Superintendent says he didn’t encourage parents to get ADA accommodations

By Drew Reeves

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    BENTON COUNTY, Oregon (KPTV) — The superintendent of one Oregon school district is fighting back after being called out in a letter by Governor Kate Brown to the state’s school districts and superintendents.

Tuesday, Governor Brown wrote a letter, telling school districts not to jeopardize an in-person return to school by defying her mask mandate.

Ever since Brown announced a mask mandate would be in effect as students return to school for fall, she received pushback from some districts. Tuesday, she told districts to stop that kind of behavior.

She even addressed one specific school superintendent, without mentioning him by name.

“I am aware of one district leader who has sent a letter to parents urging them to request an accommodation for their child under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to avoid mask requirements. I find it deeply appalling that any education leader––who is supposed to be setting an example for our students––would send a communication so callous and offensive to Oregon parents and children with disabilities,” Brown wrote.

That section of the letter addressed Superintendent Marc Thielman of the Alsea School District.

“I’m one of those parents and I want the whole world to know I have a beautiful daughter, Molly, sorry I get emotional, she is severely disabled, autism, among other things, cerebral palsey, she cannot advocate for herself,” said Thielman.

Thielman wrote a letter to inform parents of their options after he said nearly 100 parents threatened to pull their kids out of school.

“I said very clearly in my correspondence, the governor has the authority to do this, as per the law. We are going to be enforcing this mandate. I don’t know how I can be any more supportive of Governor Brown than that,” he said.

Thielman also said that any accommodations through section 504 of the ADA are not guaranteed and if one is made other COVID-19 mitigation efforts will be put in place.

“I’m a little bit shocked that here I am doing everything I can to support Governor Brown and enforce this mandate and inform parents of options and embrace and dialogue with individual families about whether or not there is an accommodation we can safely make regarding mask wearing so that kid can come to school and learn rather than doing something substandard,” said Thielman.

He said it is a small number of parents who have applied for ADA accommodations and those will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

FOX 12 reached out to Governor Brown’s office to see if she had any response to Thielman’s comments, but did not hear back.

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