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Flagpole protester reports progress
Tuesday, September 12, 2000 By Janice Crompton, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A meeting yesterday over how 7-year-old Ryan "Max" Lesneski will receive his medications at school was "successful," according to his mother, Deanna Lesneski, but not enough to persuade her to loosen the rope that has bound her almost continuously to a flagpole since Aug. 28.
Lesneski, 47, of Buffalo, tied herself to the pole outside her son's school when, she said, she was informed that the McGuffey School District would not be administering Max's medications this year. Max, a second-grader at Blaine-Buffalo Elementary School, has Down syndrome, asthma and a hearing disability.
She untied herself over the Labor Day weekend, when a temporary agreement was worked out, but returned to the pole a week ago after saying the district had reneged on the deal, which called for it to hire a teacher proficient in sign language. The teacher, who quit a day after starting her job, was not working one-on-one with Max as agreed, Lesneski said.
Yesterday, she briefly left her post to meet with district and state Department of Health officials to discuss Max's medical needs. She has maintained that the district has mishandled his education, in part, by refusing to administer his medications, such as an asthma puffer.
While a mediator from the Health Department oversaw the three-hour meeting, Lesneski said district officials orally agreed to modify a district medication policy that would allow Max to carry his medications, including a puffer, as needed. Currently, only the school nurse can carry and administer medications.
The agreement, which must be approved by the school board, also would allow a licensed practical nurse who works in the building to administer his medication. The LPN now works as a clerical aide, Lesneski said, and a registered nurse, who works one day a week in the building, had been the only employee permitted to administer medication.
While Lesneski said she's hopeful that yesterday's meeting has ironed out Max's medical needs, another major sticking point involving his education remains.
Tomorrow, Lesneski is expected to meet again with district officials, along with representatives from the Health Department and the Pennsylvania Deaf and Hard of Hearing Association, to discuss how Max, who communicates primarily through sign-language, will be educated.
Lesneski has complained that the district violated a 13-point agreement worked out in February, which called for the hiring of an aide proficient in sign language, an extended school year for Max, and inclusion training for the community and district employees.
The agreement was part of an individualized education program -- called an IEP -- that provides specific services for children such as Max, who cannot communicate with his teachers or peers because of his hearing disability.
Lesneski said it took three meetings with a state Department of Education hearing officer to get the agreement approved because she and the district could not agree on a solution.
By March, though, Lesneski went to federal court, asking U.S. District Judge Robert Cindrich to enforce the agreement, which she claimed the district had not adhered to.
She said another IEP meeting, which she requested last month, has been set for next Tuesday. This time, Lesneski said she hoped the state would monitor the new agreement, which should include the pact outlined yesterday and any bargains ironed out in tomorrow's meeting.
She also has called on local and national elected officials to step into the dispute, dispatching letters to President Clinton, Gov. Ridge, U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara, D-Charleroi, state Sen. J. Barry Stout, D-Eighty Four, and state Rep. Victor Lescovitz, D-Midway, among others. She said she's had a response from Stout's office, and she hoped they could help resolve some of the toughest issues.
"I've asked for help in resolving this and for them to provide leadership in areas that can't be settled," Lesneski said.
But because she remains lashed to the flagpole, district officials say they still plan to pursue an injunction in Washington County Common Pleas Court today that would move Lesneski and the other protesters from the pole area to the edge of the property, a site not visible from the school.
District officials said they have been besieged by complaints from parents concerned over their children's safety and say the protesters are causing a disruption by smoking cigarettes -- a violation of school policy -- and by using nearby woods to "defecate and urinate."
Lesneski said she has no intention of untying herself until the issue is resolved, through the IEP meeting or a notarized agreement with the district.
"I'm staying until I'm physically removed," she said. "It's hot and miserable, but I'll survive."
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