Inclusion touches you. Pass it on.
JUNE 10, 2011
I teach in a K-5 school that has struggled for more than a decade to make the inclusion of students with special needs a natural part of our work. It turns out that far from being natural, it has to be something you consciously fight for every day.
Kelly has been a Special Needs teacher in our building for over a decade. Her class is being moved to another building in the district. Today, on her last day here, see wrote to all of us.
Dear friends, family, advocates,
I write this email with very mixed emotion.
When I graduated from college, I heard the buzz word “inclusion” and I swore I knew the meaning. I knew exactly how to work with special needs children and families. I knew it all, I thought. I could not have been more wrong. I didn’t really know the meaning of inclusion until I began working with all of you. I came into a school that had everything that I wanted. I wanted these children to have equal opportunity. I wanted them to be with their peers. I