| March 16, 2010
Dear Members of the Board of Education,
Thank
you for the opportunity to express our concerns regarding various
aspects of the anticipated budget. We
realize this is a particularly tough budget year, but we hope to
be able to influence your consideration of several items due to
the impact they will have on the most vulnerable population.
The areas of the budget that concern us most are:
- Inclusion Class Sizes
- Class Sizes
- Education Assistants
- English Seminar Program
- Reduced Extended School Year
- Music and Arts
INCLUSION CLASS SIZES
We
view the first item, inclusion class sizes that are larger
than typical classes, with
apprehension and concern for the future of an effective
collaborative (co-teaching) inclusion model. Last
year parents were very discontent with the reduction to an
every-other-day model of co-teaching in the high school humanities
and science courses. The idea that
students with disabilities, which may range from Auditory
Processing Disorders, ADHD, reading disabilities, Asperger’s
Syndrome, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, should be the ones
placed in the largest classroom is worrisome and frightening. The
concept of inclusion is that students with disabilities are
supported in a setting that is equivalent to their non-disabled
peers. True inclusion means that the
classified children receive the supports necessary for them to
keep pace with the non-classified students. Larger class sizes
means classified children may be lost in the shuffle, suffering
silently, or, more likely, acting out due to frustration,
only to be blamed for their "inappropriate behavior".
This budget cut places students with disabilities in
the largest class, which in our opinion, translates to the most
distracting and challenging learning environment. Additionally,
the specials, such as art, music, PE, Spanish and library, may prove
quite interesting since there is not typically a co-teacher in these
settings.
This being the second year in a row in which
inclusion is facing reductions (we consider the increase in
inclusion class size to be a reduction) causes us worry that this
teaching approach is being diluted, which may eventually render it
ineffective and pointless. It has been a
valued approach to providing a Least Restrictive Environment in
Cherry Hill, and we don’t want to let it die such a slow death
that it goes unnoticed. The results of
minimizing the collaborative teaching model could vary from kids
that have to be "dummied down" to a lower class level
class (in the high school tier system) or self-contained classes
(for elementary grades), possibly additional out-of-district
placements, and lowered self-esteem for students that can't make
it without the previous level of support. Lowered
self-esteem may result in any number of consequences. An
additional consequence for the district may be the inability to
meet AYP, and an additional consequence for the student may be a
reduced likelihood of attending college or the college of his or
her choice.
Many
parents may choose to "take their chances" and put their
children in a regular education classroom with less students. Doing
so may have negative implications on everyone – typical
students, special education students and the teacher.
CLASS SIZE
Many,
if not all, classrooms today contain children with
classifications. Generally, our membership
was rather quiet on the typical class size discussion, but we did
have members express concern in this regard as well.
One of our members wrote concerning class size caps and
the integration of buddy classes into typical classes. Currently,
students in Learning Disabled or Communication Impaired classrooms
may be on the rosters of a "buddy" mainstream classroom.
They are included in the cap. This
facilitates the students moving in and out of the buddy classroom, a
mainstream environment, as much as possible. There
is concern that students would no longer be included in the
calculation of the cap of the buddy classroom. That
is, currently, if the current cap is 20 for kindergarten, and the CI
or LD class has 4 kindergarteners, the buddy classroom now has no
more than 16 full-time regular education students. There
would be 22 (if the new class size is implement) full-time with the
potential for 26 students when LD or CI students are in the
classroom because they would not count towards the classroom cap.
This would increase the difficulties and challenges for
the buddy classroom teacher when the additional students are in the
class and possibly curtail the opportunities for self-contained
students to be included in the least restrictive environment. Even
if the teacher is capable of handling the additional students, the
students may not be able to handle the increase in class size for
reasons including sensory issues, auditory process problems, and
ADD/ADHD.
EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
This is the third
year in a row for educational assistance to be cut. Every
year we hear that these positions are not IEP mandated assistance,
and but we wish to remind the BOE that since we began writing
“assistance” instead of “assistants” in IEP’s, very few
would be considered mandated. However, many
students require the support of an assistant in order to make
meaningful progress.
The impact on this is just too broad to begin describing. It
all depends on which child or children will lose their educational assistance and
what purpose that assistance served. We
have been informed that each school will lose an educational
assistant. You need to know what each of
the assistance did to understand the impact.
ENGLISH SEMINAR PROGRAM
You
may wonder why CHSEPTA is taking up the cause for the English
Seminar Program. According to the Digest
of Educational Statistics, 40% of students receiving special
education services through the public schools are identified as
having learning disabilities. According to
the Learning Disabilities Association of America, 4-6% of
school-aged children in public schools have a specific learning
disability. The child with a learning
disability is as much of interest and importance to CHSEPTA as the
child with autism and multiple disabilities.
The
English Seminar Program (ESP) currently maintains class sizes of
15 to 21 students. Indications from some
in the district are that this will mean classes of 22 to 25. Others
in the district believe that the ESP could see classes as high as
30 students with the 6 FTE reductions that are planned at all tax
levies. A general concern is that the
amount of learning of essential skills, such as writing papers,
will decrease as teachers must adapt to more students and grade
more papers. Additionally, these classes
are designed so that the class could break up into smaller groups
for project work, peer editing, and teacher-assisted discussions. We
suspect that some of these items will no longer be possible if
class size increases. With the revised SAT
format, established in 2005, approximately 30% of the SAT score is
comprised of a student’s performance on a writing essay. What
impact will our district’s SAT scores see from this decision?
CHSEPTA
feels that the English Seminar Program is a great value to
students with IEP’s and those that may not have an IEP in place
but struggle with writing. It is viewed as
the “last chance” for students whose writing skills have not
been adequately developed in elementary and middle school. This
change may effect the most vulnerable students. Without
writing skills, every class will be more stressful and
inappropriately difficult. The impact here
is similar to those in the inclusion category, which include
lowered grades and self-esteem, and difficulty with college
admissions.
EXTENDED SCHOOL YEAR
For
many students, the reduced extended school year may meet their
needs appropriately. The problem is that
an extended school year program, which leaves students without
services for a minimum of four weeks, clearly cannot be
appropriate for every student in Cherry Hill’s special education
population. The impact for this population
includes regression (loss of skills) and recoupment (length of
time it takes to regain skills). The
children adversely effected by this change are, most often, in
dire need of routine, which means a consistent program delivered
throughout the summer not a consolidated program that lengthens
the school day and decreases the amount of days. Additionally,
extended school year is supposed to be a decision made at the IEP
table and modifiable to the student’s needs.
MUSIC AND
ART
Music and Arts programs should remain intact. Many
special needs students cannot participate in sports, but they can
play an instrument and/or sing, and as such, can establish a sense
of belonging to a group in school and garner pride by performing
in a group to support their school. Music
and Arts are essential parts of a well-rounded education and
provide special needs students the opportunity to express
themselves and let their creativity be realized.
Thank you again for the opportunity to submit our concerns for you
consideration.
Best wishes,
Nancy Muldowney
President
CHSEPTA
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