Special-needs students earn grad rights

Those who complete studies can walk in ceremony even if they fail exit exam, school board rules.Special-education students will get to walk in graduation ceremonies even if they have failed the California high school exit exam, the Newport-Mesa Unified School Board of Trustees decided unanimously Tuesday.

At the board meeting, Newport-Mesa assessment director Peggy Anatol outlined a proposal to include special-needs students in the June ceremony if they have met all their high school requirements except for the exit exam. In those cases, students would receive certificates of achievement and be allowed to walk with their classmates at graduation but would have to return to take the exit exam to earn a diploma.

Board members, voting for the proposal, said it would offer a break to some of Newport-Mesa’s hardest-working students.

“We want to encourage our special-education students to complete their education,” said board member Serene Stokes. “This is one more step they can take to complete it.”

Of Newport-Mesa’s approximately 1,600 seniors, 212 still have not passed the exit exam. Sixty-two of those students are either in special education or have what are known as 504 plans, which are accommodations for regular-education students with learning disabilities.

The class graduating in June will be the first required to pass the exit exam to earn a diploma. Newport-Mesa seniors last took the test in November and will get the results next month. Anatol said that after the January scores come in, she may consider accommodations for other students who have not passed the exam.

Newport-Mesa high school principals voiced support for the special-education plan.

“I think it’s a very good idea,” said Corona del Mar High School principal Fal Asrani. “I think it’s an opportunity for kids who’ve done everything they can to meet the graduation requirements of the district but are definitely battling their own learning handicap that prevents them from passing the state exit exam. I like that they’re being given a certificate to acknowledge their work on campus.”

Michael Vossen, principal of Newport Harbor High School, called the plan “a fair and reasonable approach.”

While certificates for special-needs students are a new concept for Newport-Mesa, other districts throughout the state -- including the nearby Saddleback Valley and Placentia-Yorba Linda unified school districts -- have offered them for years. In her proposal, Anatol referred to the credential as a “certificate of achievement/completion” and said the district would settle on an official name and document design later.

Before the exit exam requirement this year, special-education students in Newport-Mesa had some concessions in finishing high school, Anatol said. Every student, including special education, needs 230 credits to graduate, but senior projects and community service hours have been optional for the severely handicapped.

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or by e-mail at michael.miller@latimes.com.