I think those outrageous policies are few and far between. That's why an outrageous policy in Florida, or wherever, gets airtime nationwide- because the policies are outrageous, but they're so outrageous they make good copy. There are school districts that do some bizarre things (left and right) but thank goodness most people believe in the public schools their children attend. Most people are happy.
I like the idea of no child left behind. I hope we can live up to it. I want to see reform in the public school system. I'd like to see more innovation, more studies, more more more. But with budget shortfalls what we are going to see is less less less. Where I teach our English books are falling apart. Our budgets are frozen and we've no hope of getting any money for anything. I bought my class Macbeth books with my own money. I hate to think of money leaving the public system. We need new technology- we're still using VHS, we ought to have DVD. We need more books- our library is pitiful. We need more support for our resource students- I had to plead to get one very needy student some help. Her parents had been trying to get her help for a year, and she was failing every class. The administration didn't want to put her in resource because it is expensive and there is no money. I can sympathize with the administration, but I've got to be an advocate for my students first.
My son has a good placement now, with lots of services. My child isn't cheap, but he isn't as expensive as a child who requires an aide. My son gets adaptive PE, speech, resource help, occupational therapy, pychological evaluations, and he recently was observed by a behavioral therapist so that we could determine the best placement for middle school. Of course I only got the behavioral therapist because I went for an aide, because my son's neuropsychologist thought he could benefit from one. So when you ask for something really expensive, the district throws you something else :-) But really, we've gotten a very good deal. We couldn't afford all his services on our own. It would have taken all our resources. I know people whose children take even more resources, and I've seen the budgets. The special education budget breaks the bank in many districts. I don't know what we do about that. My son will probably be a valuable member of society someday, because of all the help our school district has given him. How do you balance that, against the costs? I don't know. |
