Information is out about years of abuse complaints and lack of academics at Northwest SOIL. Northwest School of Innovative Learning (Northwest SOIL) is the biggest player in the state’s special education system. Nonpublic agencies like Northwest SOIL serve about 500 public school students with what are considered to be the most serious disabilities. Washington state and school districts are pouring $173 million into outsourcing special education to Northwest SOIL and other schools.
The target was five school years ending in 2021. These types of private organizations promised to help students with serious disabilities. But when school districts urged action, the state let the private school stay open and receive millions in tax dollars. For years, the complaints languished with Washington state education officials.
About 140,000 students in special education in Washington attend classes within their public schools. Those with the highest needs are supported by the state in sending more students out of traditional public schools. The reports describe a failure to serve kids with disabilities at the Northwest School of Innovative Learning.
The examples sent out concerning this matter describes a therapist’s email about a teenage boy with severe autism. The child reportedly cried for hours inside a locked room in her school. She was pleading the entire time to be let out. In another situation, an education official saw a teacher shove her foot in a student’s face as he lay on the ground and threaten to step on the student.
Complaints were met with inaction and collected at least $38 million and took in hundreds of public school students. A review of more than 17,000 pages of documents from 45 school districts, three police departments and the state education department was used by media and watchdog organizations to compile this information. Washington has the nation’s second-highest dropout rate for special education students but has increased the amount of time students spend in regular classrooms.
