In Hazlehurst public schools, students with disabilities lose out on required help ...Middle East

HAZLEHURST — Cyn’tra sat in the back of his third-grade reading class at Hazlehurst Elementary. A worksheet lay before him: blank. He seemed confused, looking around at classmates, who were writing responses, and at the teacher. The teacher repeated the questions and provided hints and tips. 

The 8-year-old was easily distracted. He gave up after slowly reading through the questions.

“He required extensive support,” wrote Vonnie Byrd, his assistant principal, after observing Cyn’tra in class. “He appeared confused and looked around the room.”

District contractors, officials and employees performed five similar observations, six behavioral, psychological and skill-based tests, a review of Cyn’tra’s developmental history and an interview with his guardian. They noted details such as his ADHD diagnosis, the type of medicine he takes and why. He also struggles to sound out words and make sense of them on the page. The documents detail how he is generally collegial with other students and behaves well. They also noted concerns such as a time when he threw a tantrum and his behavior escalated to the point where he was taken to the emergency room. 

Then Hazlehurst City School District officials dropped Cyn’tra from special education services. They gave no clear reason why.

The department’s decision was “devastating,” said Cynthia Catchings, Cyn’tra’s grandmother and guardian. 

The boy’s academic performance has dropped from B’s and C’s to D’s and F’s, she said.  

Catchings’ situation isn’t hers alone. Other Hazlehurst special education staff, parents of students with disabilities and advocates say the school district has not provided services required under federal law. They have filed more than a dozen pages of complaints with the Mississippi Department of Education and the Hazlehurst district’s central office in the last three years. 

Unresolved complaints and repeated violations of federal law are some reasons why the state might take over the district this school year. The agency also cited the district in December and March for operating a special education department that was unresponsive to parent concerns and lacked documentation of meeting students’ needs.

School board President Paul Rhodes declined to comment in light of pending litigation. 

District leadership has changed since the state education agency cited Hazlehurst schools for violating the rights of students with disabilities. Cloyd Garth, who was superintendent when the district was cited, did not respond to repeated requests for comment in regards to complaints from within the department during his tenure. He left his post on June 8, and school board members would not say whether he resigned or was fired. 

The district is also advertising for a new special education director. District officials did not respond to a request for comment on special education director Andrea Vasser’s employment status.

“I don’t know why they want him to fail,” Catchings said of the district cutting support services for Cyn’tra. “I don’t have any support from the school. They always say no child left behind, but we are both left behind: the parent and the child.”

Outcomes for students like Cyn’tra have reached a new low in Hazlehurst. The graduation rate for students with disabilities dropped from roughly 58% in 2023-24 to less than a third in 2024-25. 

State regulators note that dozens of students with disabilities aren’t getting required support

Under a new mandate from the U.S. Department of Education to provide written monitoring reports to districts, the state agency took additional steps to hold Hazlehurst public schools accountable for violating the civil rights of students with disabilities. In March, state officials notified Garth that investigators found poor oversight and no plans on how to help some students with disabilities.

The sheer volume of problems state investigators found with Hazlehurst schools’ special education department was alarming to Danita Munday, who worked in the state Department of Education’s special education monitoring division before departing.

“I think it would have been quicker to write a report about what they’re actually doing well because apparently it’s nothing,” Munday said.

Students with mild and severe disabilities missed out on services that made learning possible. Nearly a dozen student files were missing a learning plan all together. Without a learning plan, the state education officials can’t verify if those students are receiving required help in the classroom. 

State regulators found that school district officials greenlit learning plans for some special education students without involving parents and without regard to data, considering tests, and with no mention of student behavior.

When parents did request services or appealed department decisions, they sometimes waited for a response past federally mandated deadlines.

A student with failing eyesight and a partially deaf student lacked documented support services. Regulators also could not verify whether students with disabilities at the district alternative school got federally mandated support.

‘You’re just a teacher’ 

Three former Hazlehurst special educators, who worked in district classrooms, told Mississippi Today the dysfunction within the district’s department wasn’t limited to parent outreach and records management. They said the department’s leaders were more concerned with documenting services for students than offering them.

One former instructor said Vasser withheld full reports that analyze student eligibility for special education services. Without that information, it was more difficult to craft learning plans that fully accommodated the student’s disability. The instructor asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation from district leadership,

The educator said Garth threatened to fire them after they challenged the legality of a separate learning plan and sought guidance from the state Education Department. 

The learning plan was to have an elementary school student with a significant cognitive disability complete a packet of classwork each week at home alone in lieu of in-person instruction. The educator said they reminded Vasser the child’s family did not speak English

The educator also said Garth accused them of breaking the chain of command by calling the state Education Department.

“I’m not mad at (Vasser), but her rights end where mine begin. I nor my students will be mishandled,” the educator wrote in an April 2023 email to Vasser and Garth, which an educator gave Mississippi Today. “My concern is the response to my advocating for my students.”

Gardner Wooten left the Hazlehurst special education department in 2023. He said district leadership forced him to cancel meetings with parents of students with disabilities so he could substitute teach and proctor tests.

“Those students really got the short end of the stick,” he said. “I complained about it, too. They didn’t care. Their attitude there is that you’re just a teacher.”

‘This is not just a paperwork problem’

Two positions for special education teachers in Hazlehurst schools have not been filled since 2023.

Fewer staffers means existing special education teachers and officials have to manage larger caseloads. 

Catchings, Cyn’tra’s grandmother, said she knows the department is short staffed, but ending  special education services for her grandson will limit his future opportunities. She worries he will continue to fall behind.

Cyn’tra said he found it harder to focus after January, when he lost access to special services. The classroom sounded louder and the noises were distracting without the aid of a special education teacher to provide clear guidance for class assignments. He misses the teacher who would take him to a separate, quieter room to go over the classroom work.

“When I didn’t have her around, it would be way harder to read,” he said. “When we follow along with the story, I can read back to her.”

Teachers would better understand his behavior and be able to manage it without calling Catchings to intervene throughout the day, Catchings told Mississippi Today.

Without an individualized education plan, known as an IEP, teachers don’t know Cyn’tra needs questions read aloud and time to sound out words, Catchings said. His next teachers won’t know that he needs built-in breaks between tasks, a visual aid and extra time on tests.

Catchings has taken Cyn’tra to a psychiatrist who can retest Cyn’tra for cognitive and psychiatric needs and recommend special education services for him. A separate psychiatrist had been waiting on Vasser to present the contract for his testing services to the Hazlehurst school board for reimbursement approval, according to Catchings.

It’s been six months.

“This is not just a paperwork problem,” said Munday, the former state special education director. “This is about a district using flawed processes to push a child out of special education, with no soft place to land.”

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