UPDATE: Legislature passes bill allowing medically fragile children to continue education with Portland Public Schools for upcoming school year

The education plans for more than three dozen disabled students living at the

are suddenly in limbo after

abruptly informed families last month that the district is not legally responsible for their schooling.

The change caught parents, special education directors and Providence administrators off-guard and has left them scrambling to find out what it means for the education of some of the city's most vulnerable students.

Nichole Karn's 8-year-old daughter Joslyn, who requires extensive, around-the-clock care, has attended Portland Public Schools for years and is among those affected. "At this point, I don't know where they expect her to go," said the mom from Canby.

For more than a decade, Portland Public Schools has provided educational services for students living full-time at the

The center is in the district's boundaries and houses students who require 24-hour care, intensive nursing services, and supports such as tube-feeding. Since 2004, Portland has transported many of them to its nearby schools, where they could receive more instruction and interact with students in the general population.

But officials in May sent a letter without warning to more than 40 families of the 53 students who lived there, saying an analysis of state law revealed Portland is not required to provide education to them.

Oregon law says the district in which a guardian lives -- not where the student in a facility like Providence lives -- is responsible for the child's education, according to Portland's interpretation. The

agrees with the analysis.

The Providence pediatric skilled nursing center is the only one its kind in the Pacific Northwest, drawing residents from as far as Alaska and California. Nearly 80 percent of the students have parents who live outside the district's boundaries.

Now, as summer looms, parents are unclear about their options. Portland officials and Providence have agreed to work on providing some transitional services at the district's expense next year but the district has no information on the level of services.

Some districts may try to provide resources themselves, but most are too far away for the center's students to attend. Karn wants to apply for an inter-district transfer, and other districts could try to contract with Portland, but the district would not necessarily be obligated to accept students if it said its programs cannot accommodate them.

Portland's special education director Mary Pearson said the district was prompted to review its policy with Providence students after receiving a bill earlier this school year for the education of a child who resides in an out-of-state medical facility but has a guardian living in Portland.

The district did not want to be found liable for making decisions on behalf of students who are not district residents, she said. But she also admitted the move was partly cost-driven. The district spent about $1.5 million to educate students at the center.

The mention of cost has struck a nerve with parents such as Karn. "It seems kind of selfish to me, that they're not seeing how it's affecting the kids and their outcomes and their whole families," she said.

For parents like Katharine Murphy, whose 17-year-old daughter Kelton lives at the center, the change is especially upsetting as it affects a population that thrives on consistency and can't stand up for itself.

"Our daughter doesn't speak," said Murphy, who resides in the Riverdale School District. "We have to be her voice."

In its letter to parents, the district mentioned parents may want to contact their local districts but steered clear of directly pointing out who would provide support for children next year.

"It's not Portland Public's responsibility to define who should provide that support," said Ed Krankowski, the district's assistant director of special education. "We just know that we're not the ones legally responsible for that support."

The district's initial offer involved some on-site services at the center but parents argue the change would take away a crucial part of their children's education: socializing with other students in a more general setting.

Carrie Petz said her 12-year-old son

s, has friends and a music program at Hosford Middle School that are integral to helping him grow.

"His world is already so small," said Petz, of Vancouver, Wash. "Without school, his world will shrink even smaller."

The center's nursing administrator Joann Vance also pointed out the center has little room to provide the kind of education the students had in Portland schools.

"We're a medical facility," she said. "We don't have classrooms."

Some parents feel helpless, worrying the impending summer will make it more difficult to resolve the issues in time.

"I've contacted my school district and at least got the ball rolling," Petz said. "But then summer comes, and the school year is going to start, and he's not going to have a place to go."

Sondra Strong, the student services director at the Canby School District, had a similar concern. "There's a relatively short window to try and figure out the details about how this child can get an education," said Strong.

Krankowski insists the district did its best to communicate with parents while working with Providence. In its initial letter to parents, Portland school officials said they would hold a question-and-answer session -- but they still haven't scheduled one.

Murphy said she just wants to resolve everything as quickly as possible.

"I understand the challenge of educating these kids," she said, "but it's their right to have an appropriate education."

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