tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post4424896431470765639..comments2024-03-29T02:41:52.718-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: Another School's Struggles Melissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-32520872049537281222016-06-05T13:30:42.515-07:002016-06-05T13:30:42.515-07:00I am a teacher in the Seattle Schools. On a daily...I am a teacher in the Seattle Schools. On a daily basis I see well-meaning IAs trying to monitor children with behavior problems. However these aides generally don't a clue how to relate to children, especially those with behavioral problems. I witnessed one of them snarling "you are a liar" to a child who was upset. These IAs follow students around trying to contain their behavior as best they can. But the children are all too often being warehoused. We all - teachers, parents, and administrators, need to be more honest; these kids need serious, highly effective therapy, as do many of their families. Until we campaign for a more just and equitable society where the weakest members get their needs met, everyone will suffer. Seattle TeacherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-76421473073340868102016-06-03T19:42:07.712-07:002016-06-03T19:42:07.712-07:00"..just to get a response because I knew some..."..just to get a response because I knew somebody would be offended by that and I was trying to bring readers back into this conversation." <br /><br />Uh uh, please do not do that again or I will delete your comment. We are not pot-stirring here; we're having a discussion. If no one was answering your comments without this kind of thing, then you'll have to accept that. <br /><br />"And if diversity is your argument, where but in the highest income schools in Seattle with children who spend their summers at horse-camp and winters in Hawaii (View Ridge, Bryant, Montlake, North Beach, etc..)do you think diversity education is best placed?"<br /><br />And you know this how? And everyone in the school is doing this? Again, no broad-brush painting of entire school communities. If you have an issue with service placement, you can go to a Board meeting and tell the Superintendent and the Board. <br /><br />I agree with Lynn on the hubs but I would guess that economics. You'd have to ask Wyeth Jessee.<br /><br />Is NWMom and NWM the same person? Because those posts sound like it's the same person. Again, do not use different monikers for your posts or you will be deleted. <br /><br />Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-60359071515693625082016-06-03T17:20:04.458-07:002016-06-03T17:20:04.458-07:00@ NWM, this is a lot of angst over a 20% FRL rate....@ NWM, this is a lot of angst over a 20% FRL rate. You do realize that there are a lot of schools with FRL rates over 50%, over 60%, over 70%, even over 80%, right? You make it sound like it's a lost cause to have more than a couple FRL kids in a classroom. I guess all those kids are doomed. Maybe we should spread them out, assign them to low FRL schools. But uh-oh, if we did that we'd have every classroom at 38% FRL! Doom.<br /><br />FRL does not automatically mean horrible home lives and post-traumatic stress. In the same vein, not qualifying for FRL does not automatically mean immunity from home life stressors and trauma. Rates may be unequal, but when you multiply them out the impact on a classroom are not as severe as your math would suggest. Not all the FRL students will present with such challenges, and some of the non-FRL students will. <br /><br />Should we provide more support for EBD? Sure. Should we provide more support and/or lower class sizes for high FRL schools? Sure --and I think high FRL schools ARE prioritized for the class size reduction efforts, correct?<br /><br />Should we have a better SpEd system overall, in which students can be adequately served by well-trained teachers in well-staffed and well-supported classrooms at every school? That would be awesome. But I'm having trouble seeing how sending Laurelhurst's EBD kids to a school with a somewhat lower FRL rate is the answer. <br /><br />But maybe tone down the obnoxious assumptions of privilege, ok? It's tiresome, and paints with a broad--and often inaccurate--brush. Kids at low FRL schools are not all "blessed from birth"; they won't all go to Yale and Harvard (in fact, most won't); they don't all spend their summers at horse-camp and winters in Hawaii; they don't all live in lovely houses with groomed yards; and their classrooms and parks are not all filled with uniformly well-behaved and racially- and neuro- homogenous children. <br /><br />EEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42325593487592711382016-06-03T16:46:38.403-07:002016-06-03T16:46:38.403-07:00Historically the geniuses at JSCEE warehoused self...Historically the geniuses at JSCEE warehoused self-contained programs in a) less desirable buildings; and/or buildings with space. This led to a concentration of students with disabilities in so-called "failing schools. I see nothing in NWM's premise and logic to be suggest that the opposite approach would somehow be a preferred solution. It merely furthers the inequity of warehousing our children in hostile environments. We must move towards a model where schools are resourced and staff required to serve our children where they live.mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-76275820163045445112016-06-03T16:29:47.572-07:002016-06-03T16:29:47.572-07:00When I write "forced to accept diversity in a...When I write "forced to accept diversity in all its forms" I don't mean to imply that this is a punishment. I meant, you get very little diversity in the lives of well-off children who go home to the groomed yards and lovely houses surrounding schools like Bryant and View Ridge. They go to parks where the behavior of children tends to be homogeneous- and schools where the behavior is uniform. I am suggesting that if there were a place that needed diversity, forced but not as a punishment, it is in these 7 percent FRL schools. <br /><br />I am also saying it is hard to have a classroom where 4 students are suffering from post-traumatic stress from their home-lives (the boy who comes with a bandage because he was bitten by his step-dad and the girl who had to make her own tv dinner and eat it alone because her grandma is out at a bar or the boy who gets out of a car of marijuana smoke) then you add to this the EBD children who are not from the neighborhood and come with their unique and special needs which are often not discovered until after the melt-down then, yes, it means a lot of time is spent putting out fires instead of teaching. <br /><br />Education is often the one shot these FRL kids have of getting out of their poverty but then that 20 percent--those 4 kids in that 20 student classroom--go to a classroom with all the brush fires and a teacher who is stretched too thin and can't help them and no wonder they are failing. <br /><br />Take the EBD students and put them at Bryant where the teacher is not stretched too thin and can help and better serve them. Lighten the load of the teachers in the FRL schools so they have the time to help the FRL students.NWMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-21693869969590492512016-06-03T14:13:16.644-07:002016-06-03T14:13:16.644-07:00Historically the geniuses at JSCEE warehoused self...Historically the geniuses at JSCEE warehoused self-contained programs in a) less desirable buildings; and/or buildings with space. This led to a concentration of students with disabilities in so-called "failing schools. I see nothing in NWM's premise and logic to be suggest that the opposite approach would somehow be a preferred solution. It merely furthers the inequity of warehousing our children in hostile environments. We must move towards a model where schools are resourced and staff required to serve our children where they live.mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42587926402946014952016-06-03T11:43:32.289-07:002016-06-03T11:43:32.289-07:00Geez,
Are we supposed to assume that all EBD stud...Geez,<br /><br />Are we supposed to assume that all EBD students have autism? I didn't know the two were equivalent. Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-65013012119092509922016-06-03T11:41:02.231-07:002016-06-03T11:41:02.231-07:00I think you're getting off track when you choo...I think you're getting off track when you choose to describe diversity as something that (undeserving) affluent children should be forced to deal with. Isn't the argument supposed to be that diversity benefits all students? You make it sound like a punishment.<br /><br />For what it's worth, I don't think there should be EBD hubs. Instead, students should have the support they need in their neighborhood schools. Maybe that's a full time aide in the general education classroom who can remove them when they need a quiet space to calm down combined with a special education teacher and a psychologist. It's morally wrong to refuse to provide special education services in neighborhood schools - in the same way it was wrong to require students to travel to ELL hubs.Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-30212854321277241982016-06-03T11:31:01.265-07:002016-06-03T11:31:01.265-07:00"Researchers have long suspected that childre..."Researchers have long suspected that children’s behaviour and cognitive abilities are linked to their socioeconomic status" = pure ignorance. <br /><br />Autism does not discriminate based on social economics. <br /><br /><br />Geez Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42944611056699979572016-06-03T11:27:46.260-07:002016-06-03T11:27:46.260-07:00Lynn, I think your third point is key.Lynn, I think your third point is key.NW momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42749791213157867592016-06-03T11:26:23.387-07:002016-06-03T11:26:23.387-07:00No, EBD students are required to go to EBD hubs no...No, EBD students are required to go to EBD hubs not their neighborhood schools. I know a family not being allowed to go to their neighborhood school because it is unable to "serve his needs", he is required to go to an EBD hub instead. The parents can always refuse SPed services but they need to sign a paper saying that they refuse and at that point their child can be suspended for behavior that otherwise would protect him from suspension. The EBD hub for the NW region is Day, NE is Laurelhurst, SE is Stevens, etc..<br /><br />I meant that schools that only have 7 percent or lower FRL should host EBD programs. This way there are fewer fires to put out. I am being realistic and for anyone who has had a child with Autism or other neuro-diverse conditions, you will have to be honest and agree with me, even the most brilliant approach does not always end with your child happily doing their work. EBD children come with melt-downs, swearing, attacking even in the best programs with the best teachers. FRL students also come with melt-downs, swearing, attacking. Why not minimize the episodes by placing these SM3 and SM4 programs in schools that do not also have to deal with low-income children? Wouldn't they be more successful?<br /><br />And if diversity is your argument, where but in the highest income schools in Seattle with children who spend their summers at horse-camp and winters in Hawaii (View Ridge, Bryant, Montlake, North Beach, etc..)do you think diversity education is best placed? These students who have been blessed from birth, I would argue, need to have a program at their schools that forces them to accept diversity in all it's forms before they go off to Yale and Harvard and a life that will be void of it.<br /><br />And, yes, a school that is 1/5 FRL is much pooer than a school that is only 1/20 FRL! Let me just illustrate the math--a school that is 20 % FRL will have 4 FRL children in a 20 student classroom but a school that is 1/20 FRL will only have 1 child in a 20 student classroom that is FRL. Trust me, those 3 extra high-needs children in a class make a HUGE difference to how the class functions. Now add 2 more EBD children to the mix and you have a recipe for disaster.<br /><br />And, really, why are you defending those higher income schools? Why is the district shielding those schools from diversity? I have one word for you: SEGREGATION.NW Momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-41163237466063423522016-06-03T11:11:03.576-07:002016-06-03T11:11:03.576-07:00Why are the programs in lower income schools? I ca...Why are the programs in lower income schools? I can think of three reasons. All the data you reference on the effects of poverty on children tells us that a child with an EBD diagnosis is more likely to be poor than affluent - so maybe they're placing the programs where most of the students are located. (Not likely with Laurehurst though.) Affluent schools are attractive to parents (well-behaved and well-parented children and high test scores) and are as a result full - no room for kids from outside the area. Parents at high poverty schools are unlikely to complain effectively when programs are placed in their building.<br /><br />Lynnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-35807679133267832462016-06-03T11:03:38.933-07:002016-06-03T11:03:38.933-07:00Not sure that 20% FRL qualifies as a low income sc...Not sure that 20% FRL qualifies as a low income school. SPS overall is 38% FRL, and there are many schools with FRL levels much, much higher. <br /><br />Not convinced that EBD programs need to be placed in the lowest of the low FRL schools in order to be successful. Anyway, aren't SpEd services supposed to be available at students' home schools to the extent possible. If EBD needs are correlated with FRL, wouldn't it be somewhat unfair to force all those students to move to a school where they're even more the minority?<br /><br />EEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-25467678853097899722016-06-03T10:07:21.663-07:002016-06-03T10:07:21.663-07:00Okay, I mentioned she was asian-american to emphas...Okay, I mentioned she was asian-american to emphasize that she was smaller but, sub-text, really, just to get a response because I knew somebody would be offended by that and I was trying to bring readers back into this conversation. <br /><br />Here is why FRL schools are not ideal for EBD programs: FRL schools alraedy are struggling to maintain order because students coming from FRL homes come to school unprepared to learn or behave. I am not classist saying this. Data supports me. Find a low-income school, you will find lower test scores. In fact, test scores directly correlate to FRL. If you have 40 percent FRL, you will have 40 percent of students not passing the SBA. <br /><br />Brain scans of babies who come from poverty homes also show this:<br /><br />"The stress of growing up poor can hurt a child’s brain development starting before birth, research suggests — and even very small differences in income can have major effects on the brain.<br /><br />"Researchers have long suspected that children’s behaviour and cognitive abilities are linked to their socioeconomic status, particularly for those who are very poor. The reasons have never been clear, although stressful home environments, poor nutrition, exposure to industrial chemicals such as lead and lack of access to good education are often cited as possible factors. <br /><br />In the largest study of its kind, published on 30 March in Nature Neuroscience1, a team led by neuroscientists Kimberly Noble from Columbia University in New York City and Elizabeth Sowell from Children's Hospital Los Angeles, California, looked into the biological underpinnings of these effects. They imaged the brains of 1,099 childrenThe brains of children from the lowest income bracket — less than US$25,000 — had up to 6% less surface area than did those of children from families making more than US$150,000, the researchers found."<br /><br /><br />But, really, ask yourself, why are all the EBD programs placed in schools that already have 1/5 or greater of their student body low-income? Why does the district not place EBD programs at Bryant or View Ridge or McDonald or Stanford or Montlake? <br /><br />Imagine the difference. Teacher A getting ready to teach a great lesson, walking in to Montlake Elementary with students freshly washed, recently kissed, sporting a set of colorful mechanical pencils and the happy disposition to learn. Imagine that same teacher walking into a classroom at Laurelhurst or Day or Stevens with both EBD students and low-income students. I will let you connect the dots.<br />NW Momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-71274098200590066822016-06-02T22:41:07.212-07:002016-06-02T22:41:07.212-07:00Kids with IEPs should be able to be served at thei...Kids with IEPs should be able to be served at their neighborhood school if that is what the family wants.<br />Parents of those children, need to be involved at the school, or at least have it easily accessible, for the student to have a chance at succeeding.<br />I also feel that socio economic diversity in a school will do more for the community than taking a high FRL populated school and throw extra money at it.<br />More money wont buy parents in the classroom and parents who will be home when kids get out of school.<br />I wonder if we would have half the kids we do, with behavioral IEPs, if we had smaller class sizes and developmentally appropriate curriculum?Jet City momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14804841958585043967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-74472600358834671992016-06-02T21:30:55.451-07:002016-06-02T21:30:55.451-07:00My daughter, on the other hand, just needed more b...<i>My daughter, on the other hand, just needed more back-bone. I told her to stand up for herself, the other girl was asian-american and much smaller than my daughter (who has always been on the large side). </i><br /><br />Ohhh, the other girl was asian-american? That explains it...not. What a bizarre thing to include. Makes me wonder. <br /><br />Also, I don't know that you'll get too far with the "poor us, we're a 20% FRL school." SPS as a whole is close to 38% FRL, and there are many schools with much higher rates of FRL students. Why will an EBD program automatically be more successful in a school with 8% FRL than one with 20%? By that logic, shouldn't Laurelhurst's program be doing great compared to EBD programs at schools that actually have high poverty levels?<br /><br />EE<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-56967162097898863132016-06-02T21:01:41.155-07:002016-06-02T21:01:41.155-07:00Yes, I am still reading. Please continue to post. ...Yes, I am still reading. Please continue to post. Very interesting remarks so far. Ultimately we cannot exclude children from participation in their designated classroom on account of behavior. There is no doubt that children can present with a range of challenging behaviors but banishment or exclusion is neither legal or effective. Teachers have to adapt their teaching and in far too many classrooms simplistic outmoded methods of instruction are prevalent and turn children off. That said we have to recognize the challenges and pain some some children are in and acknowledge that teachers need extra support. If teachers want and need them, then more instructional assistants must be funded. The point about the imbalance in the rates of free and reduced lunch is also well taken. <br /><br />DmitryAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-77109368282576536732016-06-02T17:05:11.525-07:002016-06-02T17:05:11.525-07:00Put BF Day's EBD program at John Stanford or M...Put BF Day's EBD program at John Stanford or McDonald and you will have better success. Put Steven's EDB program at Montlake, put Northgate's EBD program at North Beach, put Laurelhurst's EDB program at Bryant. I guarantee better success. Why take struggling children who are learning how to behave and put them in low-income schools with children who are already coming to school with a mark against them?<br /><br />Why will nobody reply to my posts? Sigh....Anybody still left out there reading this strand?NW Momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-43296080855380181322016-06-02T17:00:47.641-07:002016-06-02T17:00:47.641-07:00Maybe I am the only one left reading this strand? ...Maybe I am the only one left reading this strand? Oh, well...<br /><br />Here's a thought...Laurelhurst is actually not a high-income school. It is 20 percent (1/5) free and reduced lunch. This explains it's low test scores better than anything else. It's neighbors--Bryant, View Ridge, Wedgewood--all have less than 8 percent free and reduced lunch. So, if you look, all of the EBD programs with the neuro-diverse children are placed in schools that are already 1/5 low-income or greater. Stevens is 30 percent free and reduced. B F Day is 30 percent free and reduced. Northgate is 75 percent free and reduce. You will not find a program for behaviorally challenged children in a high-income school in Seattle. But this is exactly where this program should be placed. That 20 percent low-income group is already teetering on an edge of dysfunction with stressed out parents struggling to make it on minimum wage. It is a recipe for disaster. Put children with behavior problems in schools like Bryant or Wedgewood where only 7 percent of the population is poor and you will have better success.NWMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-829300244671640322016-06-02T15:37:09.006-07:002016-06-02T15:37:09.006-07:00You're not kidding. I talked to my son's t...You're not kidding. I talked to my son's teacher so many times and she did nothing about it. If it had been me, I would have moved the two apart immediately and provided more supervision to the end of the line. And I know what my son did should have involved disciplinary action but it solved a very real problem when no adult in the building would step up and solve it. I debated whether I should have told the teacher and principal what he did but since he never did it again, I let it go. And, curious, the boy himself never said anything and all of the students at the end of the line who were watching and cheering also never said anything.<br /><br />My daughter, on the other hand, just needed more back-bone. I told her to stand up for herself, the other girl was asian-american and much smaller than my daughter (who has always been on the large side). I read that the real solution to bullying is for the child to act like they are not being bullied, to brush it off, to ignore it, to not get upset. I know I am not going to be popular writing this but I believe it is true. If my daughter had just said "no, I'm not your slave" she would have never been in a position of being picked on. <br /><br />I think the real question is, how can we equip all children with the right frame of mind so that when they do feel threatened, they know what to do. It's not as if they won't ever encounter situations in life that are threatening or challenging. We don't want them to freeze like a deer in head-lights or become mute like my daughter. <br /><br />Accepting neuro-diversity, great, but there needs to be more than just that. Imagine we are at work and one of the larger adult workers loses it, starts screaming, yelling profanities, attempts to come at us with a sharp pair of scissors? Would we not feel threatened? We may have appreciation that the adult is autistic or adhd or bi-polar, we may understand it is not his fault and the work environment is not set up to support him, we could blame the institution or our boss for not supporting the neuro-diverse adult, but in that moment, wouldn't we want a way of thinking to help us with our anxiety other than just " I accept that he is neuro-diverse"?<br /><br />Why did Laurelhurst's test scores take such a dramatic plunge? NW Momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-86566747072737027092016-06-02T14:32:48.533-07:002016-06-02T14:32:48.533-07:00These latest comments indicate to me a failure amo...These latest comments indicate to me a failure among the adults in the building. Touching or bumping someone while saying penis is a Title IX violation and must be aggressively treated as such. Of course pounding someone's head on a desk is a violation of the code of conduct and should lead to discipline. Finally, if someone is being bullied into doing things nonsexual or violent, nevertheless it violates district policy against harassment, intimidation and bullying and must be reported.<br /><br />I do not see where NW Mom concludes the disruptions are in the classroom. Perhaps I missed it. The issue is primarily in the hallways. One of a number of measures to help a child having behavioral or emotional issues is to remove them, or others, from the environment. Unfortunately, the school uses hallways for quiet time activities as well. This is incongruous and must be resolved. The library or cafeteria can be used for tutoring (as it was at our elementary school). <br /><br />And I reject the minimizing of diversity and its benefits. That's Trump's whole platform, and he's a bully. mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-88457831171805951892016-06-02T14:10:07.706-07:002016-06-02T14:10:07.706-07:00Now I will post again. The fear was always at rece...Now I will post again. The fear was always at recess when I grew up. But it seems as if student behavior is disrupting the actually classes at Laurelhurst. And it is surprising to see the drop in test scores and the posts on here about students disrupting classes. That, to me, is the real concern. If you miss key concepts in literacy or math one year, it will hurt your understanding the following year. Yes, high scoring students will always score high. My son is high scoring and could learn in a hurricane but my daughter is not high scoring. Sh eis very intelligent just not someone who can learn if there is a hurricane going on in the room. So, I hope something can be done to get Laurelhurst the support it needs. Having said this, parents of students in that demographic (along with Stevens) certainly can afford to make up for the loss of education by either hiring tutors or tutoring their own children. Their are low-income schools in the district that would be hurt more deeply by loss of instruction time due to melt-downs of mentally diverse children. And, those are schools where the consolation of "oh, you don't know how to add fractions but at least you respect diversity" is not a selling point.NW Momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-55085947856205414482016-06-02T12:55:36.617-07:002016-06-02T12:55:36.617-07:00Mom of 4, Hale recently graduated a student with D...Mom of 4, Hale recently graduated a student with Down Syndrome who attended quite a few gen ed classes including the AP Environmental Sciences class. I know the parents did a lot of advocating for their child and pushed for her to be in gen ed classes. You might consider contacting them about how to navigate the system. I could get you their contact info.<br /><br />HP<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-54977819727756228682016-06-02T12:03:44.009-07:002016-06-02T12:03:44.009-07:00My son and daughter went to a NW Seattle school wh...My son and daughter went to a NW Seattle school where there is an EBD program and, in addition, students in the gen ed population who are coming from some pretty dysfunctional home environments. Students were scary there and there were many incidents weekly of kid on kid violence, melt-downs, foul language, etc.. Screamers, pencil stabbers, scissor stabbers, etc.. Both my kids had to constantly be on guard to keep themselves safe.<br /><br />I'm just writing about this anecdotal y. My children had two opposite reactions:<br /><br />1. My son was continually bullied by a boy. The boy would bump continually, aggressively into my son in line while saying "penis". I told the teacher several times to move my son away from him in line but my son was not allowed to change his line order because it was alphabetical. I asked my son to be moved out of this boy's math group but this was not done,either. Basically, nothing was done to stop the bullying. So, my son started lifting weights, took Kung FU, and fought back. One day, when this kid did his last "penis-bump", my son grabbed this boy's hair, slammed the boy's head into a desk, while students cheered, and my son told him to never touch him again. Did it work? Yes, it did, The boy left him alone, came with his hair completely cut the next day, then turned his "attention" to another boy who looked just like my son. My son has gone on to be stronger, happier, and fearless. I don't know what came of the other bullied boy but I'm sure he recovered, too. <br /><br />2. My daughter suffered the same fate. She was picked on relentlessly by a girl who also came from a traumatic childhood experience. This girl forced my daughter to bend over at recess so she could step on my daughter to get on to the bars, took my daughter's money from her hand to buy pencils at the school store, ordered my daughter around like she was a slave. My daughter, on the other hand, did not become stronger but went selectively mute and spent her elementary years mute. The day she left elementary school and started middle-school, she found her voice and never looked back. She also survived the traumatic experience and has become stronger in spite of, not because of, the situation.<br /><br />We can't always protect our children. I wish we could create safe, protecting, warm environments for them always. But it isn't the reality and seeing kids, is it? But, we've been there. I remember being very scared of students in my classes and seeing students punch other students. Not that this makes it okay. I wish things could change so that it weren't the case. So, maybe it is a choice of the lesser of two evils? Adults abusing the mentally diverse children or the mentally diverse children abusing other children?<br /><br />BTW, most of the students in the North End EBD programs are white. Where is the "racist" term coming from?NW Schools' Parentnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-67147028256146329132016-06-01T12:34:20.132-07:002016-06-01T12:34:20.132-07:00The State Supreme Court affirmed that SpEd student...The State Supreme Court affirmed that SpEd students shall be funded for a GenEd teacher and a SpEd teacher. When a child sits in a self-contained classroom all day, where is their GenEd funding getting used? Well the GenEd classrooms are smaller because they're missing the SpEd students. Principals and BLTs can used the GenEd portion to hire IB coordinators, testing coordinators, art and music teachers etc. So 40% of SpEd kids in self-contained is a boon for some schools.mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.com