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Saturday, February 4, 2012

A letter to Seventh Generation about Teach for America, Inc. by a special education teacher | Seattle Education

A letter to Seventh Generation about Teach for America, Inc. by a special education teacher | Seattle Education:

A letter to Seventh Generation about Teach for America, Inc. by a special education teacher

A special education teacher in an elementary school wrote a letter to Seventh Generation complaining abouttheir partnership with TFA, Inc.

This teacher has asked to remain anonymous but this is what they said about their role as a teacher:

The kids I serve range from twice exceptional (gifted and a disability) to cognitively low.

The disabilities my students have include autism, learning disabilities, TBI, mental health issues, behavior disorders, and more. Originally, I was the autism specialist, but the new district model is to throw all but the most disabled students into neighborhood schools, and declare all inclusion/resource teachers as generalist. It’s been a terrible idea, especially since my caseload has doubled and I have lost an IA. I literally use all but about 15 minutes (lunch) a day to serve kids. I’m an experienced teacher with a high level of expertise in autism and