After the Independent Commission released its report in 2006 - it identified that 2 things should happen (in the area of special education):
1. The district needed to create a task force to examine the current special education delivery model to better align resources with meeting needs.
2. Teachers, parents, outside experts and internal special education managers should work together explore best practice models nationwide, and to formulate a new approach for special education in Racine.
In the spring of last year, Renee Pfaller (who recently resigned), gave a presentation on Special Education to the RUSD board. It was decided at the time that an in-depth analysis should be done. So the study was commissioned, and tonight the board studied the long-awaited report completed by UWM's Elise Frattura, an expert in Exceptional Education.
My head is still spinning from all the information shared in such a short time, and the results may be shocking to some, but I was not completely surprised by any of the key findings.
I already knew that our district over-identifies children of color, and I understand the devastating effects that this can have on a child. We all know the statistics, don't we? Kids "labeled" are more likely to have disciplinary problems, truancy issues, and are statistically more likely to develop alcohol and drug problems! We won't even discuss that over-identifying children takes valuable resources away from the children who really do need the services.
I am sure I will write more in the weeks and months to come, but the most important theme I want to convey is this - the way the district currently delivers special education services is outdated and does not serve the best interest of the child.
Busing a child across town for Speech, because that is where the Speech teacher happens to be, is wrong. The child should be served in his or her own school whenever possible. Instead of moving the kids all over the district - move the teacher. Nearly 1/2 of our busing budget is spent on busing these children needlessly. Over 38% of children with disabilities do not attend the school they would normally attend if they were not disabled.
Also, when students do not attend the school they would attend if not disabled, natural proportions of students with disabilities in the receiving school is exceeded. Segregating these children into a few schools is wrong. The Supreme Court says that children cannot be segregated by color - so the same policy and laws should apply here as well.
Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion that "separate facilities are inherently unequal" - we all need to start thinking that special education is not a place, but a process. Then, and only then, will we really making sure that the district is educating EVERY child.
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5 comments:
I am puzzled that many of the administration personnel now pledging to help with the reform were also employed while this was covered up for so many years. I know when the U.S. Department of Education came in, maybe 8 years ago, because of violations, they offered to help. The District cited confidentiality and wouldn't give them access to records. Surely OSEP knows about confidentiality. I also wonder why we have to train special education staff. What is with personnel to hire special education staff who don't know really what they are doing.
I think that we have many teachers working in Exceptional Ed that have emergency licenses. Teachers that couldn't get a job teaching English, for example, that took a job in Exceptional Education because they needed a job.
While the DPI issued emergency license states they must be certified within a certain timeframe by taking additional classes, certifications, etc - int the meantime we still have so many teachers teaching our most vulnerable children with little or non-existing training.
For those that DO have existing licenses, there is such a huge burnout that these teachers have a high turnaround rate and need to "replaced" more often.
RUSD is not unique - every district faces similar problems .
You would think that exceptional ed teachers should have more education than a regular ed teacher. I would think that you should have teaching experience before being able to work in ex ed. I had an experience at the grade school level and the teacher was very young and new, and on top of it in ex ed, we had many obstacles.
As far as the speech thing, I am under the impression that some of the teachers do go from school to school, that is the case at Walden.
There is also a flip-side to the busing ex ed kids to schools other than their home school. My child was bussed across town to be in an ex ed program for non-aggressive kids. I can see the need for that, as putting an autistic kid in with kids classified as ex ed for strictly behavioral problems is seriously counter-productive, not to mention dangerous.
So if even the kids went to their home schools, they would then need to be served by more teachers than grouping them to share teachers in like settings.
So under the current operation, there is a higher cost of bussing, but a lower cost in teaching positions. So what to do?
I have been to schools in Western Racine County where children with Downs Syndrome are often mainstreamed into the regular education classroom for part of the day. The work assigned them is very different, but their non-disabled peers are very protective and affection toward them. The problem with non-scholastic classes and school activities are discouraged, often refused, by staff here.
My son was not in an special education classes, but he would have benefited from some. They said his IQ was to high. Only about 1/2 of his regular education teachers followed his simple IEP. A quite and polite boy, he was still treated with tremendous hostility, sometimes belittled by the staff based on disability, and they falsified some of his records at times trying to get him to fail. I am afraid there is much more to this issue than the report will tell. Administration's hands were tied because of the hostility and contempt toward Central Office. The excuse there were no procedures I feel is lame. The individual schools I think just blew it all of, but still got paid. I have documentation of all these events, and should write about them.
You should write about them, start a blog! Or if you don't want to go that far, I would be happy to host your posting for you!
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