[geeks] New Tech Schools: Digital Harbor in Baltimore

[Brian Dunbar]

Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> From: Andy Wallis <rawallis at panix.com>
>> Date: 2007/04/13 Fri PM 03:29:20 CDT
>> To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>> Subject: Re: [geeks] New Tech Schools: Digital Harbor in Baltimore
> 
> <snip>
> 
>> Simply put, Special Education is a quick way of making a teacher burn out. I don't blame the school
>> district who worries about the severly profound kid coming into the district. There is no way that
>> kid will ever succeed.

My wife was a Special Ed teacher for a decade -  it wasn't that that
burned her our but the the school district with their games and bloated
administration.  Your mileage may vary.

> It wasn't a concern about the ultimate succes that concerned the school administration, it was having to find $300,000 with 4 weeks notice to fund the education of this child. There is no possible debate about the requirement the student be treated to the best education they can handle, but at $300,000 the most likely scenario would be that teachers would be cut from the school, increasing class sizes to anunacceptable level, impacting the education of probably a hundred or more students, all because this kids parents wanted to move to our "neighborhood"...
> 
> The needs of that $300K student should be funded by the state, not the local tax payers directly.
> 
>> I can't stand the breeders who demand that their kid is mainstreamed and 
>> treated like a normal child.
> 
> Well, the issue isn't the breeders that demand their child be mainstreamed that are the problem around here, it is that an IEP (in NJ school district talk, Individual Education Plan, IIRC), once created, must be followed, and some school districts try to cut corners and offer "similar" support in-house instead of hiring professionals.
>

I've never heard of a case that extreme but the few parents I've known
in that situation aren't big fans of mainstreaming.  It is possible
these parents were not demanding the mainstreaming but being forced into
it.  Depending on the local laws you _must_ educate your child or be in
trouble with the Man.

Home schooling is not an option for everyone - we just don't know their
circumstances well enough to pass judgment on them.

-- 
Brian Dunbar
System Administrator
Liftport - The Space Elevator Company

brian.dunbar at liftport.com
aim: bdunbar1967

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