The draft documents show special education students could be assigned to specialty schools as early as the 2026-27 school year, which starts in just four months.
Jessie and Kyle Dugan's 6-year-old son with autism receives therapies and additional learning through HISD's special education programs. When they first saw leaked draft documents of the district's special education plan, they felt blindsided.
"It's difficult to see the path forward, so I think this is unfortunately consistent with the fact that we don't know what the plan is for our children should they stay in HISD," Kyle Dugan said.
The proposed specialty schools are described as centralized sites for special education for kids with significant emotional and behavioral needs.
"They should be included with everyone else, that's what we want, we want our daughter and our son, the twins, to have access to a great education, we don't want our son to be hidden away," Jessie Dugan said.
The draft document says specialty schools will increase access to specialized teachers, help maintain smaller class sizes, concentrate resources, and help. If a student is reassigned to a specialty school, documents say transportation can be coordinated.
"A lot of kids with special needs are medically fragile, have behavioral issues. How will transporting them across town, day to day, be good for them?" Jessie Dugan said.
The Dugans said separating the two populations will only hurt special education learners.
"He learns from kids who are more neuro typical, and his speech has come leaps and bounds, which just hearing other kids he can look at and mimic in a lot of ways so it's been one of the best aspect so to take that way from him and shuttle him into a room where he's not getting that experience feels depriving to him that's incredible valuable to his right now," Kyle Dugan said.
The FAQ sheet says this isn't being done as a cost-saving measure, but the Dugans said it doesn't feel that way.
"I have a hard time seeing how it's not for financial reasons, given the kind of dire state that HISD finds itself in under this leadership. The resources have been drained in the last couple of years; they don't have a bond because there is no trust between the community and the leadership, so I have a hard time not believing that it's a financial decision," Kyle Dugan said.
The Dugans said they rarely feel the state-appointed administration is seeking input from the community, and this feels like the latest example. The Dugans are moving out of the state this summer. HISD officials said education was a driving factor.
ABC13 reached out to the school district for comment. Eyewitness News wanted to know how many schools will be built, where they will open, and when they expect to engage the community. They did not respond.