It’s not unusual for a special-needs child to spend 5 minutes in time-out, or even 15. But Kecia Frevert thought that an hour and a half was excessive.
She still has the list that she started to keep last fall and into this year. In one month, she said, her 7-year-old son Ben was sent to time-out 33 times. Sometimes it might be just a few minutes. Sometimes it might be 90 minutes at a stretch. At one point, Frevert said, Ben was spending between one and five hours a day in “seclusion” from his regular classroom at the Connections program in Logan Avenue Elementary School.
“Ben is a very difficult child,” acknowledged Frevert, whose son has Asperger’s syndrome, an autism-related condition that can result in children who are bright and talkative, but emotionally immature and ignorant of social cues. “He’s challenging. It’s hard to work with him. ... But that doesn’t mean you lock him into a room until he complies. And if you’ve established that it doesn’t work, what do you do?”
“It has improved in the last month,” she said. “They have started to be more receptive to his needs, I feel — his number of time-outs has gone down. But why did it take until this point in the school year for them to decide?”
The issue is one that’s been discussed statewide — just when can or should a school district use “seclusion and restraint” in dealing with special-education students? The phrase refers to policies that allow a teacher to separate a student from the rest of the class for disciplinary reasons, or in some cases, to physically restrain them.
After several parents from across Kansas complained that the policies were overused, the Kansas State Board of Education laid down some guidelines this year. Among the most important are that restraint should only be used to avoid immediate physical harm and that seclusion should only be used if a parent has already given teachers permission, or if it’s necessary to maintain a safe classroom.
Elizabeth McCoy, the director of the Flint Hills Special Education Co-op, called the new guidelines common sense.
“What is important is to get the student into the learning environment again ... and remove them as little as possible,” she said.
Time to calm down
Even with the state guidelines, the co-op doesn’t really have one big policy on seclusion. Instead, it has a lot of little ones. Disabled students typically follow an individualized education plan, or IEP, that defines what the student will try to learn, how the school will go about doing it — and also, where necessary, what sort of disciplinary measures can be used.
Parents, teachers and the principal are part of making that plan, along with any other people needed, such as personnel from the Mental Health Center. Across seven districts, the co-op keeps up about 1,500 IEPs.
“I guarantee you, every single one of them is different,” McCoy said. “It’s based on the student and it changes from year to year, and sometimes month to month, depending on what we need to be working on.”
Time-outs are often included in a plan as a way of de-escalating a disruptive situation. Most of the time, a student will be taken out of the classroom and into a seclusion room, to wait there until he or she is under control again. Sometimes, McCoy said, it can be the other way around — the rest of the class may leave the room, turning the classroom into one big seclusion room.
Some time-outs can even happen at a student’s request.
“One thing we try to teach our students is to become proactive in their behavior,” McCoy said. “If they know they’re going to be upset, they can say ‘I think I need to go to my safe place.’”
Five to 15 minutes is a pretty typical time-out period, she said.
And if the periods get longer, or more frequent?
“I think we’d need to look at different interventions,” McCoy said. “Absolutely.”
Unrestrained
That’s what other Kansas parents asked for in state hearings last February — something different. One mother from Overbrook talked about arriving at school to find her 5-year-old son hammering at the door of the seclusion room, screaming to be let out. Others talked about children who had been rolled up in gym mats or had their arms duct-taped.
At those hearings, Frevert testified that her son had been placed in seclusion for 90 minutes after not completing one page of a 10-page homework assignment. On another day, she said, Ben had an unusually rough morning because he hadn’t taken his medicine. When she brought it, she said, she found he was serving his second time-out, an in-school suspension for the rest of the day.
“The school will tell you that they monitor the room so that it’s a safe environment,” she told the board Feb. 13. “A few months back my son was in for his normal stay in seclusion. He was bored in a carpeted room with nothing to look at, listen to, do. He took off his shoes and was throwing them up at the ceiling. Two ceiling tiles fell down and broke. ... If he were properly monitored, should this have been happening?”
Her husband Tim Frevert told the state board it was a “cookie cutter” approach that didn’t work for every child.
“Placing my autistic spectrum child in seclusion only increases his behaviors,” he said at the hearings. “...This is not a least restrictive environment place. This is punitive.”
The parents asked the state board for strict regulations on seclusion and restraint. The board adopted guidelines instead — but said they could become regulations if more complaints came forward.
Talking it out
McCoy said she couldn’t discuss individual cases such as Ben’s. In general, she said, if a parent feels their child isn’t being handled properly, they should bring it up with the teacher and the IEP team, as many times as it takes.
“Unfortunately, there’s sometimes miscommunication or a lack of communication between parents and teachers,” she said. “Parents can at any time call for an IEP meeting if they’ve got concerns. ... Usually we can resolve the issues.”
In other words talk and talk and talk again, if necessary. Kecia Frevert did just that. At first, she said, it didn’t seem to go anywhere. But lately, things seem to be getting back on track at last.
“There’s been a dramatic decrease,” she said, referring to Ben’s time-outs.
Coincidentally, the co-op is also working on creating an autism task force. That’s another good sign, Frevert said. Anything that improves understanding by the schools or the parents can only help.
“As a group, we’re very willing to work with the schools,” she said. “We all need to work together.”
Comments
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cloud (anonymous) says...
I wonder how many other children are being secluded like this. The Freverts are very brave to speak so openly.
April 6, 2007 at 6:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sunshine (anonymous) says...
Schools have needed to become more educated about kids with special needs for a long time. I am glad to hear about the autism task force. Is there a task force for kids with ADD/HD or other disorders? These special kids needs are often labeled as behavior problems and many teachers and schools in general do not want to deal with them. I know, I have lived that fact for the last 8 years with my son. Things are much better than when we first started out. The Frevert's raised an important issue regarding the "cookie cutter" approach. It seems to me that school staff wants one solution that every child must conform to, and that just is not feasible.
April 6, 2007 at 9:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wildkat (anonymous) says...
I am so glad that the Frevert's spoke up. I too have had a child in In School Suspension and I am not sure what he did for two 1/2 days. I know that he wasn't totally secluded from anyone but he spent time in the office. I'm not sure how much time was spent in the hallway or in the office I just know that he came home with homework and missed out on learning on what was going on in class. I am tired of a child being labled in the schools just because they have had problems. Kids that have ADD/HD are different kids but that doesn't mean that they aren't smart or cannot learn. In fact they are some of the brightest kids. I have never really understood what good it does a child to sit in the hallway for the entire day. I hope more parents around here speak out about this!
April 9, 2007 at 2:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SpamGangrene (anonymous) says...
While I empathize with anyone who raises a special needs child, the educational needs of the majority of children should be considered first. If a child is disruptive to the classroom environment, and interfering with the delivery of the other children's education, they need to be removed from the class.
April 10, 2007 at 11:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Spam,
Only someone who has never had a special needs kid or worked with special needs kids would say what you did.
Empathy--I don't see one bit of empathy from you in that statement you made.
I wish you only well-mannered and well-behaved children because it seems like if you had an extraordinary child, you'd be an advocate for this atrocious way of "dealing with" kids.
Sacrifice the few for the many? Nice.
M
April 10, 2007 at 1 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jdserrano1 (anonymous) says...
Wow Spam!
What nonsense. Perhaps you can just "remove" your co-workers when they display behavior you may not be able to comprehend! That's the idea - Sacrifice one for the greater good of all. Way to teach our kids about empathy! Hope to God you're not a teacher.
April 10, 2007 at 1:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lurker75 (anonymous) says...
I think what spam is trying to say is it isn't fair if a special needs child takes up the majority of the teacher's energy and attention, and in turn neglects the other 22 or so students in the class. If you had a child whose teacher was constantly having to stop class for major outbursts, and not being given the attention and help they deserve also, you would be "ok" with this? In a perfect world, there would be enough support in the classroom for the special needs child to co-exist with the others with as little disruptions as possible. That way the lead teacher wouldn't have to draw attention to the outburst or distraction. As for "removing" your co-workers, wouldn't a supervisor or boss remove any distraction to the production of whatever product is being manufactored? I don't think that's a fair analogy. We are dealing with children, special needs and non-special needs children alike, who deserve the best education possible. And for the record, I don't see much use in putting a child in seclusion for extended periods of time. Maybe for calm down periods, but not for 1 to 5 hours of the school day as was stated in the article.
April 10, 2007 at 4 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jdserrano1 (anonymous) says...
I'm saying not to call out or segregate children who are still forming. It's bad form to label these children and then send them out of the classroom for long periods of time. I have a child who has trouble paying attention and if this EVER happened to him, you can bet that I'd be just as outraged as the family in the article. If you want to put a child in a room you might as well send them home.
Most teachers will have developed and IEP LONG before the child has outbursts on a daily basis. If they have not identified the issue at hand perhaps some intervention on the teachers and students behalf would be called for. But what's certainly not called for is isolation and seclusion.
April 11, 2007 at 3:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sunshine (anonymous) says...
It is obvious that the solution to dealing with these kids is not pulling them away from the learning environment and sticking them in a room alone. This has been tried and failed. It doesn't work! Other than diffusing an immediate situation this should not be used. I do not want my child causing trouble in the classroom, but I also don't want him missing out on important information. The answer is for educators to be educated on different ways to handle these kids. Let's step out of the box for a minute, first of all, these kids thrive on attention, no matter what kind of attention. They get attention by being pulled out of the class, all of the other students see this. Teachers have to think faster and be able to OUT THINK these extremely intelligent kids. It just seems to me that the methods in practice at this time need to be looked at and re-considered. If it doesn't work, try something else, and something else, and something else.....be creative, I guarantee you will not find one fool proof fix all...it just doesn't work that way. No kid should have to suffer because he/she was or was not born with some type of disorder. Think about this...the kids who are not "problem kids" are learning how to deal with the problem kids by watching the adults around them. So what they are learning is, when someone's behavior doesn't match what is socially accepted you send them away and forget about them for the rest of the day and just hope that the next time they are in the class room they will act the way they are "supposed to". And the kid who got sent away is going to come back to the class angry and resentful and likely to repeat the behavior, and so we have an ugly cycle that never ends.
April 13, 2007 at 12:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
Thank you Freverts. I have an autistic child here and have experienced the same. Hours of being left alone in a empty room. No books to read , No work they can do, just put in a room like an animal. I have never heard this district take any blame for there failures. They do the same thing year after year and then complain to the parents that things are not working out and its all your kids fault. The IEP meetings are endless complaints. A special ed teacher that is being paid by taxpayers to help these kids was over heard ( he is to stupid to learn ) but they blame our children for a failed system. My next experience has been comments about drugs. If your child is on drugs they will suggest that you get a higher dose. If there not on drugs they will try and push you to do it for there sake. I ran into a man that said they went as far as threatening him with the SRS. I recently found out that they do not have no right to force anyone to do anything with there kid . The ACLU can explain your civil rights 1-816-756-3113. I have learned to listen to my own heart and gut. When I first seen a child psychiatrist. I was looking for help. I never got the help . We were sent out of the office with a new drug to try or the one your kid was on just got a higher dose and another appt made. The medicine has side effects that makes there behavior worse at times. What is happening to there insides with these drugs? Look up the side effects of these drugs and come to a conclusion if the hyperness is more serious then the drugs there on. I just seen that Paxil is the number one selling drug in the US. We as people have endured many problems in life and it just seems that within the past 10 years the drugs are being pushed down the adults and young kids . They even say our dogs need it. So we are all depressed & our kids and our dam dogs.. I dont think so. We are strong people in America. Not everyone needs there pills especially our young kids.. & dogs. Go by your gut and always remember the big profits these people make from your children. My son after 12 years of being on drugs, has kidney problems & it stunned his growth. The doctors told me for years how kid safe they were. There not. Paxil and Zoloft have both been linked to children and suicide. Almost all of the school shootings in the US the children were on some type of anti depressant drug. The school preaches about a drug free environment but 46% of the kids in this district are on some type of prescription drug. Thats a very high number to me.
April 15, 2007 at 6:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
disgruntledcitizen (anonymous) says...
I agree with you Barbara61!!! It's almost as if people now days are taught to be depressed. I'll bet if you watch T.V. for 1 hour you will see atleast three different drug commercials. Either for loosing weight, clearing up acne, Helping with depression. The list goes on!!! What ever happened to being proud of who you are and not falling into what the celebrities or newscasters say you should look like or how you should act. it's no wonder why everyone's depressed any more, the only things you see on the news anymore are terrible things that happen. Either people being killed, Wars, people losing jobs. Don't get me wrong, the terrible things like the Virginia Tech shootings should be reported by the news but not in the light it has been reported. All the news talks about is how people should have done different or seen the signs of this coming. They've also made this shooter almost like a celebrity in the last three days. HIs whole life story and everything about him has been in the news. We need to come up with ways to prevent this from happening and dealing with it instead of publicising all the negative. A large dose of positive needs to be instilled in our children from now on instead of all the negative or all of these prescription drugs eating away at our bodies. I'll step off my soapbox now. Thanks for letting me vent.
April 18, 2007 at 3:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ladybug (anonymous) says...
I am a recent elementary education major from ESU. In my experience from a new teacher's point of view, seclusion works to calm down and regain control. The whole point of time out was just that, take a time out and come back after control has been gained.
I know that when I am the teacher and a child I sent to time out was gone for more than 30 minutes, I would find out why. Regardless of the situation the child is in, I would find out what is going on. No child should be out of the classroom for more than 30 minutes. I am disturbed by the fact that the little boy the story is about sits around, takes naps, takes off his shoes and is allowed to NOT learn.
I agree that a teacher can not spend all of the class time dealing with one student and denying the others of the whole purpose of school, BUT some students do require more attention than others. If a teacher needs to take 5 minutes to pull a child aside and get him/her calm, then it is worth that wait for the other students. This is because once the situation has been defused, the learning environment for all the students continues to be positive.
Classroom time outs work in similar ways. I am currently substitute teaching until I get my own classroom (hopefully in the fall). I have seen the classroom time out work and have implemented it. I have never left a child in time out for more than 30 minutes and that was an extreme situation. After that time, you give the rest of the students something to do (read a book is a great something to do) and you ask the child why they were placed in time out. 90% of the time the child will know and understand what has happened and can explain to you why they were in time out.
Now, I understand that this is a 90% rate and mostly with students that are not identified. Those that are identified, usually have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) and in this IEP, especially for behavior kids, there are requirements for a teacher to follow in discipline and other areas.
This will always be a difficult topic and without all the help that is needed in some classrooms, there will always be problems. Emporia needs to investigate the time outs in this district and reevaluate if it is worth having for all students.
Children are in school to learn not sit in a room alone and have their possibly already low self esteem go into the toilet.
LadyBug (RB)
Recent ESU graduate and soon to (hopefully) be a classroom teacher!
April 18, 2007 at 7:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
Ladybug I can do better than that I have a disabled kid and have been through hell in this district and until you live it you dont know what your talking about.
April 19, 2007 at 3:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Emporia_Proud (anonymous) says...
I don't think that LadyBug disagrees with you barbara61, she is just saying that it has worked only 90% of the time. She also said that she would never do that to a child. She also stated that this should be investigated. Yes, it is obvious that she knows nothing of your situtation. At the same time it is very clear that she is a new teacher, full hope, to be the best she can be. Open up to her and others like her who just want to help. I know it hard when everything has gone so wrong. We have all been labled at some point and treated unfairly. I hope that things work out for you and your child, keep your head up. We do need to do something. Where is the School Board on this issue? Why has it been allowed to continue?
April 19, 2007 at 12:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ladybug (anonymous) says...
Thank you Emporia_Proud!
I want to be the best teacher I can be and know that I have a caring heart. I wouldn't become a teacher if I didn't care.
Yes, barbara61, I don't know your situation and from what you have said, you have not only been through hell but are living in one with the district. If you can get one advocate in your childs school, that one advocate will bend over backwards to help you. I hope that you have found someone like that. If I was staying in the Emporia District and had your child, you can be damn (sorry) sure that I would advocate for every child that came into my classroom.
I hope that you can get someone with some pull to listen to you. Glen Strickland is now a school board member and I personally know his wife. She was my forensics coach in high school. I think you should contact him and express your concerns. He is a man that will get things done. Good luck to you barbara61, I hope that with all the stresses that you have gone through in this district, you can find someone to listen and stand up for what's right.
April 19, 2007 at 5:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
Thank you Emporia proud for your support. I think I have become so shut down to this district it is hard to see people in a good light that work for the district. I did not understand maybe what Lady bug meant because I am so distrusting of a system that has made serious mistakes. Not for 1 or 2 years but 11 years it has taken a toll on my autistic son and my older son due to the stress his mom is always under. I am also having health problems now due to stress.. migranes & high blood pressure. They started about 4 to 5 years ago thats bad when a school can cause that kind of hell on families.
April 20, 2007 at 1:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lurker75 (anonymous) says...
That's sad you see everybody who works for the Emporia district in a bad light. There are hundreds, and I literally mean hundreds, of quality, caring educators. Sounds like the ones you've come into contact with are the exception, and not the norm. It would be interesting to see your personal story from the educators point of view. I'm not saying what you are saying is false. Trust me. But many times these situations arise simply due to lack of communication. You have the feelings that the teachers and schools involved simply don't care about your son, and if that's the case, then something should be dealt with immediately. However, I have a hard time believing the educators involved have given up on him, and don't try every day to better his education.
April 20, 2007 at 9:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wildkat (anonymous) says...
Lurker75----You struck a nerve! I don't even know barbara61 but I think that you have misunderstood barbara61 because here is what I think that she is trying to say!
It's not that there aren't hundreds of quality caring educators it's just that the ones who you have to deal with (especially for kids on IEPS or kids with behavior problems) are the same ones you deal with over and over again and that tends to be a problem because if they have dealt with you child then they just pull up the file and say "well he's been a problem before so we'll just do the same as we've done before. They say they want parent support! Sometimes I'm not sure about that. I guess I don't think you should say those things unless you've walked an INCH her shoes. Is the school paying or getting a "kick back" for her meds that she has to take! I'm guessing not!
Somewhere the cycle needs to change! My child hasn't even been diagnosed with anything but they keep telling myself and my husband that he needs medication. I have alrealy expressed myself enough on the situation that i don't want my child on the stuff. If we really have 46% of our kids in the district on some kind of prescription meds "boy that is really sad" (That really would be interesting to see just how many kids are taking prescriptions meds) Maybe we should just line all the students up in the morning and hand them their pill "boy wouldn't that make the teachers life easy " or maybe the meds should be given to the teachers instead!
I guess my biggest problem in my situation is that there is no consistancy at all. They try something for two days and well that didn't work so lets move on with something else. It's too overwhelming for kids that are already stimulated. Hey i have never said that any of my kids are perfect and I never will but if I don't speak out for my children or other children what kind of a person am I. And as far as the Freverts go, I will just tell you that she came to me to see how to get an IEP! And believe you me she expressed to me that she had already tried to get one!Now come on people for some reason if you go to you childs school and see your kid in the hall or office and they keep saying "well this is happening or this happened" shouldn't that throw up a red flag (maybe the school was looking for a different color of flag I don't know) Someone please tell me why wouldn't the principle, teachers or someone wouldn't have helped her get this done. I know it's not the easiest thing to get done but why treat them any different than anyone else! I totally applaud the Freverts for coming forward. "If you are not your own Childs Advocate than what kind of parent are you!"
April 20, 2007 at 1:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gazette_reader (anonymous) says...
"No books to read , No work they can do, just put in a room like an animal. I have never heard this district take any blame for there failures."
I will say first off that I have very minimal experience working with special needs children (I should say, children with mental/emotional needs as opposed to physical disabilities). Before the push to mainstream all children regardless of the severity of their needs, there were special education classrooms with a lower student-to-teacher ratio, education paced to the students, and a teacher who was trained to work with these students. (I know this wasn't the case 100% of the time.)
Today we've shifted to mainstreaming children. Sometimes this makes sense. But sometimes, I would think that it would be extremely frustrating being in a classroom if you can't keep up with everyone, and equally frustrating if you're a regular student whose education is constantly interrupted by students who are disruptive.
I'm not writing this to be critical; I'm writing this in hopes that someone can help me understand. What purpose does it serve for all parties involved (students without disabilities, students with severe disabilities, and teachers) to force children who struggle with extreme disabilities to be in the mainstream classroom? What is a child who is regularly locked up alone because he or she can't cope getting out of being in a mainstream classroom instead of a special education room?
April 20, 2007 at 4:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
Lyrker 75 ,I am not sure how much more communication I could have had in 11 years but to me that is alot of talking & BEGGING at every IEP meeting. I think if you had a disabled child and you heard a teacher call him ( to stupid to learn) you may feel the exact way I do. Most parents with disabled kids know they wont become doctors ( most of us have heart ache about our kids future) but we do not want them on the welfare line for life because they did not learn nothing at school like how to read , spell and at least some simple math. Even a simple job to help them feel good about there self is better than no job. I have a few teacher friends that say there needs to be reform here too . I love those ladies as woman and as teachers. Im very aware of the good ones and not all teachers are bad. I think the teachers union has destroyed our schools in America. When20/20 did stupid in America the union was protecting teachers that should have been shown the door along time ago. They are so protected that they have to do the extreme to be fired. Most of the time that only comes when they got CAUGHT ! That is just stupid! It leaves to much room for slackers with bad attitudes to stay in our system. There needs to be a good ol fashion school cleaning. Be more picky about who you hire and pay the good ones well for there services so they will stick around. Have a system that is not to shy to say bye to the bad ones . The slackers are bad for our kids and there bad for all the hundreds of good teachers out there. Gazzete-reader I dont think no one knows whats working , mainstreamed or rooms special for them. Im not talking about seclusion rooms. Im speaking of rooms loaded with things designed for ADHD/AUTISIC kids. People that has had intense training with these kids and there different moods and problems. To understand that some of the problems at school are due to there disablity and there not thrown in a empty room for it. Teachers that will actually want to work with the parent and not ROLLING there eyes in the IEP meetings because you dont want to dope up your kid for there conveniece. You dont want to blame your kid for every problem the school is having with them. We know our kids can be hell on wheels. It is time for this district to admit they have screwed up. Stop blaming just the parents and our kids. As long as we ( meaning parents of special needs kids) feel this district is above apologizing . I feel there will be alot of parents that will just not trust them. Thank you wildkat for having my back, I have been attacked for 11 years by this district. I need help getting the point across, that I am not the only one having problems here there are many of us disgusted. I hope with all of these debates something good comes from it all...... REFORM & CHANGE.
April 20, 2007 at 9:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gazette_reader (anonymous) says...
barbara61, have you looked into other schools and school districts to see if there might be a better match for your child out there? No one wants to leave a community they otherwise like, but I'm wondering if you know of any other programs out there that are trying to do more than just get children with serious problems to sit still and keep quiet.
April 21, 2007 at 12:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
I know there is an entire school in N. Carolina devoted to autistic kids. Where the children remain drug free and there is a lot of different programs & devices for them. They also prepare them with a trade so when they graduate they have a skill.. it is a wonderful place. There is only 2 or 3 places like that and the waiting list is long & its expensive. The town is extremely crowded from people pouring in for there program. I know Topeka seems to have a better program there too. Not like Carolina but a little better than here. It is really hard to get the good help when your poor. Insurance will not pay for anything natural like acupunture , bio feed back those type of things. They will pay for ritalin all day long.
April 21, 2007 at 4:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lurker75 (anonymous) says...
Wow. It seems that my comments were taken out of context. I simply was saying that the entire district shouldn't be looked badly upon simply because of a small majority. If you look back at my post, I said that if what you were saying was true then there did indeed need to have something done.
April 23, 2007 at 10:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
What I am saying is true and all other parents that are complaining have true statements as well. This story hit a nerve with a lot of parents because we all have had serious struggles for so long and no one listening to none of us. If Scott would not have printed this story this district would be still ignorning all of us. Now that so many people are banning together they are forced to clean up there act and stop lying to everyone. Something does need to be done for my kid and many others just like him here. I have IEPs that go back 8 to 9 years ago where they are wanting my son drugged and I was asking at that time for a program to be put into place. It is years later and they still cant get it right. Topeka only 50 miles away does not seem to have this many problems. One reason is they have to many advocates there making sure that district is doing there job. This district needs to be watched as well to assure there doing there job and stop sweeping the problem under the rug year after year.
April 23, 2007 at 6:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UserName (anonymous) says...
I'm probably in the minority here, but the U.S. educational system is in trouble.
In my opinion, one of the problems is that far too many parents expect the schools and teachers to deal with so-called problem children.
Teachers are educators. They are not therapists. They are not behavior modification specialists. Their job is to teach.
Schools are places for learning. They are not day care centers.
Parents with special needs children have the right to expect their children will have access to a quality education. But parents of children without special needs also have the right to expect their children will have access to a quality education.
Children who are disruptive - for whatever reason - are not able to receive that education. Neither are the other children in the classroom because the teacher has to stop teaching to address the problem.
I certainly don't have the answer. It would be nice if every classroom had a child psychologist or therapist who could deal with the special needs child while the teacher continued to do his or her job. That costs money, though. Are the parents of the special needs child willing to pay for that therapist? I'd bet not. Is it fair to the other parents to pay extra taxes to fund the therapist? I don't believe it is.
It would be nice if the parents of the special needs child could spend time in the classroom attending to their special needs child, but chances are both parents have to work just to make ends meet. In single parent households, it's not possible either.
Meanwhile, the quality of our educational system continues to degrade despite the best efforts of our educators.
April 24, 2007 at 7:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lurker75 (anonymous) says...
Very well put. And this is why the business of private schools is booming right now. It comes down to money. Wouldn't it be great to, as stated, have a therapist or personal psychologist paired with each special needs child? I'm sure the parents of these children would love this idea. Finally, their child would be getting the attention and care they need. But who is going to pay for this? A family of two teachers with two kids barely scrape above the poverty level as it is. Is there a more important career that has a bigger impact on the future of our country? It's a double edged sword, because the salaries are so low, nobody wants to become a teacher so districts lower their standards and nearly beg teachers to come. And in turn, get lower quality teachers. Raise the salaries, raise the standards, get rid of the dead weight and put some credibility back into the profession.
April 25, 2007 at 9:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
I agree with you, There are parents that use the school as a free babysitter. That is un-fair to the teachers. It is also not fair to the kids. It is a burden to taxpayers and to the school its self. There are parents that do not want the school to raise there kids and we just want some kind of a program put into place for our kids at least I know I do. I dont want anything else from them. Your right the schools in America are in serious trouble in more ways than one. Our kids are suffering because of it .. the disabled and non disabled. I dont know if they can ever fix it . It has just become so messed up. I hope something can be done.
April 26, 2007 at 12:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )