I've been on vacation for the last two weeks so haven't posted much. But I've seen (or been sent, sometimes by blog readers - thank you!) assorted articles on education that I believe will be of interest to my readers, so I'm posting a few links now. And don't worry -- as soon as the Bulletin goes on line (probably tomorrow), I'll post several articles/columns for reader reactions/discussions.
First, there is a really interesting article from the New York Times called "The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general). Although the title may be facietious, the article makes the very wise point that teacher quality really matters in the early grades.
Second, I read an article (also in the New York Times) on a district that is doing a fabulous job of integrating kids with autism into regular classrooms (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02winerip.html?_r=1&scp=20&sq=education&st=cse). I have no idea how this program compares with the program we have in the Amherst schools, but the experience described in this article certainly seems rewarding and beneficial for all kids.
Third, I found this OpEd on bullying to be very thought-provoking and timely, especially for districts in Western Mass (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/opinion/23engel.html?scp=5&sq=education%20engel&st=cse). Although districts, including our own, are under massive pressure to quickly pass anti-bullying policies, these authors make the important point that we need to think very carefully about what really works to prevent this type of behavior.
One final note: I have to assume that all readers of this blog, as well as the writer of this blog, are dedicated to ensuring the Amherst schools provide high quality education for all kids. We may disagree on the approach or methods used to enact improvements in our schools, or even on what improvements are needed, but I'd like us all to remember that people who are posting on this blog as well as the author of this blog are real people - with friends and family members who love them and care about them -- and that taking anonymously pot shots at me or other posters (anonymous or not) isn't constructive or helpful in any way. I'm willing and eager to discuss any and all education issues ... but I really don't want to facilitate name-calling and insults. Please submit posts using your own name if it all possible, and even if you choose not to use your name (for whatever reason), make sure to that you aren't writing something more negatively under the cloak of anonymity than you would write without this option. I allow anonymous posts to encourage broader participation in the dialogue -- NOT to allow mean-spirited remarks about me or others.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
To repeat:
Despite what Andrew Churchill suggests in today's Bulletin, no one, and especially no property owner in Amherst, has a vested interest in running down our schools. When he says that we "want to convince others that the schools stink", I understand that that remark is borne out of some fatigue after long service on his part, but he has to explain why we would want to do that.
As a matter of fact, we have a significant vested economic interest located squarely in our real estate values in maintaining the sterling reputation of our schools. And we certainly don't want colleges or employers to think less of our schools.
In fact, you can easily imagine
a scenario in which we decided en masse to shut up in order to keep the problems a secret. The public pressure is actually all in that direction: to be silent.
There is no fun in this criticism, no entertainment value. You worry that teachers that you absolutely love in our schools are going to be offended and hate you (or your child). No one wants to be branded as a malcontent.
Ultimately I think that the genie is going to get stuffed back in the bottle in this way. Parents will realize: love 'em or leave 'em. Either take your kid out or keep your kid in and just shut up. And that may happen as soon as next spring.
Then we will resume the status quo pre-Sanderson: only minority SC members and minority parents can criticize the schools.
Rich Morse
Well said Rich. The system used to be vested in keeping quiet and rubber stamping every idea put out there by the administration. That behavior contributed to the fiscal mess we're in now. Thank goodness for people like Irv, Catherine and Steve.
akab
CS, you are spectacular.
Period.
Parents will realize: love 'em or leave 'em. Either take your kid out or keep your kid in and just shut up. And that may happen as soon as next spring.
One word: Antidisestablishmentarianism.
It is going to be the same thing as what happened in Massachusetts in 1855 -- enough people had left the Puritan (Congregational) Church that people were no longer willing to support it with the property taxes. And they voted to make it optional.
What will happen if people like Catherine are defeated is a taxpayer revolt and, before long, an under-ride and dramatic reductions in the school budget. Which will put it into a death spiral...
I'm afraid Ed is right on the money this time...
I am the parent of an autistic child. I have had children in the Amherst school system continuously since the late 1980's. I formally worked as a special education teacher in Amherst for 8 years. I currently work as a rehabilitative educational therapist with an organization which provides services to autistic students in their homes. For many years I have been very involved with Amherst families who have autistic children in our schools. I can tell you that Amherst does a poor job of educating and mainstreaming autistic students, particularly after the preschool years. The main problem is that there are simply too few well-trained staff who understand what autism is. Many of the school psychologists and therapeutic teachers whom we hire come from experiences with abused and traumatized children and the word "autism" may not even appear on a 20-page resume. So naturally they see autistic kids through their own lenses of maladaptive behavior. The result is that autistic behavior that disrupts classrooms is interpreted as antisocial rather than as communicative intent. And the most involved kids are placed in substantially seperate programs such as Building Blocks where they do not receive appropriate individualized interventions. The autism consultants that Amherst hires are less and less trained as the years go by and money gets tighter. We used to have PhDs in autism, now we even hire BSs. The one-on-ones hired for an autistic child may not even have any experience in a classroom, much less know the fiirst thing about autism. Autism is a very, very complex neurological impairment that exhibits a broad spectrum of behaviors and disabilities. It is cheaper for Amherst to classify these kids as "emotionally disturbed" or "troubled" so that they can house them in substantially seperate programs or out-of-district schools for abused children. Educating an autistic child is expensive and Amherst will not hire the appropriately trained, educated and experienced staff to do this. Our highly paid sped administrators perpetuate this cycle. The article you posted about the Michigan school is about as different from Amherst as can be.
Anonymous 1:23 - I can't publish your post, since it identifies specific teachers. If you want to revise your post to make it more generic, I'm glad to post it and then comment on it. Thanks.
Hi Catherine,
Anon 1:23 here,
Would you care to replace the teacher's initials with X's ?
Would that be adequate? (I don't have a copy that I can revise myself...)
If, not feel free to do what you deem necessary...
I look forward to your comments...
Thanks!
The result is that autistic behavior that disrupts classrooms is interpreted as antisocial rather than as communicative intent.
On the one hand this is a distinction without a difference, the classroom is being disrupted. Oh the other, it is rather disturbing that the people the town is paying ever-so-much for are that incompetent. Particularly with a SPED person as Superintendent!!!
And the most involved kids are placed in substantially seperate programs such as Building Blocks where they do not receive appropriate individualized interventions.
What ever happened to "least restrictive environment?"
We used to have PhDs in autism, now we even hire BSs.
Spending more for less? It is not like the SPED budget is shrinking, so unless the client load is increasing (dramatically), where is the money going?
It is cheaper for Amherst to classify these kids as "emotionally disturbed" or "troubled" so that they can house them in substantially seperate programs or out-of-district schools for abused children.
Cheaper still to dump them in Belchertown -- except that the US District Court ruled that illegal. And if this is happening - and based on the bigotry I have seen in the education field it wouldn't surprise me -this town is looking at a nasty lawsuit.
I have seen too much of misdiagnosis-for-convenience and the advice I have given to parents (not in Amherst) applies here: pay the couple thousand dollars, if you possibly can, and get your own diagnosis done (elsewhere - preferably Boston) and then you own it. And the think long and had if you want the district to even know about it as your child well may be better off clear of the SPED folks (and label, and discrimination).
And even if you can't afford this, you want to read every damn piece of paper in your child's file -- exercise your FERPA rights, and write down all the words you don't know the meaning of, Google them, and go back the next week and read the file again...
Catherine - the more I think about it, the allegation that the district is mis-diagnosing/mis-labeling SPED kids is a really REALLY serous charge that someone ought to look into. It is a potential ED-OCR complaint (http://www.ed.gov/ocr) and that is a mess that the district does not want to be on the receiving end of.
I will get political here - and for the three people in Amherst who don't already know that I am to the political right of you, well, I am...
Having said that, and with that bias clearly identified, and further stating that I have no idea as to the validity of the instant allegations nor of the quality of the services provided autistic children by this particular district, I will say this:
I am sick and tired of people attempting to address their own personal insecurities and advance their own leftist collective mentality by trying more to control individuals with disabilities than to help them. It is political because it involves the collectivist "cooperative" mentality that is on the left -- the right is individualistic, its bigots just ignore the disabled so we are talking the left here.
Massachusetts really hasn't advanced that far from 1691 where we were accusing people of witchcraft. For all of our alleged tolerance and thoughts of a multicultural mosaic, there are far too many who simply can not tolerate anyone who is the least bit different. And that anyone who is different must be made to conform to the uniform and must be controlled.
I saw this in the Housing Authority, I have seen this in the education field from the elementary grades through college -- not all but quite a few of the people allegedly there to "help" are more there on personal power trips. They are so insecure that they need to be able to exercise power over someone else, there is no other word than bullies to define some of the people in the SPED field.
I had to take college SPED classes to renew one of my own certifications (the classes that the people you are hiring took) and you would neither believe what is being taught nor the attitudes expressed. I totally lost it in one of these classes when they started discussing dyslexia and I said something to the effect of "it is LD as in 'Learning Disability', not 'Lazy & Dumb!' Furthermore, 'dyslexic' does not inherently mean 'dangerous', you stupid little girl."
These sophomoricly childish women are quick to identify the oppression behind being called a "girl" -- yet they turn right around and express equally oppressive attitudes, in the college classroom and in the profession, towards male SPED students.
They are not facilitators, they more are gatekeepers -- bullying defenseless children and then complaining when the children act out in fustration. And it isn't like we aren't spending a lot of money for all of this...
It is a power issue, nothing less, and if the ones in Amherst are going so far as to put diagnosed autistic children into inappropriate and restrictive settings, that is a serious civil rights issue that needs to be investigated and soon!
Catherine - the more I think about it, the allegation that the district is mis-diagnosing/mis-labeling SPED kids is a really REALLY serous charge that someone ought to look into. It is a potential ED-OCR complaint (http://www.ed.gov/ocr) and that is a mess that the district does not want to be on the receiving end of.
I will get political here - and for the three people in Amherst who don't already know that I am to the political right of you, well, I am...
Having said that, and with that bias clearly identified, and further stating that I have no idea as to the validity of the instant allegations nor of the quality of the services provided autistic children by this particular district, I will say this:
I am sick and tired of people attempting to address their own personal insecurities and advance their own leftist collective mentality by trying more to control individuals with disabilities than to help them. It is political because it involves the collectivist "cooperative" mentality that is on the left -- the right is individualistic, its bigots just ignore the disabled so we are talking the left here.
Massachusetts really hasn't advanced that far from 1691 where we were accusing people of witchcraft. For all of our alleged tolerance and thoughts of a multicultural mosaic, there are far too many who simply can not tolerate anyone who is the least bit different. And that anyone who is different must be made to conform to the uniform and must be controlled.
I saw this in the Housing Authority, I have seen this in the education field from the elementary grades through college -- not all but quite a few of the people allegedly there to "help" are more there on personal power trips. They are so insecure that they need to be able to exercise power over someone else, there is no other word than bullies to define some of the people in the SPED field.
I had to take college SPED classes to renew one of my own certifications (the classes that the people you are hiring took) and you would neither believe what is being taught nor the attitudes expressed. I totally lost it in one of these classes when they started discussing dyslexia and I said something to the effect of "it is LD as in 'Learning Disability', not 'Lazy & Dumb!' Furthermore, 'dyslexic' does not inherently mean 'dangerous', you stupid little girl."
These sophomoricly childish women are quick to identify the oppression behind being called a "girl" -- yet they turn right around and express equally oppressive attitudes, in the college classroom and in the profession, towards male SPED students.
They are not facilitators, they more are gatekeepers -- bullying defenseless children and then complaining when the children act out in fustration. And it isn't like we aren't spending a lot of money for all of this...
It is a power issue, nothing less, and if the ones in Amherst are going so far as to put diagnosed autistic children into inappropriate and restrictive settings, that is a serious civil rights issue that needs to be investigated and soon!
Catherine - the more I think about it, the allegation that the district is mis-diagnosing/mis-labeling SPED kids is a really REALLY serous charge that someone ought to look into. It is a potential ED-OCR complaint (http://www.ed.gov/ocr) and that is a mess that the district does not want to be on the receiving end of.
I will get political here - and for the three people in Amherst who don't already know that I am to the political right of you, well, I am...
I am sick and tired of SPED specialists attempting to address their own personal insecurities and advance their own leftist collective mentality by trying more to control individuals with disabilities than to help them become successful.
I had to take the "how to be a SPED professional" classes to renew one of my certificates and 95% of the people there do not belong in the profession!
You would neither believe what is being taught nor the attitudes expressed. I totally lost it in one of these classes when they started discussing dyslexia and I said something to the effect of "it is LD as in 'Learning Disability', not 'Lazy & Dumb!' Furthermore, 'dyslexic' does not inherently mean 'dangerous', you stupid little girl."
These sophomoricly childish women are quick to identify the oppression behind being called a "girl" -- yet they turn right around and express equally oppressive attitudes, in the college classroom and in the profession, towards male SPED students.
They are not facilitators, they more are gatekeepers -- bullying defenseless children and then complaining when the children act out in fustration. And it isn't like we aren't spending a lot of money for all of this...
It is a power issue, nothing less, and if the ones in Amherst are going so far as to put diagnosed autistic children into inappropriate and restrictive settings, that is a serious civil rights issue that needs to be investigated and soon!
Ed,
I am a member of a group of families whose disabled children have been bullied, mishandled, mismanaged and/or placed in inappropriate settings such as Building Blocks. We have consulted with a civil rights lawyer. At least one family did file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education. The administrators who were interviewed by the DOE lawyer lied, told half-truths, left out pertinant information and made duplicitous statements. They came together as a strong team and successfully defended each other by sticking to the same story, which was not factual. This can only have been done by conspiracy. There was no action taken against the Amherst district. We know firsthand that it is impossible to bring about justice when just one family stands up to an entire administration which will stop at nothing in order to cover up a wrongdoing. Our group of families are afraid to complain because we have seen retaliation against our children, such as a cutting of services or a diagnosis change on an IEP. Yes, a sped director can change a primary disability from one thing to another without the consent of a physician. It is legal but highly irregular. A change of diagnosis allows the sped department to separate the student from a mainstream classroom. The Amherst Sped administration casually does this to intimidate families, and when families protest, a choice of court is suggested. So, in closing I would say to you Ed that as far as restoring civil and educational rights to those disabled children who do not have any, we have been there and done that. Until we get some ethical and moral staff in the Sped administration who will be willing to clean house, there is nothing we can do. I know I sound like a nut case and I know that readers will not believe that this is happening in Amherst. But it is. I will sign my name as Aaron but that is not my real name.
Aaron,
I understand your position. I am a parent of a child who, due to our family's advocacy, is denied his civil rights. Our family is subject to retribution and we fear for another of our children should they have a problem of any kind in the schools.
The SPED department management is filled with bullies, using fear to coerce staff to play their game, and fear to cow parents into accepting inappropriate elements in their IEPs.
There is a cynical cabal driving the SPED governance in our town - starting from the top. What most residents do not experience is waking up at 3 am and worrying about your child, about being threatened and sued by a District that refuses mediation on principal, about the long term damage that retribution is having on your child.
Until the community as a whole stands up and says "enough" the status quo will prevail.
My view:
Keep the staff working directly with the children, get rid of the architects of the current SPED philosophy (past chief and current acting dept. head). Respect families and children. Act to collaborate and find solutions that work for all.
Post a Comment