Started working at an elementary school last week. Shocked and sad. AMA

[Anonymous]

A lot of little kids are spending 6-10 hrs a day on screens when they are home. They don’t go outside. No one plays with them or reads to them. They all just stare at their screens all day. This makes it hard to learn and behave at school.

[Anonymous]

Op, as a mom of a SN kid with behavior issues, I agree.

The problem is the district refuses to offer a 1:1 aide OR to provide us with an appropriate placement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I’m so sick of people claiming there’s “no funding” or “not enough funding” in our schools. Schools in DC spend literally more than $22k per year per kid, average. Some are obviously a lot more. Schools in Florida spend $9k and that’s still high, relatively speaking. Other Western countries spend WAY less than we do in the US. People need to start acknowledging that if an average of $22k/year isn’t enough to get all students meeting a basic grade level standard then money is NOT the problem and more money is NOT the answer.

This. It's not money, it's how it's used. DC spends about 2x the national average per student. Compared to other states, only NY spends more per student, and that's likely due to high real estate and labor costs in NYC.

My 2nd grade DD is in an all-girls private. I volunteer there at lunch time. The kids are well-mannered and well-behaved, asking me if they can get up for another serving or go to the bathroom. Everyone complies with the requirement to wash your hands before eating.

Our private spends about the same per student in operating costs than public school (public school funding does not include capital expenditures). The difference is privates can pick their students, so they choose the ones who are motivated. I think single-gender education helps too. Our DD complained about boys disrupting class when she was in public.

[Anonymous]

The worst are parents with badly behaved kids who either don't give a F or are in complete and total denial they gave birth to Satan baby, and instead promote their child as a "highly gifted" angel. puke

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1 Very rarely will non-teachers admit this. But NCLB/IDEA/FAPE ruined public schools in the US. The Federal Government and Congress like the publicity of “helping everyone” but provided no funding. So then all children suffer.

I’m so sick of people claiming there’s “no funding” or “not enough funding” in our schools. Schools in DC spend literally more than $22k per year per kid, average. Some are obviously a lot more. Schools in Florida spend $9k and that’s still high, relatively speaking. Other Western countries spend WAY less than we do in the US. People need to start acknowledging that if an average of $22k/year isn’t enough to get all students meeting a basic grade level standard then money is NOT the problem and more money is NOT the answer.

They can start by getting all the disruptive kids out of our classrooms and back into special facilities that are equipped (no scissors, yes metal detectors, yes guards) and trained (staff with personal defense training plus deescalation techniques etc plus aides floating around) to handle them.

The problem is the students and the parents. Not the schools. Schools don’t need more money or more anything. They need less of the thing that’s destroying them, which is disruptive students.

I'm from Europe. Part of the reason why I stayed here for good (or until I retire, at least) is that my first child was born with special needs and I knew my home country's education system had nothing for him. NOTHING. Parents of autistic kids in my country often become indigent because they cannot go to work because their kids cannot go to school!!! Please let that sink in. OF COURSE PUBLIC EDUCATION COSTS ARE LOWER WHEN YOU DON'T ACCOMMODATE THE CHILDREN WHO NEED MORE CARE. European public school systems are narrowly focused on the middle range of achievers. There is no gifted education. No special needs education. Teachers are rigid and expect children to adapt to their teaching style. Here in America it's the opposite, where teachers are trained to adapt to children's learning styles. It's a completely different philosophy. If only we could have the best of both worlds: European educational rigor, with American child-centered focus and attention paid to both extremes of development.

Americans do not realize how economically-sound their public school system really is, thanks to IDEA. It allows parents of kids with special needs to place them safely where there is the least likelihood of abuse (institutions and special schools are notorious for that), harbor some hope they will progress and become independent one day, and it allows them to contribute to the economy and maintain a certain level of dignity. I am incredibly grateful for that federal law, its particular implementation in Montgomery County, and our professional ability to get visas to stay here. We pay all of our taxes in the US, thanks to an agreement between my home country and the USA, so we are stakeholders too, despite not being citizens. We pay into the system just like you.

Now does the current system always work? No. I have witnessed massive disruption to classes when one child has behaviors that stop instruction and bother other children. The push for LRE is misguided. I know many parents of kids with special needs WHO DO NOT WANT LEAST RESTRICTIVE EDUCATION. It is applied to the extreme in cases where a child could never hope to gain anything from a mainstream classroom, because it is the least expensive option. I personally know parents who have fought their public school system to place their kids in more restrictive environments, but there are limited in seats and some are very expensive for the County, if they need specialized private schools that the County pays for. Some reasonably well-off parents choose to homeschool instead.

The American philosophy of meeting each child where they are is in my mind the pinnacle of a civilized society. You should be proud of your country in that regard. No other country in the world has pushed as far as the USA to include every child in its public education effort. It has lifted many families out of poverty because they could finally go to work, and it has trained children who might otherwise never had received a degree to be functional and employable. PLEASE FACTOR THIS INTO YOUR FINANCIAL CALCULATIONS.

We just need to tweak it. Surely we can do that.

It's very true that the US educational system is great compared to most others when it comes to significant disabilities, like autism. However, that's a pretty small subset of children, and you need to understand that serving special needs populations as well as we do results in negative effects for the majority of other children.

Surely you're intelligent enough to understand that the inclusion of all children benefits more than the autistic subset. We're talking about all sorts of developmental delays, the giant ADHD group, the dyslexics, dyscalculics, dysgraphics, the kids with impaired hearing or impaired sight, those in wheelchairs, the giant anxiety group, those with depression, bipolar disorders, and other psychiatric ailments. There are a kids with chronic physical diseases whose treatment needs perturb their education, there are kids with cancer, particularly around NIH, because their families have the right to enroll their kids in nearby MCPS schools while their child is being treated there. I knew of a child with a specific short-term memory issue. There are so many children with varying needs!!!

Please realize that special needs come in all sorts of future options: there are kids with mild special needs who will go on to be very traditionally successful; those with moderate needs that can be perfectly functional and independent as adults; and those that will never be independent but who can be socialized and taught to advocate for themselves in some measure to make their lives safer (always a critical issue with the latter cohort). The range of functionality and futures runs the gamut!

Educating these children is making sure they are not a burden, or as light a burden as possible, to YOUR children when they're all adults and paying taxes. You've got to stop being so short-sighted and selfish, PP.

I completely agree with you that the current system can be detrimental to certain kids if they're unlucky enough to be in the class with a habitual disrupter. My kids have been in those classes. But despite one of them having an IEP himself, my kids are both functional enough to power through and be successful no matter who is in their class. The burden they bear is NOTHING compared to the burden the disrupter bears.

I support efforts to change the system just enough that children and teachers can be protected and shielded from the worse behaviors of certain perturbed children - everyone in that situation deserves better, most of all, the perturbed child themselves!

But DO NOT imply that our society should stop including and helping the immense numbers of children with special needs. One of them might cure your cancer one day. They are not all cognitively impaired, you know. Some of them are very bright indeed. My husband has ADHD/Asperger's, he has an MD and a PhD and works in cancer research. I know what I'm talking about.

[Anonymous]

It’s that all other social costs are internalized to the school systems. So things that in Europe are budgeted to other aspects of the social safety net here fall to the school district. Years ago after NCLB passed, I read a lot of the research on what it costs to educate a child to a particular standard of achievement. The cost goes up for a low income kid, a kid whose family doesn’t speak English, a kid with disabilities, etc.—and I was shocked by how much more it costs. So every time people complain that DC spends so much money for so little results, I think of that research. You can’t compare it to a location that is largely native born middle class families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1 Very rarely will non-teachers admit this. But NCLB/IDEA/FAPE ruined public schools in the US. The Federal Government and Congress like the publicity of “helping everyone” but provided no funding. So then all children suffer.

I’m so sick of people claiming there’s “no funding” or “not enough funding” in our schools. Schools in DC spend literally more than $22k per year per kid, average. Some are obviously a lot more. Schools in Florida spend $9k and that’s still high, relatively speaking. Other Western countries spend WAY less than we do in the US. People need to start acknowledging that if an average of $22k/year isn’t enough to get all students meeting a basic grade level standard then money is NOT the problem and more money is NOT the answer.

They can start by getting all the disruptive kids out of our classrooms and back into special facilities that are equipped (no scissors, yes metal detectors, yes guards) and trained (staff with personal defense training plus deescalation techniques etc plus aides floating around) to handle them.

The problem is the students and the parents. Not the schools. Schools don’t need more money or more anything. They need less of the thing that’s destroying them, which is disruptive students.

I'm from Europe. Part of the reason why I stayed here for good (or until I retire, at least) is that my first child was born with special needs and I knew my home country's education system had nothing for him. NOTHING. Parents of autistic kids in my country often become indigent because they cannot go to work because their kids cannot go to school!!! Please let that sink in. OF COURSE PUBLIC EDUCATION COSTS ARE LOWER WHEN YOU DON'T ACCOMMODATE THE CHILDREN WHO NEED MORE CARE. European public school systems are narrowly focused on the middle range of achievers. There is no gifted education. No special needs education. Teachers are rigid and expect children to adapt to their teaching style. Here in America it's the opposite, where teachers are trained to adapt to children's learning styles. It's a completely different philosophy. If only we could have the best of both worlds: European educational rigor, with American child-centered focus and attention paid to both extremes of development.

Americans do not realize how economically-sound their public school system really is, thanks to IDEA. It allows parents of kids with special needs to place them safely where there is the least likelihood of abuse (institutions and special schools are notorious for that), harbor some hope they will progress and become independent one day, and it allows them to contribute to the economy and maintain a certain level of dignity. I am incredibly grateful for that federal law, its particular implementation in Montgomery County, and our professional ability to get visas to stay here. We pay all of our taxes in the US, thanks to an agreement between my home country and the USA, so we are stakeholders too, despite not being citizens. We pay into the system just like you.

Now does the current system always work? No. I have witnessed massive disruption to classes when one child has behaviors that stop instruction and bother other children. The push for LRE is misguided. I know many parents of kids with special needs WHO DO NOT WANT LEAST RESTRICTIVE EDUCATION. It is applied to the extreme in cases where a child could never hope to gain anything from a mainstream classroom, because it is the least expensive option. I personally know parents who have fought their public school system to place their kids in more restrictive environments, but there are limited in seats and some are very expensive for the County, if they need specialized private schools that the County pays for. Some reasonably well-off parents choose to homeschool instead.

The American philosophy of meeting each child where they are is in my mind the pinnacle of a civilized society. You should be proud of your country in that regard. No other country in the world has pushed as far as the USA to include every child in its public education effort. It has lifted many families out of poverty because they could finally go to work, and it has trained children who might otherwise never had received a degree to be functional and employable. PLEASE FACTOR THIS INTO YOUR FINANCIAL CALCULATIONS.

We just need to tweak it. Surely we can do that.

It's very true that the US educational system is great compared to most others when it comes to significant disabilities, like autism. However, that's a pretty small subset of children, and you need to understand that serving special needs populations as well as we do results in negative effects for the majority of other children.

Surely you're intelligent enough to understand that the inclusion of all children benefits more than the autistic subset. We're talking about all sorts of developmental delays, the giant ADHD group, the dyslexics, dyscalculics, dysgraphics, the kids with impaired hearing or impaired sight, those in wheelchairs, the giant anxiety group, those with depression, bipolar disorders, and other psychiatric ailments. There are a kids with chronic physical diseases whose treatment needs perturb their education, there are kids with cancer, particularly around NIH, because their families have the right to enroll their kids in nearby MCPS schools while their child is being treated there. I knew of a child with a specific short-term memory issue. There are so many children with varying needs!!!

Please realize that special needs come in all sorts of future options: there are kids with mild special needs who will go on to be very traditionally successful; those with moderate needs that can be perfectly functional and independent as adults; and those that will never be independent but who can be socialized and taught to advocate for themselves in some measure to make their lives safer (always a critical issue with the latter cohort). The range of functionality and futures runs the gamut!

Educating these children is making sure they are not a burden, or as light a burden as possible, to YOUR children when they're all adults and paying taxes. You've got to stop being so short-sighted and selfish, PP.

I completely agree with you that the current system can be detrimental to certain kids if they're unlucky enough to be in the class with a habitual disrupter. My kids have been in those classes. But despite one of them having an IEP himself, my kids are both functional enough to power through and be successful no matter who is in their class. The burden they bear is NOTHING compared to the burden the disrupter bears.

I support efforts to change the system just enough that children and teachers can be protected and shielded from the worse behaviors of certain perturbed children - everyone in that situation deserves better, most of all, the perturbed child themselves!

But DO NOT imply that our society should stop including and helping the immense numbers of children with special needs. One of them might cure your cancer one day. They are not all cognitively impaired, you know. Some of them are very bright indeed. My husband has ADHD/Asperger's, he has an MD and a PhD and works in cancer research. I know what I'm talking about.

::Standing ovation::

[Anonymous]

I saw this when my first DD started PK3 at our well regarded local DCPS. I think the class was small (18 kids I think) with one great teacher and one aid. 2-3 girls (yes, sometimes it’s the girls), were very disruptive and taking all teacher and aid’s attention. My sweet, shy DD fell in the background. The teacher was really great I think and tried his best. Still… when you have 2 4-year old throwing chairs, screaming and throwing themselves on the floor, you need to intervene.

We moved my DD to private school and it was night and day. I am not American and when I went to school we did not have these issues in class. Disruptive kids were punished (not humiliated, but punished). Parents would be called, etc. I think more is expected from all kids in my country (at least it was when I went to school). Children with severe disabilities (not at all independent) had an aid 100% of the time.

I think we are just too lenient with kids nowadays. Too worried about not hurting their feelings, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s that all other social costs are internalized to the school systems. So things that in Europe are budgeted to other aspects of the social safety net here fall to the school district. Years ago after NCLB passed, I read a lot of the research on what it costs to educate a child to a particular standard of achievement. The cost goes up for a low income kid, a kid whose family doesn’t speak English, a kid with disabilities, etc.—and I was shocked by how much more it costs. So every time people complain that DC spends so much money for so little results, I think of that research. You can’t compare it to a location that is largely native born middle class families.

But.. DC is #2 in the entire US in spending per student. There are plenty of other states with similar challenges if not more, yet they manage to spend less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I think we are just too lenient with kids nowadays. Too worried about not hurting their feelings, etc.

It's also the equity thing. MCPS pulled SROs (police) out of schools because they found males of certain races were disproportionately being arrested. Now, there was never a mention if those were valid arrests (I've heard no claims that these were thrown out of court and false arrest charges filed), but their solution was to remove SROs .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1 Very rarely will non-teachers admit this. But NCLB/IDEA/FAPE ruined public schools in the US. The Federal Government and Congress like the publicity of “helping everyone” but provided no funding. So then all children suffer.

I’m so sick of people claiming there’s “no funding” or “not enough funding” in our schools. Schools in DC spend literally more than $22k per year per kid, average. Some are obviously a lot more. Schools in Florida spend $9k and that’s still high, relatively speaking. Other Western countries spend WAY less than we do in the US. People need to start acknowledging that if an average of $22k/year isn’t enough to get all students meeting a basic grade level standard then money is NOT the problem and more money is NOT the answer.

They can start by getting all the disruptive kids out of our classrooms and back into special facilities that are equipped (no scissors, yes metal detectors, yes guards) and trained (staff with personal defense training plus deescalation techniques etc plus aides floating around) to handle them.

The problem is the students and the parents. Not the schools. Schools don’t need more money or more anything. They need less of the thing that’s destroying them, which is disruptive students.

+10,000 Thank you for this.
I'm from Europe. Part of the reason why I stayed here for good (or until I retire, at least) is that my first child was born with special needs and I knew my home country's education system had nothing for him. NOTHING. Parents of autistic kids in my country often become indigent because they cannot go to work because their kids cannot go to school!!! Please let that sink in. OF COURSE PUBLIC EDUCATION COSTS ARE LOWER WHEN YOU DON'T ACCOMMODATE THE CHILDREN WHO NEED MORE CARE. European public school systems are narrowly focused on the middle range of achievers. There is no gifted education. No special needs education. Teachers are rigid and expect children to adapt to their teaching style. Here in America it's the opposite, where teachers are trained to adapt to children's learning styles. It's a completely different philosophy. If only we could have the best of both worlds: European educational rigor, with American child-centered focus and attention paid to both extremes of development.

Americans do not realize how economically-sound their public school system really is, thanks to IDEA. It allows parents of kids with special needs to place them safely where there is the least likelihood of abuse (institutions and special schools are notorious for that), harbor some hope they will progress and become independent one day, and it allows them to contribute to the economy and maintain a certain level of dignity. I am incredibly grateful for that federal law, its particular implementation in Montgomery County, and our professional ability to get visas to stay here. We pay all of our taxes in the US, thanks to an agreement between my home country and the USA, so we are stakeholders too, despite not being citizens. We pay into the system just like you.

Now does the current system always work? No. I have witnessed massive disruption to classes when one child has behaviors that stop instruction and bother other children. The push for LRE is misguided. I know many parents of kids with special needs WHO DO NOT WANT LEAST RESTRICTIVE EDUCATION. It is applied to the extreme in cases where a child could never hope to gain anything from a mainstream classroom, because it is the least expensive option. I personally know parents who have fought their public school system to place their kids in more restrictive environments, but there are limited in seats and some are very expensive for the County, if they need specialized private schools that the County pays for. Some reasonably well-off parents choose to homeschool instead.

The American philosophy of meeting each child where they are is in my mind the pinnacle of a civilized society. You should be proud of your country in that regard. No other country in the world has pushed as far as the USA to include every child in its public education effort. It has lifted many families out of poverty because they could finally go to work, and it has trained children who might otherwise never had received a degree to be functional and employable. PLEASE FACTOR THIS INTO YOUR FINANCIAL CALCULATIONS.

We just need to tweak it. Surely we can do that.

It's very true that the US educational system is great compared to most others when it comes to significant disabilities, like autism. However, that's a pretty small subset of children, and you need to understand that serving special needs populations as well as we do results in negative effects for the majority of other children.

Surely you're intelligent enough to understand that the inclusion of all children benefits more than the autistic subset. We're talking about all sorts of developmental delays, the giant ADHD group, the dyslexics, dyscalculics, dysgraphics, the kids with impaired hearing or impaired sight, those in wheelchairs, the giant anxiety group, those with depression, bipolar disorders, and other psychiatric ailments. There are a kids with chronic physical diseases whose treatment needs perturb their education, there are kids with cancer, particularly around NIH, because their families have the right to enroll their kids in nearby MCPS schools while their child is being treated there. I knew of a child with a specific short-term memory issue. There are so many children with varying needs!!!

Please realize that special needs come in all sorts of future options: there are kids with mild special needs who will go on to be very traditionally successful; those with moderate needs that can be perfectly functional and independent as adults; and those that will never be independent but who can be socialized and taught to advocate for themselves in some measure to make their lives safer (always a critical issue with the latter cohort). The range of functionality and futures runs the gamut!

Educating these children is making sure they are not a burden, or as light a burden as possible, to YOUR children when they're all adults and paying taxes. You've got to stop being so short-sighted and selfish, PP.

I completely agree with you that the current system can be detrimental to certain kids if they're unlucky enough to be in the class with a habitual disrupter. My kids have been in those classes. But despite one of them having an IEP himself, my kids are both functional enough to power through and be successful no matter who is in their class. The burden they bear is NOTHING compared to the burden the disrupter bears.

I support efforts to change the system just enough that children and teachers can be protected and shielded from the worse behaviors of certain perturbed children - everyone in that situation deserves better, most of all, the perturbed child themselves!

But DO NOT imply that our society should stop including and helping the immense numbers of children with special needs. One of them might cure your cancer one day. They are not all cognitively impaired, you know. Some of them are very bright indeed. My husband has ADHD/Asperger's, he has an MD and a PhD and works in cancer research. I know what I'm talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1 Very rarely will non-teachers admit this. But NCLB/IDEA/FAPE ruined public schools in the US. The Federal Government and Congress like the publicity of “helping everyone” but provided no funding. So then all children suffer.

I’m so sick of people claiming there’s “no funding” or “not enough funding” in our schools. Schools in DC spend literally more than $22k per year per kid, average. Some are obviously a lot more. Schools in Florida spend $9k and that’s still high, relatively speaking. Other Western countries spend WAY less than we do in the US. People need to start acknowledging that if an average of $22k/year isn’t enough to get all students meeting a basic grade level standard then money is NOT the problem and more money is NOT the answer.

They can start by getting all the disruptive kids out of our classrooms and back into special facilities that are equipped (no scissors, yes metal detectors, yes guards) and trained (staff with personal defense training plus deescalation techniques etc plus aides floating around) to handle them.

The problem is the students and the parents. Not the schools. Schools don’t need more money or more anything. They need less of the thing that’s destroying them, which is disruptive students.

+10,000. Thank you for this!
I'm from Europe. Part of the reason why I stayed here for good (or until I retire, at least) is that my first child was born with special needs and I knew my home country's education system had nothing for him. NOTHING. Parents of autistic kids in my country often become indigent because they cannot go to work because their kids cannot go to school!!! Please let that sink in. OF COURSE PUBLIC EDUCATION COSTS ARE LOWER WHEN YOU DON'T ACCOMMODATE THE CHILDREN WHO NEED MORE CARE. European public school systems are narrowly focused on the middle range of achievers. There is no gifted education. No special needs education. Teachers are rigid and expect children to adapt to their teaching style. Here in America it's the opposite, where teachers are trained to adapt to children's learning styles. It's a completely different philosophy. If only we could have the best of both worlds: European educational rigor, with American child-centered focus and attention paid to both extremes of development.

Americans do not realize how economically-sound their public school system really is, thanks to IDEA. It allows parents of kids with special needs to place them safely where there is the least likelihood of abuse (institutions and special schools are notorious for that), harbor some hope they will progress and become independent one day, and it allows them to contribute to the economy and maintain a certain level of dignity. I am incredibly grateful for that federal law, its particular implementation in Montgomery County, and our professional ability to get visas to stay here. We pay all of our taxes in the US, thanks to an agreement between my home country and the USA, so we are stakeholders too, despite not being citizens. We pay into the system just like you.

Now does the current system always work? No. I have witnessed massive disruption to classes when one child has behaviors that stop instruction and bother other children. The push for LRE is misguided. I know many parents of kids with special needs WHO DO NOT WANT LEAST RESTRICTIVE EDUCATION. It is applied to the extreme in cases where a child could never hope to gain anything from a mainstream classroom, because it is the least expensive option. I personally know parents who have fought their public school system to place their kids in more restrictive environments, but there are limited in seats and some are very expensive for the County, if they need specialized private schools that the County pays for. Some reasonably well-off parents choose to homeschool instead.

The American philosophy of meeting each child where they are is in my mind the pinnacle of a civilized society. You should be proud of your country in that regard. No other country in the world has pushed as far as the USA to include every child in its public education effort. It has lifted many families out of poverty because they could finally go to work, and it has trained children who might otherwise never had received a degree to be functional and employable. PLEASE FACTOR THIS INTO YOUR FINANCIAL CALCULATIONS.

We just need to tweak it. Surely we can do that.

It's very true that the US educational system is great compared to most others when it comes to significant disabilities, like autism. However, that's a pretty small subset of children, and you need to understand that serving special needs populations as well as we do results in negative effects for the majority of other children.

Surely you're intelligent enough to understand that the inclusion of all children benefits more than the autistic subset. We're talking about all sorts of developmental delays, the giant ADHD group, the dyslexics, dyscalculics, dysgraphics, the kids with impaired hearing or impaired sight, those in wheelchairs, the giant anxiety group, those with depression, bipolar disorders, and other psychiatric ailments. There are a kids with chronic physical diseases whose treatment needs perturb their education, there are kids with cancer, particularly around NIH, because their families have the right to enroll their kids in nearby MCPS schools while their child is being treated there. I knew of a child with a specific short-term memory issue. There are so many children with varying needs!!!

Please realize that special needs come in all sorts of future options: there are kids with mild special needs who will go on to be very traditionally successful; those with moderate needs that can be perfectly functional and independent as adults; and those that will never be independent but who can be socialized and taught to advocate for themselves in some measure to make their lives safer (always a critical issue with the latter cohort). The range of functionality and futures runs the gamut!

Educating these children is making sure they are not a burden, or as light a burden as possible, to YOUR children when they're all adults and paying taxes. You've got to stop being so short-sighted and selfish, PP.

I completely agree with you that the current system can be detrimental to certain kids if they're unlucky enough to be in the class with a habitual disrupter. My kids have been in those classes. But despite one of them having an IEP himself, my kids are both functional enough to power through and be successful no matter who is in their class. The burden they bear is NOTHING compared to the burden the disrupter bears.

I support efforts to change the system just enough that children and teachers can be protected and shielded from the worse behaviors of certain perturbed children - everyone in that situation deserves better, most of all, the perturbed child themselves!

But DO NOT imply that our society should stop including and helping the immense numbers of children with special needs. One of them might cure your cancer one day. They are not all cognitively impaired, you know. Some of them are very bright indeed. My husband has ADHD/Asperger's, he has an MD and a PhD and works in cancer research. I know what I'm talking about.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why I'm having trouble quoting tonight, but +1,000 to the poster at 20:14 (the long one).

[Anonymous]

Also, in order to get a child special education services the teacher needs to document. That is why in K and 1st grade it is impossible to move a child out of a classroom. You have to first start the documentation process, then have a meeting, document more, have another meeting, then testing, then another meeting It takes monthsssss to get the ball rolling on anything. And the teacher needs to be at those meetings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1 Very rarely will non-teachers admit this. But NCLB/IDEA/FAPE ruined public schools in the US. The Federal Government and Congress like the publicity of “helping everyone” but provided no funding. So then all children suffer.

I’m so sick of people claiming there’s “no funding” or “not enough funding” in our schools. Schools in DC spend literally more than $22k per year per kid, average. Some are obviously a lot more. Schools in Florida spend $9k and that’s still high, relatively speaking. Other Western countries spend WAY less than we do in the US. People need to start acknowledging that if an average of $22k/year isn’t enough to get all students meeting a basic grade level standard then money is NOT the problem and more money is NOT the answer.

They can start by getting all the disruptive kids out of our classrooms and back into special facilities that are equipped (no scissors, yes metal detectors, yes guards) and trained (staff with personal defense training plus deescalation techniques etc plus aides floating around) to handle them.

The problem is the students and the parents. Not the schools. Schools don’t need more money or more anything. They need less of the thing that’s destroying them, which is disruptive students.

They need more teachers. And less secretaries, "coaches," administrators, and layers upon layers of useless paper-pushers.

We need less IEPs that REQUIRE classroom teachers to spend HOURS per week documenting.

I'm not sure what district and school you are in, but when I was teaching in Fairfax classroom teachers did not spend hours documenting for IEPs. The special ed teachers did most of that.

When did you last teach in Fairfax? 20 years ago? You know that kids in non-special ed classrooms now have IEPs and they are not taught by Special Ed teachers, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw this when my first DD started PK3 at our well regarded local DCPS. I think the class was small (18 kids I think) with one great teacher and one aid. 2-3 girls (yes, sometimes it’s the girls), were very disruptive and taking all teacher and aid’s attention. My sweet, shy DD fell in the background. The teacher was really great I think and tried his best. Still… when you have 2 4-year old throwing chairs, screaming and throwing themselves on the floor, you need to intervene.

We moved my DD to private school and it was night and day. I am not American and when I went to school we did not have these issues in class. Disruptive kids were punished (not humiliated, but punished). Parents would be called, etc. I think more is expected from all kids in my country (at least it was when I went to school). Children with severe disabilities (not at all independent) had an aid 100% of the time.

I think we are just too lenient with kids nowadays. Too worried about not hurting their feelings, etc.

You can’t expel a child with a behavioral IEP for misbehaving. Your private on the other hand has a whole admissions process to weed those kids out and the freedom to get rid of them of one slips through