School Politics

So I noticed on our friendly social media website that the school district had put up a flyer type sign inviting people to a discussion about changes in the special education program. The notice said the superintendent would be on hand as well as the new staff running the program. I just happened to notice the flyer, and seeing it, thought either Matthew or I should probably go to it. Matthew said he would make it home in time for me to run over.

Wow. This is new territory.

The supintendent started with  power point presentation talking about the budget and all of the problems that they have been facing and how they intend to get things under control. Something about how they are/were at a $400 deficit, they got it to -$275, next year will be -$70 and the following they hope to be at $0.  The reasons for the deficit basically boiled down to:

a) Obamacare - Because of the mandate that they have to provide insurance to any employee over 30 hours they have to cut the Para's to 28 hours or less. This means fewer aides for the special needs kids. Not to mention, because of the fewer hours, potentially less educated paras. Interestingly enough they chose 28 hours to create a cushion just in case something happens and they need to stay over time.

A person in the meeting brought up a specific Para who doesn't need insurance but still got cut and there was a long explanation about how situations change and she would still be entitled to it if she ever need it and in a way, she would still be a risk.

b) No more stimulus. At the beginning of Obama's administration he fed money into the schools as a one time thing. Because the finances aren't ongoing, they worked themselves into a deficit post-stimulus and are now having to reverse the employment changes that they made during that time.

c) Changes in federal money line items. Apparently at some point during the last few years they upped the money given to schools through the general WPU but unfortunately all they did was move it from the social security and special needs bucket. So some gov't hot shots are out there saying they increased funding to schools but sadly, the special needs kids suffer.

At this point the people in attendance basically got all huffy. There was some talk about these problems being ones that every district faces and how others in the area have been doing these types of changes as well. Attendees said that they couldn't care less about the problems the district is facing, they want to know how they are going to solve for them and keep their kids SAFE.

The Super got a little frazzled and tried to hurry and move on the to Sequester slides which was met with a little bit of an uproar. That part and more of the "woe is me, look at my challenges" slides were skipped altogether and they moved to introducing the team.

They are really trying to get the kids to their neighborhood schools and bring the services that they need to them rather than putting them in the "cluster" programs but they do have the clusters available to those that it's applicable to. Clustering was our other option but it wasn't at our neighborhood school.

One mom used an example of how her child was left on a corner and how unacceptable this was an on and on but by the end of the meeting said she was pleased with how the issue was resolved and that everything worked out great. Then why bring it up? I guess that was the pitchfork? Whatever. There was another mom who said she had the same problem in another district and it was all about the recovery.

The meeting lasted a couple of hours! That was unexpected! Kudos to the Super though, in a larger school district, basically any of the others in the area, I doubt there would be this type of town council discussion. He ended it with a commitment to meet like that another time during the school year and again at the end of it so anyone can bring up any concerns that they have.

After it ended I walked up to introduce myself to the woman who I had talked to about Dylan's placement into the neighborhood school. She told me she understood the special education teacher spent a couple hours with Dylan and I (hours? 15 minutes maybe... ??) and that she is excited to have Dylan over there. We spoke briefly but defenses were quite high for sure (not on my part, I am new to this!), especially after I corrected her on the time spent with Dyl, so I just did a quick intro and split. It was late by now!

My take home... I am lucky that Dylan is as broken as she is. We will have less of a struggle to get her services because she needs them. She simply cannot be left alone in a classroom. But, for the kids that can? You bet they will be. It's the more mainstreamed children that are in trouble and their parents have to fight! It's really sad actually because for a lot of those children it's the one on one time that can determine their success.

I am just afraid that at some point when all the boys have started school they won't be able to provide a para for her full time and THEN we will need to change to the cluster. Making all the boys either change schools or not be with Dylan. I might flip my lid.

Something tells me I will have to be highly involved in this school thing for the sake of Dylan and the other special needs kiddos. Like even at the state level. This will be an interesting hobby.