Last night, a public forum on the potential closing of the KC School District's R.J. Delano School was held, and parents of the special-needs students weren't happy.
District officials say mixing in the school's special-needs students with the district's non-disabled population could actually help them learn and expand their choices, but parents at last night's forum worried that the move would put students in the hands of teachers who don't have proper training to deal with special needs.
The Associated Press reports that the school now handles 71 special-needs students ranging in age from third grade all the way through high school. This year, 13 of those students will graduate. If the school were to close, district officials have promised to relocate teachers and special-needs professionals to make the transition as easy as possible.
The district has shuttered several schools over the last year as part of its "right-sizing plan."
If you've got something to say about this, there will be another public forum Monday at the East High School Annex.
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This is an issue in many places.
Siva
http://techinspecialed.com
I happened to have earned a NY Film Festival Medal for my SpEd coverage back in 1980. Sadly, things have not changed since the Feds mandated that handicapped children be brought out of the corners into the light of education. Wheelchaired kids, learning disabled, even severely multiply handicapped children deserve an 'appropriate education'-- so said the 94th congress.
But school districts HATE that because one on one education is expensive and schools have managed to provide cookie cutter classes, hoping all kids wear standard sizes. It was never so. And so parents have even with the federal mandate, always had to fight for that 'appropriate education'.
They might wish these children would go away... but PUBLIC schools have to accept them. What should we do with handicapped children? We, for the grace of God, didn't have one of these high maintenance kids?
Who will decide when some handicapped learning-disabled kids can take a good place in society... IF they are specially taught. But what about the severely mentally handicapped, where education isn't about algebra, but about wiping after going poddy? Schools teach all these things. They deal with kids as they show up at the door. But schools don't like one-on-one children....because they are expensive to teach. It doesn't really matter what school administrators think. It's the law of the land. Sadly parents have to push for their children's rights...for parents are childrens' only advocates when budget-conscious schools tend to resist.
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