Wednesday, February 20, 2013

UPDATE: Up pops a coalition of snakes. + I’ve never seen a school district that volunteers to spend more money on Special Needs students « Fred Klonsky

I’ve never seen a school district that volunteers to spend more money on Special Needs students « Fred Klonsky:



The Chicago Teachers Union election. Up pops a coalition of snakes.

A week ago I reported hearing word on the street that Rahm Emanuel was hunting for a candidate to run against CTU President Karen Lewis and the CORE slate.
Maybe he found one to buy.
Maybe he got one for free.
Yesterday Tanya Saunders-Wolffe announced her candidacy as head of the United Progressive Caucus. The UPC  Machine was defeated in the last election by CORE.
Joining the UPC in a coalition of snakes is the ProActive Chicago Teachers caucus of failed former CTU 


The in box. Anthony Cody on Special Ed class size.

Fred,
If our entire rationale for school reform, as articulated by President Obama in his recent State of the Union speech, is economic competitiveness, where does class size for special ed students fit in? If they are not going to attend college and become scientists or technicians, we do not need to worry about them at all, based on this set of values. I am afraid the recent Simpsons cartoon may be prophetic. At the Ayn Rand preschool, the gifted students get art, music and books, while the rest are dumped in a “nothing special” classroom.
- Anthony Cody



I’ve never seen a school district that volunteers to spend more money on Special Needs students

Thirty years as an Art teacher. But I spent most of those years working with large numbers of kids with Special Needs.
Back in the day, the special education students weren’t even on my lists with typical students. Segregated in self-contained classrooms, they would come to Art or Music as mainstreamed. No para-professional came with them. Since they were not on my roster, district class size guidelines no longer had any meaning. A class of 29 became a class of 35.
Like magic.
But law suits, pressure from parents of Special Needs students, federal regulations and legislation changed that