Read previous post.
Putting my money where my belief is.
Please e-mail me at stand4idea@aol.com about the conference and I might pay your conference fee.
Please provide name, school district, title, place of work and contact information.
Reason I ask?
In 1997, STAND was paid $x00 by the HCPS for several of the HCPS ESE-related-personnel to attend our first conference at the USF campus.
My best recollection is very few, if more than one who I remember, attended.
Free money for STAND. Continued arrogance with ignorance for HCPS.
The main speaker was AMY ROWLEY
I will assume that no readers of mine know who she is.
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6 comments:
Richard
Correct me if I am wrong. Amy was given an interpreter for a 2 week trial. This professional determined that she really didn't need one and this accommodation was withdrawn. Parent went to court and won the use of this interpreter based on the fact that while she didn't need this service, it was determined that w/o it she really wouldn't be made whole.
Then the Supreme court overturned this decision.
Please be gentle as I have some problems reading all of that court gibberish.
By the way, I was 70% deaf during my 1st and a part of my 2nd grade. Thank God a very perceptive teacher noticed the signs that I was lip reading (a skill I still possess today), she told my parents and eventually surgery was done that helped me recover a bit of that deficit.
Hmmmm...if the surgery were cheaper than an interpreter and I was a kid living under IDEAS should the school system have paid for the surgery?
I am very interested in this topic but not in attending the conference. If you would consider paying me for my time as well as the tuition, I might consider it.
These kind of things are held when I am off from work and the school district refuses to adequately pay us for out time when we avail ourselves of this type of training.
You probably dont like that response. If you were in my shoes you would probably understand my reticence at giving away my precious time away from work. Please do not take offense. I know you are critical of the district and in most things we are on the same page. The training we get is mostly worthless. That is a whole other subject. The conference you suggest would probably be very interesting but at 55 I need to guard the precious time I have left in doing the things I need to do away from work.
Tom
To ggtw (Tom) od 12:48
I must say I laughed out loud when I read I could pay for your time. I took it as a tongue-in-cheek comment.
I will get back with you later about Amy.
I must say on a more serious note, upon reading about your desire to protect your personal time, my immediate feeling was "I have heard this somewhere before".
I went outside to do a little weeding and mowing while I thought about my feelings and I figured it out.
I usually hear that position from parents. It is frequently phrased "why should I have to spend my time away from my family and have to take off work learning how to advocate, writing letters and going to mulitple IEP meetings for my child when the school system should be honest and do the right thing."
It is what it is.
Richard
Its not a question of honesty. The courts mandated all of these services and nobody really knows whats best for many of the children we serve. They put a young EMH kid in my Geography class a few years ago who had no business being in there. I guess it was a LRE issue. I had no idea what to do for him.
I appreciate your passion for this and I respect your dedication to children with disabilities. I believe schools are being asked to do more than they are capable of doing. They want me to "teach" values. How do you "teach" values? I get the kid for an hour a day. He learns his values at home. What makes ME qualified to teach values anyway?
Same with these children with disabilities. I am fusing with another teacher, a very good ESE teacher and he is overwhelmed with his caseload. I read that article in Pinellas requiring kids to be served from day 1. Richard, that is a joke. The schools there will certainly make it look like they are serving kids from day one but it will not happen. I think that is part of the problem. We are given impossible tasks to perform and rather than say this is BS and we cant do it, we "pencil whip" and make everything look good on paper.
Parents like you are rightfully angry because we never told you it couldnt be done. We went along with the impossible requirements, often tried our best but with an eye toward the auditors we ultimately worked harder to make things look right rather than make things be right. Ultimately teaches will shoulder the blame because the administrators have shielded themselves from responsibility by documenting their "training" and "instructions" to teachers. They wink when we cut corners as long as we don't get caught.
Its madness and teaches are partly to blame. They are responsible because they dont stand up and insist on more help, more training and more resources. Did you know that ESE teachers are pulled from FUSE classes to cover for teachers who are out? What do you think would happen if one of them said "no, I have legal responsibilities to my kids. Their IEP's requires my services."
Richard, its alot to ask a young 24 year old w/o tenure it risk their job by standing up for what is right. The big guys are very good at covering their tracks.
I hope this has made some sense. I care about my students too, most of us do. Its a no-win situation. Believe it or not, most teachers would agree with your criticisms.
About my guarding my precious time. When you don't feel you are appreciated by those above you and feel they would throw you under the bus rather than back you, its should be understandable why many of us are not willing to give away out time.
Sorry I didn't sign my name to the last post. I have decided to never post anonymously again. I came out before you did Richard. :)
Tom:
Your last post of 8:54 says a lot.
In fact, it may say it all.
There are so many areas you have covered that require expansion of the meaning and the implications.
For instance, there are national heavy-hitter special education advocates that ask if IDEA is more of a shackle for low expectations than a key to a free and appropriate public education.
The classroom becomes a battleground when parents become knowledgeable about their procedural safeguards.
I have used the word "obfuscation" prolifically by design. "We" all know that this is what is done to create a sense of "professionalism". Your use of the word "pencil whip" is what advocates call "paper compliance" as opposed to "real compliance".
Paper compliance wins in court.
I could have added in my last post that in my over 12 years of advocacy experience, most teachers as yourself who attend one of STAND's Level II training have a similiar response that they never knew what the law (IDEA) really said and what it meant. The downside to this is it adds to their angst.
I will once again say that every sentence you wrote says more than what most people would realize.
Hey Tom, while I am watching the Gator/Hurricane game (my oldest graduated from UF), I realized I may have missed something about your previous post.
You're very first sentence of "it's not a question of honesty" needs to be clarified.
The question of "honesty" is directed towards "the system" (local, state, federal).
All-
I'm staying in my TPA on this one. I am 50+, have tenure and plan to keep it. I've been fighting for my kids and helping parents deal with the system for too many years. I'm afraid the system has won--they're bigger and meaner and I'm just too tired. Back in the 70s when I chose Special Ed instead of a core subject area, I thought I could make a difference. I have done that with a few kids. I have managed to not get thrown under the bus. Because of FUSE, I have discovered that core class teachers have a life after school hours. Their kids didn't help them separate colored copies of forms while watching TV at night or help grade papers when that child took a few hours from their own homework to help grade Mom's. I don't see retiring anytime soon, but because of that wacky requirement the district made a few years ago that ESE teachers that FUSEd had to be certified in that area, I may follow a few colleagues into a core subject position. I do love making that difference with my ESE kids, but the rest of it is too much. My husband is helping me enter grades this weekend--my one planning period rarely gets used for that and I am usualy using my time after school and at night to keep ahead of my new curriculum preps (yay, Springboard)and find/make materials for the next few days of classes. Yesterday,I left at 5:15. It's easy to say to not spend the time over 8 hours, but a possible consequence for ESE teachers is to be a party in a lawsuit ---paperwork prevails. Gee-- it's Sunday--maybe I can escape into a book. I'll be helping those kids that need it whatever I teach--they'll find me. I'll also be working in my small way to change the system as I can.
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