Newsweek: "Schools Are Killing My Son's Autism Support Under the Veil of Equity"
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Anonymous
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By Jamie Doyle
Published Apr 18, 2024 at 4:30 AM EDT Updated Apr 18, 2024 at 8:04 AM EDT https://www.newsweek.com/schools-killing-son-autism-support-i-veil-equity-1891131 "On March 19, 2024, parents representing elementary school children with autism sat patiently while the superintendent of education eloquently described the strengths neurodiversity brings to education and the Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Education's (BOE) enduring support for Autism Awareness Month. Yet, only months prior, the BOE decided to terminate a program designed for children with autism and parents were waiting to give testimony urging them to reverse it." ... "We moved to Montgomery County when Zen was in 1st grade and it was determined that my son required high adult oversight, a structured environment, explicit social skills instruction, and executive functioning training, so he was referred to the Autism Learning Center at Darnestown Elementary School (DES)." ... "Frustratingly, autism programs are being emaciated under the veil of equity and efficiency: That by combining kids with autism who were receiving the support they needed with other children with various learning disabilities with less specialized support means that all needs will be met. Why have all these children drink from specialized cups of autism support when they can drink from a special education trough instead? Diluting support for these kids under the veil of equity and efficiency is dishonest. These actions are ableist." |
Anonymous
| Boy, I have to hand it to the Darnestown parents: They are not going down without a fight! |
Anonymous
| MCPS seems unique in having a variety of self-contained and specialized programs for normsl/high IQ disabled kids. Seriously hope they keep them. |
Anonymous
They are not unique. There are specialized autism programs in many districts. What gave you that idea? |
Anonymous
I don't even know what this means. |
Anonymous
I don't think this is a complex thought. That you can't understand what it means is troubling.... |
Anonymous
| MCPS should be a shining example of au/dhd programs. This region attracts many high iq SN type jobs in tech and sciences. But mcps took the opposite stance and decided that their anti-bias initiative comes first and foremost and that anti-bias applies *only* to POC. The Board doesn't seem to have the depth of intelligence to expand the definition ans their initiatives to include other groups who's needs are not being met. |
Anonymous
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“chase rankings and fetishize test scores, support for neurodiverse kids will always be on the chopping block because they are not represented in places where decisions are being made”
This isn’t an accurate statement. The problem is Special Education is expensive. Very expensive. And budgets have not and are not keeping pace. Yes FAPE may be law but we have to remember is not actually free. Districts have to balance spending more money for Special Education that may have a students in a class of 9 with a teacher and two para educators against classes with 25+ students. Education is a continuous investment into the future. But we live in a society that values profit. |
Anonymous
| What specifically are they referring to? |
Anonymous
| How are these programs being killed under the veil of equity? I read the article and I came away with they were being killed because of budgetary reasons. What are the equity reasons? |
Anonymous
I truly don't think there are any, which is what makes me suspicious of the entire "article," which is really just the equivalent of a blog post. It seems that MCPS is phasing out this specific approach, which is sort of a "magnet" for kids with autism. Current kids will finish, but new kids will attend geographically closer programs that serve kids with autism and other learning differences. Now, I think there's an interesting discussion that folks could bring to the table about whether autism-specific programs are better than programs that serve a variety of kids on the diploma track, but I don't see those arguments being made. More importantly, the insistence that this is about "equity" makes it seem like the author is trying to turn it into a culture war discussion instead of a "how to best meet the needs of kids with IEPs" discussion. |
Anonymous
| Any program that has more minorities, costs more, or requires a lot of hard to find SpEd staff is on the chopping block. They always use equity as the excuse. I find it to be a new form of racism in some cases if they are just trying to hide the numbers by mixing it in with general Ed schools. |
Anonymous
Are there 2E programs like in MCPS? there seem to be many more programs in MCPS for kids who can (hopefully) attend college but need a variety of intensity of support all the way to RICA. DCPS has literally zero, other than an apparently secret program at SWS-FS for HFA. |
Anonymous
I think the fake equity is that the kids should be mainstreamed instead of self contained. |
Anonymous
First of all, Darnestown is whiter than the MCPS average by quite a bit. Second of all, how is cutting a program with more minorities about equity? Third, who (except for the blogger linked in the OP) said this was about equity. There's someone claiming it is about equity, but I think that's just for the clicks, because no one has explained how that is the case. |