Bridge Services at Churchill

[Anonymous]

DC will be going to HS at Churchill in the Bridge Program. Artsy, creative, LGBTQ+ kid who is into fashion, art, music, etc. Will she be included in the community or do Bridge kids tend to isolate in the program or do Churchill kids (and parents) look down on the Bridge kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC will be going to HS at Churchill in the Bridge Program. Artsy, creative, LGBTQ+ kid who is into fashion, art, music, etc. Will she be included in the community or do Bridge kids tend to isolate in the program or do Churchill kids (and parents) look down on the Bridge kids?

Bridge students are a school within a school. There’s very little initiatives to help them make friends outside of the Bridge program and to join the general education students with extra curricular school programs and events.

[Anonymous]

Bullying of students with disabilities is also a huge problem at Churchill. Sometimes bullying can be verbal. Sometimes bullying gets violent. There’s very little understanding by students and parents to appreciate differences within the community.

[Anonymous]

Bridge students are isolated into their own program and have little contact with rest of the students. I don’t recall anyone looking down on them or bullying them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bridge students are isolated into their own program and have little contact with rest of the students. I don’t recall anyone looking down on them or bullying them.

Little contact is not no contact. My child was both verbally and physically bullied at Churchill for his disabilities. It’s easy for non-disabled students to judge those with differences and disrespect others to make themselves seem important. Students with disabilities are easy targets and there simply is not enough adult supervision or a curriculum that teaches empathy to end the problem.

[Anonymous]

This is really discouraging and I’m scared for my daughter. She’s been in inclusion to this point but she needs a lot of one:one support and gets overwhelmed in large classes. She really needs friends and a community and I’m afraid she’s going to be stuck in a small group. She’ll probably find one person in the Bridge program that she’ll connect with - she always finds one person wherever she goes. But she’s wildly talented in art and theater and if she’s not included in those things she will not have a high school community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bridge students are isolated into their own program and have little contact with rest of the students. I don’t recall anyone looking down on them or bullying them.

Does anyone know if it is similar at the other HS bridge programs in the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bridge students are isolated into their own program and have little contact with rest of the students. I don’t recall anyone looking down on them or bullying them.

Little contact is not no contact. My child was both verbally and physically bullied at Churchill for his disabilities. It’s easy for non-disabled students to judge those with differences and disrespect others to make themselves seem important. Students with disabilities are easy targets and there simply is not enough adult supervision or a curriculum that teaches empathy to end the problem.

Is/was your child in the Bridge program? Recently or currently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really discouraging and I’m scared for my daughter. She’s been in inclusion to this point but she needs a lot of one:one support and gets overwhelmed in large classes. She really needs friends and a community and I’m afraid she’s going to be stuck in a small group. She’ll probably find one person in the Bridge program that she’ll connect with - she always finds one person wherever she goes. But she’s wildly talented in art and theater and if she’s not included in those things she will not have a high school community.

(Don’t know your specific daughter’s needs so just throwing an idea out there - you would know best if it’s appropriate or not) -

Would your daughter be ok with a non-Bridge but supported class? Co-taught classes with either a para educator or ideally a special education teacher would be less restrictive. Combine that with a resource class, would your child be able to do the general ed curriculum just with extra support? That way she interacts with non-disabled peers as well as others with disabilities. These classes are supposed to implement universal design so the two teacher format gives all the students more attention.

I have a friend who’s daughter was reassigned from Churchill to Whitman because she was very talented in art but suffered extreme bullying at Churchill. Her disabilities made it difficult for her to respond and the bullying really ate at her self esteem. She was happy at Whitman and is attending a prestigious art school after high school.

In general, parents have raised the issue of bullying to school administrators for years. Churchill has had three principals and two directors in the past five years and nothing has been done for inclusion of students with disabilities and to end bullying. Frankly, the seeds are sown in elementary school. Students with disabilities often have IEP goals so they can learn how to interact appropriately but non-disabled students are not taught how to be kind and respectful to their disabled peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is really discouraging and I’m scared for my daughter. She’s been in inclusion to this point but she needs a lot of one:one support and gets overwhelmed in large classes. She really needs friends and a community and I’m afraid she’s going to be stuck in a small group. She’ll probably find one person in the Bridge program that she’ll connect with - she always finds one person wherever she goes. But she’s wildly talented in art and theater and if she’s not included in those things she will not have a high school community.

(Don’t know your specific daughter’s needs so just throwing an idea out there - you would know best if it’s appropriate or not) -

Would your daughter be ok with a non-Bridge but supported class? Co-taught classes with either a para educator or ideally a special education teacher would be less restrictive. Combine that with a resource class, would your child be able to do the general ed curriculum just with extra support? That way she interacts with non-disabled peers as well as others with disabilities. These classes are supposed to implement universal design so the two teacher format gives all the students more attention.

I have a friend who’s daughter was reassigned from Churchill to Whitman because she was very talented in art but suffered extreme bullying at Churchill. Her disabilities made it difficult for her to respond and the bullying really ate at her self esteem. She was happy at Whitman and is attending a prestigious art school after high school.

Thank you for sharing this. What you describe is basically what my daughter has now. She gets good grades, but she’s miserable and started to hate school. The large classes, even with support are emotionally too difficult for her and she needs a lot of help to complete homework. The IEP team thought the same model would not work for high school because the level of support decreases. We did not object because we agree she needs a lot of support but I am re-thinking that decision given how isolated it sounds like she will be.

In general, parents have raised the issue of bullying to school administrators for years. Churchill has had three principals and two directors in the past five years and nothing has been done for inclusion of students with disabilities and to end bullying. Frankly, the seeds are sown in elementary school. Students with disabilities often have IEP goals so they can learn how to interact appropriately but non-disabled students are not taught how to be kind and respectful to their disabled peers.

[Anonymous]

Based on what you are describing, I am actually surprised that they agreed to a more restrictive environment. For the majority of Bridge kids, they like the small environment as they get overwhelmed and lost in the large school. Most (but not all), have HFA and are unable to be successful without the small classes. A common trend is needing social skills support.

However, kids do have opportunities for mainstreaming if they choose such as lunch, specials, or certain classes. Would that be enough for your daughter?

[Anonymous]

Bridge students can also participate in afterschool extracurriculars including theater and music. Those communities have always been very welcoming to people of all backgrounds. I know this firsthand because both kids went to Churchill and participated in the arts. This is within the past 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on what you are describing, I am actually surprised that they agreed to a more restrictive environment. For the majority of Bridge kids, they like the small environment as they get overwhelmed and lost in the large school. Most (but not all), have HFA and are unable to be successful without the small classes. A common trend is needing social skills support.

However, kids do have opportunities for mainstreaming if they choose such as lunch, specials, or certain classes. Would that be enough for your daughter?

Your description fits my daughter exactly (HFA). Opportunities for mainstreaming and being welcome in clubs and theater would be enough. That is why we agreed to it, assuming the school would be welcoming and kids would be encouraged to participate in clubs and etc. it is what I’m hearing here about bullying and other threads where parents were disparaging disabled kids that concerned me a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bridge students can also participate in afterschool extracurriculars including theater and music. Those communities have always been very welcoming to people of all backgrounds. I know this firsthand because both kids went to Churchill and participated in the arts. This is within the past 5 years.

That is good to hear because that is what I was hoping - but I’ve been hearing anecdotally that Bridge kids are very isolated and the kids and community are not welcoming generally. That is what is worrying me.

[Anonymous]

HFA kids are more prone to bullying at any school- it is no worse at Churchill than other schools. There are great and welcoming kids there, but also mean and bullying ones. Just tike every school. I wouldn’t let what you are hearing here worry you. Your DD will be in a supportive place and can have as many mainstreaming options as she is comfortable with.