Welp, thanks for your service first in education....however, some would not paint your picture as rosey...or near rosey as you would put it. Depends on where you are at. And those numbers.....2 to 3%....we are talking half of classes now in general education rooms full of behavioral issues.....because the system is afraid of lawsuits.....have their heads so far up restorative justice that they forget about the kids and educators that are being driven into the ground on a daily basis by the kids that can't handle being in a general education environment.....even with accommodations. Assaulting teachers, kids, property damage, skipping class, playing on their phone, running the halls, you name it. That is reality in some corners. That is the front lines. Motivation....if that means getting into trouble and not being productive day in and day out and working on a future career of correspondence courses behind bars.....it is very sad. And then there is the kids your heart breaks for because of all the instructional time lost because we are more concerned about how bad johnny or jill has it and we can't shove that sucker, or ipad in their face fast enough to pacify them....and even then that does not work....especially if you buy into Alfie Kohn.
It won't get any better until the school admins get a back-bone and in combination of the people of Iowa voting much differently. And yes, parenting is where the rot happens.
Yes certainly special education law does provide more red-tape if kid is on an IEP or 504 plan. But, kids are running the show and they know they can get away with things because the discipline system is paper thin.
Public schools are hurting here.
You and I are on the same page in regard to special needs programs. Public schools are tied up with law suits, relentless advocates who goad parents into lawsuits, and the legal system which controls special education programs.
Our 2000 kid district, where I served as superintendent for 12 years before retirement, budgeted nearly $100,000 annually in attorney fees, 99% of which was special Ed program conflicts.
To place a student we had no business trying to accommodate in our District in an appropriate off site program was tens of thousands of $ with little help from State or Fed $$. These are the kids you mention above which are, for the most part, medically diagnosed as “emotionally disabled.” The tests for placement in these programs are scientifically reliable, and of course, for us to challenge medical professionals is a fool’s errand. Try that in front of an attorney or judge.
The problem remains that public school education is no way trained to accommodate them. You would need to hire $200,000 a year PhD’s in one on one situations to provide real education for them. Private schools just continue to refuse to enroll them, of course.
As to today’s regular Ed students: if you think bad behavior students interfere with with regular students‘ ability to learn, you are a victim of mythology. A rare event at worst, an excuse at best.
Fear of lawsuits. My Phd focused on school law and finance. The insurance companies are the villain here, not the school administrators. They simply refuse to cover us if we don‘t follow their rules. Sound familiar? How is your health insurance going for you? We are not afraid. I wish you could have been in the room with me when I confronted insurance company attorneys.
Restorative Justice. What the hell is that? Define and document, please.
You have no idea the political pressures school administrators place on legislators. We met monthly with our state reps and they did not enjoy our interactions. Then they would just go vote party line. Moral cowards.
Two of my three kids are teachers, one regular Ed, one multi categorical special Ed. They have fought the good fight for years and essentially are in concert with what I have posted here, as have most of the outstanding teachers I have had the privilege to serve with over many years.
To be clear, I have not served in an inner city district, and am sadly aware of the challenges there. Not sure where to start. Also, my empathy for children with special needs is unwavering. But, if I were God, I would fix the system without mercy for the enemy.
