A Department of Education advisory council is expected to meet today to hear requests from parents to expand the number of sites available to take public comment on a plan to change services for children needing special education. It is a reasonable request that the department should support.

A public hearing on the changes currently is scheduled for Feb. 4 in Augusta. The parents argue, sensibly, that possible poor weather could prevent them from driving from all parts of the state to attend. Yet they don’t want a long series of meetings on the changes. All they are asking for is that the Feb. 4 hearing be broadcast over the state’s interactive-television network, allowing them to go to the nearest ITV university site, hear what people are saying in Augusta and respond from the site.

Public hearings are one of the reasons Maine built the ITV system, and it has proven especially useful in winter. It was used, in fact, a couple of months ago when the department had professional in the special-education field comment on the changes. The parents are asking merely for the same consideration.

Laws regulating the announcements of meetings may prevent the department from changing its venue now, even though it would be simply adding sites, not eliminating the original one. If that’s the case, the department should post notice of an ITV meeting for later in February to satisfy both the law and parents, who understandably have many questions about the changes.

For instance, some parents have expressed concern that the department would significantly limit full-year services for special-needs children, putting more on a standard school calendar. They are worried that benefits for children ages 3 to 5 will be restricted and that physical and occupational therapy will be harder to come by. The answers to these questions are not simple; they will vary based on the case. That makes it doubly important that individuals understand how the proposals will affect their children.

Too often school officials complain that they can’t get enough parents involved with their children’s academic lives; parents, conversely, say they don’t feel welcome when they do try. Here’s a chance to improve the situation from both ends. While the department has an obligation to move regulatory changes along at a fair pace, it also has an opportunity and the responsibility not to leave parents behind in the process.

To its credit, department officials seem open to at least considering the idea of a statewide meeting. They might look at it as time well invested, an opportunity to answer many questions all at once rather than deal with them one at a time over the next several months.