Inequities in Special Education

9:48 am


Dear Special Education Stakeholders,








Dear Stephanie,




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filed under: Equity, IEP

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59 Responses

  1. Comment from lek:

    thanks wacky mommy, some day i hope someone says enough.

  2. Comment from Stephanie:

    Rep. Sara Gelser from the House Education Committee said she would follow up on the language in the budget.

    It was a very good meeting tonight and Erin it was great to talk more in depth with you about action planning.

  3. Comment from Carrie Adams:

    Good news for everyone concerned about civil rights or in PPS case, the absence of them:


    The new site isn’t especially user friendly but a good start.

  4. Comment from moonlighting:

    It is really nice to see the support to families with special education. We have a huge population of students at Pioneer who are repeatedly forgotten. Do you know they cant even access their Title one funds, they don’t get ESL or TAG support!!!
    I hope all this Love can extend to these families. They have been put down and left out from everyone in PPS; Xavier, Joanne M., Carole Smith…

  5. Comment from stephanie:

    Moonlighting – Have they started giving them better lunches over there yet?

    I brought Pioneer up at the special education PTA meeting last night urging parents in attendance not to wait for this redesign to pass us by and do what you can to make your voice heard. Have you read Joanne Mabbott’s blog yet? I forgot about it and read through it last night. A few people at the meeting last night said Joanne has been putting herself on the firing line in public forums full of angry parents. I have to give her kudos for that and also for being honest that the current enrollment and transfer policy along with placement has contributed to kids being moved repeatedly.
    There has been a focus group on the continuum of self-contained classrooms but I am going to urge the ISS folks to also have a focus group on inclusion in general ed as well because if a kid fails there is when they get the boot. It would be wise to enhance the least restrictive environment as well as looking at the continuum.

  6. Comment from moonlighting:

    kids get moved repeatedly because special ed does not support its behavior teachers and does not place students appropriately. Also they do not hire specifically for classrooms with social/emotional issues. Have you all heard that special ed. is way over budget? How can that happen?

  7. Comment from Carrie Adams:

    I haven’t heard that SPED is over budget but it doesn’t surprise me. I ran across a smaller school district not long ago that has their check register online for everyone to see. Wouldn’t that be nice? Quarterly income and expense reports for every school and program.

  8. Comment from Stephanie:

    This continuum of self-contained classrooms is going to address the frequent movement and I emailed Joanne and asked if there could also be a focus group that looks at the continuum of inclusion in general education. She sent me a very positive response and I am looking forward to talking with her more about it.
    The feds have never fully funded the IDEA and that is one reason why special education runs out of money but just like everything else there is a better way to use the resources available and partner with the community as well as parents. If special education classrooms were more welcoming (I know some are but largely they are not) then I think the schools would be surprised at how willing parents would be to help out. Parent are demoralized with the frequent movement and Joanne has a really nice narrative on her blog that highlights this demoralizing of kids and families. With an ounce of trust and several pounds of caution I am ready to see what she needs from the advocates to improve things in special education. I am happy to fight Salem and DC WITH the district if they can show me that they value our kids education. I would have a bake sale every single day if they could prove that the civil rights of all learners is important to them.
    In regards to the feds never fully funding….kids needing special education SERVICES are gen ed students not special ed students so I would expect no crying from anyone needing to use general fund money. My heroes are the schools and principals that have NOT pushed out the self-contained classrooms for transfer slots or because they have to pull resources from gen ed to support B classrooms. These people need to be treated like the finest of silks because I know they suffer for making the right decisions to value kids and keep them in their school.
    Carrie – I really agree that anything the taxpayers are funding should have absolute transparency for every cent. At the non-profit I work at we have potlucks for our retreats and I enjoy that more than any catered event I received when I worked for a multi-national corporation.

  9. Comment from moonlighting:

    Special ed got lots of money last year and this year from stimulus money. To be millions over budget is just irresponsible. People in the field do fundraising, but Joanne still buys dinner and lunch for her staff, why cant they bring their own like everyone else. She takes her secretaries to Las Vegas and other conferences. Why??