and large, Anne Arundel County is doing fine," said Jerry White, special education specialist at the State Department of Education in Baltimore.

Lawsuit began in 1986

Not surprisingly, parents of children needing special education and the school system don't always agree. Sometimes the legal system is called on to settle the issue.

Anne Arundel County is currently embroiled in a lawsuit that began with complaints in 1986.

Conklin vs. the Board of Education is now on appeal in federal court. The parents in the case requested private dayor residential placement. But school system legal counsel P. Tyson Bennett said officials feel the student can be served best in a countypublic school.

Because the case is still in litigation, details have not been released. But so far, the case has been through a local hearing board, two state hearings, a three-day trial in district court and a federal appeal last December.

The local hearing decided in favor of the school system. A 1988 state hearing called for the student to remain in public school, but ordered the board to provide after-school tutoring. The district court decision allowed the amount oftutoring to be reduced.

The federal appeals judge's decision has yet to be handed down. Legal fees on both sides are estimated at morethan $50,000.

Bennett said Conklin is the only case he knows of to progress so far. But as the parents' movement for self-empowerment in special education law picks up momentum, increased litigation is likely.

Ironically, the Board of Education must play both sides of the issue. Legally, they must make parents aware of their rights for due process; but at the same time, they must address the resulting complaints.

That's where Ellen Fahnestock, the board's legal liaisonfor special education issues, steps into the picture. It's her job to head off possible lawsuits by mediating disputes.

As soon as a letter of complaint is written to special education Director Irene Paonessa, Fahnestock is on the telephone with parents and administrators, making sure all means have been exhausted before they move forward with a hearing.

"My first obligation is to try to resolve it in a non-adversarial way," Fahnestock says. "I've been pretty successful, with only two to three hearings per school year.

"We are pretty much able to resolve it before the hearing level. It's usually issues requesting a specific placement or disagreement with the school team'sdecision."

The files in her office range from parents who do not want their child to receive special education services to those who want students sent to residential placements away from the home.

"No one has ever said to me to keep schools out of court to save money," Fahnestock said. "But I'm sure it does save a lot of money. Every time there is a hearing, it costs $300 per day for a hearing officer from the state.

"Hearings can last between one and four days. But the hidden costs are in staff time, bringing them in as witnesses and hiring substitutes, as well as the secretarial time to prepare all ofthe documents. If parents prevail, we have to pay their attorney fees."

Nearly 50 hearings have been averted this year because Fahnestock was able to bring both sides together.

"Larger counties, like Montgomery, have many more hearings," Fahnestock says. "I'm committedto conflict resolution. I honestly believe people want the same things, but it's just that the line of communication breaks down."

Thecounty has established a Parent/Educator Resource Center at the Carver Staff Development Center in Crofton which offers courses to informparents of their rights.

Parents have become more vocal during budget hearings, requesting no cuts in special education, which they see as the school system's most vulnerable population. They demand increased services, attendance at neighborhood schools and better handicapped accessibility.

One parent complained that she fears for her child's safety in a school where two adults must carry the student down steps during a fire drill. Millions of dollars would have to be spent to make all county schools handicapped-accessible, officials say.

Mainstreaming preferred

When 6-year-old Carmen Conners, a student with rigid muscles in her arms and legs because of cerebral palsy,and Natalie Rickert, 7, who has Down's syndrome, eat lunch in the cafeteria at Central Elementary in Edgewater or participate in culturalarts classes, few of their classmates stare.

On the playground, Carmen's two friends must skip to keep up with her, as she moves alongin a walker with a red-and-white basket attached. As for Natalie, she and a new friend spend their recess dancing.

Special education teacher Kathy Gidlund believes mainstreaming programs similar to the one at Central, which mixes special education students into a regular school environment, best prepare students for a future that includes getting a job and maintaining an independent lifestyle.

"I've noticed a difference in them," said Gidlund, who for two years has watched special education students at Central relate to their peers. "They're not so shy. They're not walking with their heads down. They say hello to people. Their confidence has grown being with regular kids.

"Even their bus driver said these can't be the same kids from the beginning of the year. He's noticed a change. Instead of saying they can't do something, they try it first."

County school officials say they are committed to seeing that all students are given the opportunity to reach their potential. Three high schools will begin mainstreaming more severely disabled students next year, similar to the ones at Central Elementary. The school system's integration specialist, Paulette Henson, is doing her part to educate students and teachers in how to make them work.

Teachers with no experience with the disabled are learning that special education students often travel with aides who are available to adapt assignments. Students are being taught to focus on similarities rather than differences.

"They're the future employees, future friends, future neighbors," Henson says. "Unlesswe do disability awareness, they will continue to be segregated."

Some teachers complain that already overcrowded classes may be all they can handle. Others are not sure how to incorporate the needs of special education students.

"Teachers' bottom line is they want to know what they must do," says Henson.

At Overlook Elementary in Linthicum, Principal Wayne Bark is working to get the message across --even though the school has few disabled students.

On April 19, students went to the gym and watched four of their teachers and CynthiaCaldwell, of the school board's Department of Instruction, take on Larry Hughes, a disabled spokesman for the impaired, in a game of wheelchair basketball.

After a poor showing by the teachers, Hughes teased them.

"Look at your teachers, and look at me, and tell me whois disabled," Hughes said.

The message was not lost on 8-year-oldKellie Pfeiffer.

"I learned that people in wheelchairs can do a lot more than other people," she said.

Educators laud the gains made though outreach classes like Carmen and Natalie's, mainstreaming and early intervention programs. But Assistant Superintendent Lawson and others worry that budget woes will begin to erode the progress realized in Anne Arundel County.

"I'm almost convinced that the biggest challenge is to have people understand the vital role special education plays in the lives of 9,100 youngsters," Lawson said. "Part of the problem is the name itself. A lot of people associate the word special with something extra. It is important that funding authorities understand the needs.

"It is not a frill," he adds, "but a necessity."

NUMBERS

The number of students receiving special education in Anne Arundel County, and their conditions:

CONDITION NO.

Mentally retarded 423

Hard of hearing 49

Deaf 15

Speech Impaired 2,982

Visually Impaired 30

Emotionally Impaired 523

Orthopedically Impaired 41

Other health problems 293

Spec. learning disability 4,579

Multi-handicapped 161

Still in need of assessment 2

Deaf and Blind 2