Christina School District Declares War on Special Needs Children

[Ourchildren1st.]

The Christina School District has declared a subtle war on special needs kids. There is effort to quietly move kids to ever less restrictive classroom settings without regard to the needs of the child. The State is unhappy with the number of special needs kids in the district and the new "Princess" in charge of special education is on a mission to get the number down without regard to the kids.

[cracker]

This is really great news. I've seriously hated special needs kids for YEARS but every time I've spoken up about it someone has called me insensitive. Now an entire school district has declared an effing WAR on them??? Wow that's awesome!

[Chase]

Your killin me cracker

[Kid Lester]

Those kids are crazy strong. They should have declared war on the math nerds instead.

[Mark]

The Christina School District has declared a subtle war on special needs kids. There is effort to quietly move kids to ever less restrictive classroom settings without regard to the needs of the child. The State is unhappy with the number of special needs kids in the district and the new "Princess" in charge of special education is on a mission to get the number down without regard to the kids.

That is some broad generalization that you are making. Can you give some specific examples?

[Ourchildren1st.]

Does your momma have any children she is not ashamed of?

[Ourchildren1st.]

Its more than a generalization. In December 2011 the State Departmnent of Education informed the Christina School Diustrict that their special education numbers were too high and rising. Rather than doing a full review of the situation the leadership of the district decided that as many students as possible be move to regular classes over the next two years regardless of the students needs. The children targeted first were those that did not prersent behavioral concerns.
Beginning in late January as IEP meetings were held a "wonderful improvement" took place where students suddenly showed tremendous progress. This progress was the first step in moving children to first a less restrictive environment then next out out of speciual education entirely, or evening straight into a regular classroom. The goal this school year is to reduce the percentage from about 16% to 15% and during the 2012-2013 school year down to 12%.
I've seen written documenation

[motherof3]

Huh and here I've heard from parents I've talked to, that have children in the REACH program, that have said would live in a cardboard box if necessary to keep their kids in our district because they feel the program is so good. And yes all 3 of my kids have been in the Christina school district since kindergarten. And 2 of my children have 504 plans. If IEP plans aren't being followed or are being modified why aren't the parents of these kids speaking out? They are their children's advocates. Also it's been my understanding that integrating special needs kids with mainstream classes, as much as possible, has always been a primary goal. So how do you consider this as a war?

[Ourchildren1st.]

I'm glad that your children are doiung well. 504 plans are not considered special education by the State. I agree that parents are their children's best advocate. Inclusion is the goal most of the time. What Christina has been doing since January is scripting IEP meetings to make parents believe their child has made progress that just isn't there. Unfortunately many parents are intimidated by the "experts".
I have five children, four of whom are opn their own. My youngest is currently in special education. At our annual IEP meeting several months ago I was presented with data that suggested our child was working nearly at grade level and had sufficent social skills to succeed in a regular classroom setting. Our neurologist didn't agree, our developmental pediatrician thought the data a bad joke, the therapists we have at A. I.DuPont and Christiana Care couldn't come close to duplicating the results supposedly obtained by the school therapists. Our educational consultants could duplicate the results on the any of the tests given our child. Finally.....a staff member at Christina spoke with me by telephone at the risk of their job to tell me of the new move to kick kids out of special education. We met the next day and she showed me documentation.

[proudmama2twins]

My mother retired from CSD, and taught special education. She truly loved her actually job, but did not play their politics well, when it came to the needs of her kids. I work with children within CSD and I will say, parents are their child's true advocate. Do not allow CSD to tell YOU about your child. Gather information from teachers, therapists, psychologist, etc, along with outside evaluations. Become an expert on your child. Read, read, read, about research and treatment on what works!

There is effort to quietly move kids to ever less restrictive classroom settings without regard to the needs of the child.

When appropriate . Children with a disability must have the right supports in place and only when it is appropriate.

"The State is unhappy with the number of special needs kids in the district." Not your problem.

[proudmama2twins]

CSD has many internal problems and parents must understand their rights. CSD is known for too much administration, failing schools, and most recently their enrollment is declining.

[proudmama2twins]

This is really great news. I've seriously hated special needs kids for YEARS but every time I've spoken up about it someone has called me insensitive. Now an entire school district has declared an effing WAR on them??? Wow that's awesome!

I pray that you never have children or grandchildren with a disability. I know many teachers in special education that would find your comment beyond repulsive.

"In time we hate that which we often fear."
~William Shakespeare

[cracker]

I pray that you never have children or grandchildren with a disability. I know many teachers in special education that would find your comment beyond repulsive.

"In time we hate that which we often fear."
~William Shakespeare

Its not that I mean to be offensive its just that I resent how these kids are called "special" all the time. No has ever called ME special. I dunno, I guess I'm just jealous.

[hockey]

Since when does the state have a say on how many IEP kids a district should have? How can the state tell a district to lower it's numbers of IEP's? The state is not qualified to make that call unless there are not enough qualified special needs teachers and support in these schools??? I call BS or show us this "documentation" you speak of.


Seriously though, if an area has more special needs kids than average, the state, if they care at all , should look into environmental conditions that may cause this spike. I don't know where CSD is located but everyone knows that Delaware has plenty of hotspots of buried duPont chemicals leeching into the ground water and through foundations. Alas, this is not Utopia.

[Tracy]

Does your momma have any children she is not ashamed of?

Here's a hint.....when you come to a site with a genuine concern and would like to inform people of this concern and quite possibly have these people participate in your cause, don't insult one of the moderators of the site. Btw, does your momma have any children with common sense?

[hockey]

This is really great news. I've seriously hated special needs kids for YEARS but every time I've spoken up about it someone has called me insensitive. Now an entire school district has declared an effing WAR on them??? Wow that's awesome!

I'm sorry but I LOL'd at this. Clearly, the new poster in unaware of Cracker's Canadian Humor.

[Grin]

Cracker's Canadian Humor

Is that some kind of ice cream bar? Sounds delicious

[hockey]

Cracker's Canadian Humor

Is that some kind of ice cream bar? Sounds delicious

If it was ice cream.... what kind would it be?

I say...
Cracker's Canadian Humor

Chocolate Ice Cream
Animal Cracker Pieces
Maple Syrup Swirl

[cracker]

Cracker's Canadian Humor

Is that some kind of ice cream bar? Sounds delicious

Indeed. Tastes like maple syrup.

[cracker]

Maple Syrup Swirl

Haha, you beat me to it...