Woodland Joint Unified is "failing" special education students, parent and advocate allege
WOODLAND — In part one of a three-part investigative series, CBS13 for months has looked into allegations that the Woodland Joint Unified School District (WJUSD) is violating the federal education rights of some of its most vulnerable students: those in special education.
Staffing and funding challenges, especially within special education departments, exist at schools nationwide and are not unique to WJUSD.
However, a parent, a regional special education advocate and former teachers share stories of their experience at WJUSD schools that they hope will shine a spotlight not only on this district but problems within special education across the country.
Sunday night, one day before CBS13 alerted the district that this series would begin to air, the district's superintendent, Elodia Ortega-Lampkin, sent out an email blast to all parents within WJUSD.
The email alerted parents that a CBS13 story would be airing and even outlined steps the district is taking to improve their special education department -- a response that included information not provided to CBS13 when we asked multiple times over the course of four months for the district to respond to these allegations.
The district's response provided to CBS13 and the subsequent email sent to parents will be included in full at the end of this story.
In part, Ortega-Lampkin told parents in her email that, "School districts across California are grappling with similar struggles as they work to meet growing demands with limited resources."
A parent's plea
At Zamora Elementary School in Woodland, one mother feels that her fight for her child echoes the struggles of other parents within WJUSD.
"They talk to us parents like we don't know what's best for our child," Surrina Oliver said.
Oliver's daughter, Natalie, is in kindergarten at Zamora Elementary. Oliver said Natalie was diagnosed with autism when she was two years old and was placed in special needs day classes within the district for preschool.
But this school year, upon Natalie's transition to kindergarten, is when Oliver says the problems started.
"Natalie is behind educationally. The tests show it, and they didn't want to help support her," Oliver said. "They were going to put her into general education with no support at all."
At Natalie's first kindergarten IEP meeting, Oliver said she felt silenced.
An IEP, or individualized education program, is required by federal law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IEP document is agreed upon between a student's parent, teacher and school district representatives, outlining what classroom supports are needed for a child in special education.
Oliver alleges the district excluded verbally agreed-upon supports from Natalie's IEP document and even lied about her daughter's progress to support a move out of special education.
"They weren't taking it serious. It seemed like they were just trying to throw all the kids in mainstream. That's where the majority of her preschool class ended up. They pushed them into mainstream, general ed with very little support," Oliver claimed.
Educating one California student in special education can be three times as expensive as general education, based on state spending data.
For the 2023-24 school year, state data shows WJUSD had 1,770 students enrolled in special education, the highest of any district in Yolo County. The next closest was Davis Joint Unified with 1,288 students.
In Natalie's case, Oliver said her child has also been in the wrong class this entire school year.
It is in violation of her original IEP, which stated she should be in a kindergarten class for kids with "mild to moderate" needs. Instead, she was placed in a class for children with "severe" needs, something Oliver further alleges the district did not make her aware of and she instead found out on her own.
After a follow-up IEP meeting with the district, Oliver eventually opted to keep Natalie in the wrong class, worried that further disrupting her autistic child's routine would only make her school year even worse.
"For her to dislike kindergarten as much as she does is really sad. It's just the beginning. She has so many years to go. It's shaping her education in a negative light," Oliver said.
Pushing for change
Surrina Oliver is one of dozens of WJUSD parents who reached out to the Sacramento Autistic Spectrum and Special Needs Alliance (SASSNA) for help.
"This is why I reached out to [SASSNA], I've been told by the district, 'we don't offer that,' and 'we don't have that,' or 'we can't help you there or support your daughter.' They do have it, but they were trying to make me believe they didn't," Oliver said.
Dave Gaines, CEO of SASSNA, first reached out to CBS13 last fall with a long list of allegations against the district.
"This is a crisis on the federal level, but most people don't even know it exists," Gaines said.
The nonprofit advocates for students with special needs and their families regionwide, providing help navigating social services and even attending students' IEP meetings to act as an advocate on behalf of the child and their parents when negotiating needed supports in the classroom.
Gaines said that he learned through his own advocacy work that within WJUSD, Natalie's story is one example of many.
"We started getting a stream of requests for help from parents in Woodland Joint Unified. We had never seen anything like it before from this district," Gaines said.
Gaines said that he is currently working with around 40 clients, all current or former parents and teachers and all bringing forward their own allegations against the district.
"It's probably the most severe situation I've seen in my 15 years of doing this kind of work," Gaines said.
So what are the allegations?
Broadly, considering confidential information from his clients cannot be shared without their permission, Gaines said that recurring allegations based on his interviews with parents include claims that:
- classrooms are being taught long-term by a substitute or non-qualified teacher.
- some students are not getting the supports outlined in their IEPs, pointing to Natalie Oliver as one example.
- there is a pattern of trying to push some students out of special education.
- classrooms have had no teacher at all.
Concerning the allegation of students having no teacher at all, Gaines alleges, "I have information, very credible information, that that happened for a period up to seven months. For a class with 12 to 14 significantly disabled students, bigger students, students with behavioral concerns, students that run away, there are safety concerns there."
Gaines said that happened at a district adult education class for those with special needs.
This school year, SASSNA sent a letter to the district offering to collaborate to address alleged "substantial legal deficiencies" and a "cover-up of systemic problems."
He said the district has provided no real response to SASSNA. It is why he contacted CBS13.
Gaines also emailed the school board and district that he believes they have, on multiple occasions, "criminally" violated students' federal education rights.
It's why he filed a complaint with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) last year.
The DOJ, in response, directed its Office of Civil Rights to look into his concerns. Gaines said that he is currently cooperating with federal Department of Education staff and that their inquiry is ongoing.
"In a lot of cases, Woodland and other school districts, they know they are in violation of the law. The system doesn't allow them to not be in violation of the law. It says you have to do all this by law, but we are not going to give you enough resources to do it," Gaines said.
Gaines said the problem stems from a funding and staffing deficit, decades in the making. He hopes that calling attention to it to can make a difference.
"What we don't want is what's been going on for a long time. Complaint after complaint after complaint, single complaints are resolved, but the problem is never resolved," Gaines said.
California's Department of Education weighs in
CBS13 sent a Public Records Act request to the California Department of Education (CDE) to try and contextualize this issue.
The request for information revealed there were at least six complaints in the 2023-24 school year against WJUSD that were investigated and closed. (Complaints still actively being investigated by CDE are not provided in a records request.)
In one of those six cases, CDE ruled the district was breaking the law on the finding that WJUSD did not comply with one student's IEP and that it "did not provide speech and language services during the 2023-24 school year, until January 30, 2024."
For at least one still-open complaint, in a letter obtained by CBS13, CDE told WJUSD superintendent Elodia Ortega-Lampkin on December 6, 2024, that CDE would investigate further claims "alleging violations of special education laws."
In addition, a CDE spokesperson told CBS13:
"We can confirm that Woodland was in the so-called "Intensive Unit" last year, meaning that students receive highly focused and individualized instruction, often with a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, to address significant learning needs that require more frequent and structured interventions compared to a general special education classroom. However, WJUSD was identified in 2024 as a Targeted Level 2 for Disproportionality, meaning there is a significant disparity in the representation of a specific racial or ethnic group within the special education population. As a result, WJUSD is being monitored by the Yolo County SELPA. WJUSD has not received any corrective actions from CDE."
The district's response to CBS13
A full list of every allegation against the district posed by Surrina Oliver, Dave Gaines and two former teachers (who share their accounts in part two of this series) was sent by CBS13 to WJUSD's spokesperson and special education director on December 11, 2024.
A spokesperson chose not to respond to the allegations directly, but sent CBS13 this statement:
"At Woodland Joint Unified School District, we remain deeply committed to providing high-quality education and upholding the rights of all students, including our special education students and their families. However, our district is unable to provide you with a response to the specific questions you asked involving students and other allegations referenced in your email. Information involving specific students is confidential under FERPA and the California Education Code. Nevertheless, our district takes the allegations referenced in your email very seriously and will be conducting our own internal review. Accordingly, I am not at liberty to comment further on those items. As for your requests for information regarding administrative hearings and settlements, you will receive a response by separate correspondence in accordance with the California Public Records Act. Notwithstanding, please know that our district works diligently to ensure the services provided to our students with special needs are compliant with state and federal laws."
WJUSD's special education director, Michael Allum, then declined to provide information that CBS13 requested concerning administrative hearings, which are proceedings similar to civil lawsuits against the district, under California's Public Records Act.
Allum told CBS13, in part: "The District determined that it does not possess disclosable public records responsive to your request."
Over the next four months, CBS13 followed up multiple times, requesting information on the status of the internal review that the spokesperson said the district would start to conduct in December.
As of April 2025, the district confirmed that the review is still ongoing but declined to provide an updated or more detailed response to CBS13 when told this story would begin airing on April 21.
An email blast districtwide
However, on Easter Sunday, the night before this series started to air, WJUSD's superintendent sent an email out to all district parents with further examples of how the district is working to better its special education department that were not provided to CBS13.
CBS13 obtained a copy of the email. The subject line is "Important Message from the Superintendent" and it reads, in full:
"Dear WJUSD Families,
We have been made aware that CBS13 is expected to air a series of stories raising concerns about special education services across California, with a focus on our District.
At WJUSD, we are deeply committed to supporting each and every student and helping them reach their full potential. We recognize the unique needs of every learner and greatly value the collaborative efforts to provide the best possible educational experience for all students, including those with special needs.
We expect the stories will highlight statewide concerns about special education services in schools. While we respect perspectives about special education challenges across California and within our District, our shared challenges do not fully reflect the unwavering dedication, compassion, and professionalism of all our WJUSD educators, specialists, and staff who work very hard every day to meet the needs of all our students.
It's our understanding that the stories will point out challenges such as staffing shortages, limited public funding, and increasing student needs, which are not unique to our District. School districts across California are grappling with similar struggles as they work to meet growing demands with limited resources.
Here are some of our ongoing efforts to address student needs:
Addressing staffing shortages by recruiting special education teachers and support staff, such as school psychologists
Adding three Special Day Classes (SDCs) based on increased student needs to provide specialized instruction and services to students with intensive needs
Onboarded a new Special Education Director
Brought on a Special Education Administrator to support the management of our programs
Ongoing staff development for our certificated and classified staff supporting students with special needs
Continuous internal review of our programs and procedures
Continuous collaboration with the Yolo County Special Education Local Planning Agency (SELPA)
Continuous collaboration with families through our Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC)
We understand there is more work to be done, and we always welcome your feedback as we strive to improve. If you have questions or concerns, we encourage you to reach out to your school site principal. We also encourage you to attend one of our upcoming SEPAC meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 12, 6 p.m., at our District Office, 435 Sixth St. in Woodland.
We believe in continuous improvement, partnership, and, most of all, in our students.
Thank you for being a vital part of our school community.
Respectfully,
Elodia Ortega-Lampkin
Superintendent "
CBS13's three-part series looking into concerns within WJUSD and the nationwide crisis in special education continued on April 22 with accounts from two former teachers and a deeper dive into federal education funding.
Then, on April 23, we concluded this series by investigating claims presented in a civil lawsuit that one parent filed against WJUSD concerning her child, which is set for trial next year in Yolo County court.
You can view the full, televised three-part investigation below.
