WaPo Letters to the Editor: Stereotyping Special Education Students Sunday, January 6, 2008; Page B06
In a Dec. 31 Metro article ["Waiting Too Late to Test? Parents Protest as Area Schools Delay Learning-Disability Screening in Hopes of Avoiding Costly Special Education" ], William W. Knudsen, a deputy assistant secretary at the Education Department, offered this hypothesis for why many children need special education services: "Maybe their parents work two jobs and just don't have the time to read a book to them at night."
More about William W. Knudsen...
We are not alone - when education becomes a game (Massachusettes BoE perspective):
"MCAS proponents like Board of Education Chairman James Peyser often seem to regard high special ed failure rates as a cost of doing business. For example, Peyser once said to a special needs parent at an MCAS forum in Newton that "no one ever said there wouldn't be winners and losers" with the high-stakes MCAS. "
from MassCARE - Massachusetts Coalition for Authentic Reform in Education website
What MCPS really thinks of special education - but we knew this all along.
...Regarding the learning centers, they [school board attorneys] contend that the school board policy cited in the appeal has been superceded. Current rules, they say, allow lengthy "review cycles" for program changes only if they are matters of "significant policy," which, they reason, the learning centers are not.
May 22, 2007 Washington Post article by Daniel de Vise
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"...it is the belief of the MCPS budget director, and the high ranking administrators (and probably the Board as well) that this is the most cost effective way to run a school system.
They believe high level of legal activity is a deterrent that precludes many more challenges and is therefore cost effective. I have been told this to my face by the MCPS budget director, Marshall Spatz.
(note: Marshall Spatz's sister in law, Karen Orlansky, is the head of the County Council's Office of Legislative Oversight)"
Bob Astrove, MCneeds Yahoo Group Post in response to post citing almost 40% of FY2006 special education due process cases in Maryland originate in MCPS
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Washington Post, Montgomery section, page 16, Thursday August 21, 2003
"Bartels and Wright both say that for some children, special programs still will be the best chioce." .....
"Anne Turner, co chairman of the special needs committee of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, said many parents have no idea that inclusion is coming down the pike. Of those that do, she said, "I would say the main reaction is apprehension, and that's because Montgomery County has such a bad track record. They leap before they look." ....
"Bartels said that if parents see a welcoming school climate, trained staff in place and - most of all - their children succeeding in the general education environment, they can be convinced of the value of inclusion. "They need to have confidence and trust that that's going to happen," Wright said." .....
"There also is a wide gap to bridge between administrators and many special education parents, who have long felt disregarded by the school system. Programs have been moved or removed without much community consultation, parents say."