Monday, October 12, 2009

2009 Special Education Annual Report

Author:
The Special Education Advisory Committee makes its annual report to the School Board tomorrow night. The report is available in advance online: SEAC 2009 Report. Excerpts from the report:
  • 80% of survey respondents are satisfied with SpEd services.
  • 74% agree that their children's needs are understood by general education teachers
  • 82% agree that their child feels a part of the school community
  • General & Special education staff should participate in more training on topics related to students with disabilities
  • Long-term planning is needed for retention and recruitment of SpEd staff
Labels:

3 comments:

  1. While I feel that this is true at the Elementary level, at Middle school it has been my experience that some teachers are unaware of a child's IEP. Understanding and communication needs improvement at the middle school level. That said we had nothing but positive experiences at the elementary level with both my special needs kids.
    ReplyDelete
  2. I am going to go out on a limb here and honestly state my opinions. I watched the presentation by the Chairperson of the SEAC to the school board tonight. And I will state right out that I am the SEAC PTA rep for my youngest child's elementary school. What happened to the recommendation about "looping?" Looping is the continuation of the caseworker and/or the main resource teacher for a special ed student. In the instance of our school, we have a new principal and asst principal. We also have a new (to LCPS) casemanager/resource teacher. Of course, we have a new classroom teacher. THAT MEANS THAT THE ONLY CONTINUING MEMBERS OF OUR CHILD'S TEAM ARE MY HUSBAND AD MY SELF! And we are supposed to expect that our 5th grade student will be properly transitioned to middle school! Come on, what was so terrible about us keeping the case manager/resource teacher that we had last year who didn't need two weeks to see him for the first time in the classroom (he is supposed to receive 1 hour a day), and who I had visited the middle school with last spring so that we could properly transition him to 6th grade. I am very disappointed by the presentation tongiht.
    ReplyDelete
  3. The presentation was a recap of the total report. We could not say everything we wanted to tonight. These are good points and can always be addressed again. That is why we did the suvey and Town Hall meeting to receive input from parents. The SEAC is an ongoing committee where we continue to strive to better the education of the students with special needs. Your point of looping is one that works when the staff is able to do that. There are a few teachers that loop but it is not always possible with staffing issues. I hope that you come and attend our meeting next week on October 20th. I am sorry that you were disappointed but maybe we can talk and we can share experiences and ideas to improve the system.
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)