Banda Announces Temp Special Ed Appointment
From Superintendent Banda:
Dear Seattle Public Schools community,
I hope you are all enjoying these summer days.
Our team at Central Office is working hard to ensure we have a
successful start of school, which is just about a month away.
As part of our back-to-school planning, I have
appointed BiHoa Caldwell to oversee our Special Education department for
the next two months. BiHoa is a retired SPS
administrator who will bring
strong leadership to the Special Education department during this time
of transition. She will lead a support team that will focus on a smooth
start to school, ensuring that staffing, enrollment,
service placement, transportation, and Individualized Education
Programs (IEPs) are complete for our students who receive special
education services.
We are continuing the process of recruiting an
Executive Director of Special Education. This is a key position, and I
want to make sure we have an experienced leader in place who will be a
great fit for our District and our families. My
goal is to have this position filled close to the start of school. I
want to thank the staff and family representatives who have served on
the hiring committee.
Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of
our students. We look forward to seeing everyone back in the classroom
on Sept. 5.
Comments
Fortunately, as so often is the case at the school level, other "helpful people" whose job description didn't involve bailing me out -- but who just care -- jumped in and we at least got sort of a plan in place for the following Tuesday morning. Of course, part way through the year, downtown (having finally woken from their long nap) said they didn't LIKE the plan, and changed my child's class schedule all around to suit themselves (after he had spent months making friends, learning his teachers styles, etc.). And when I protested? The nasty SPED person running the IEP meeting (NOT the actual SPED teacher who was terrific) immediately jumped down my throat and said: "So, are you saying you are declining services? Is that what you want? Here, give me back the draft. I can write up 'declines services' if that is really what you want!" Fortunately, there were no small objects available at hand to hurl at her, so I didn't have to deal with the aftermath of an assault charge.
And this was all BEFORE MGJ arrived and made SPED so much worse. Boy, do I hope that we see some progress with this Department. There are so many good people, dragged down by so much that is bad.
--Glad to be done.
We won't give up. We won't let down our guard. The Board and the higher-ups need to quit listening to the (outlandish) statements from JSCEE that we NEED more gatekeepers like that harpie. What we in fact need is more like your child's SpEd teacher and the helpful people at his school. I believe Banda knows what needs to happen. And his staff should listen to him.