Monday, July 2, 2012

Concerns raised about changes to special ed

From the PG:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/changes-to-pittsburgh-special-ed-worry-advocates-642879/

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The district is increasingly moving toward this "collaborative consultation model," asking regular education teachers to play more roles for more students"

Teachers, when will you have time in your day to consult with each other? Is this feasible?

General Ed teachers, are you comfortable with the support and resources you are receiving from the District to allow you to teach more children with special needs in your classroom?

Anonymous said...

How can teachers be expected to have larger class sizes with increased special education students? They don't have degrees in special education... I get it, PPS doesn't care.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line-we do not have time to go to the bathroom, eat lunch or spend as much time as we would like conferring with students. I do not see consulting with each other as a likelihood. Once again the most vulnerable and neediest students will pay the price. Maybe some of the adminstrators can come in and monitor the other students while we "consult". We don't get to hire consultants to do our work!

Just Saying said...

Most PPS teachers should be just fine with this.

After all, the majority voted to keep Nina Esposito-Visgitis in as President of the PFT. Nina was one of the architects of this new order.

And she has never denied it. To the contrary, Nina brags that she helped bring all of this into existence (RISE, etc).

Yet the majority of PPS teachers voted for her, instead of for the reform candidate.

So the majority of PPS teachers must be quite content...

Anonymous said...

It is cost effective, that is all the Big Shots care about. Not whats best for kids, but what is the cheapeast. So they can maintain Excellence for a very few at 341 S. Belfield and all have big titles and big pay checks and do nothing for the children of Pittsburgh but rob them.

Stephanie Tecza, Parent Advisor PEAL said...

With the consultation model my biggest concern is exactly how much consulting time will the special education teacher “consultant” have to consult with each regular education teacher to talk about each student with an IEP? What I would recommend to families with kids with IEP’s is to re-open your child's IEP and build in consult time under support for school personal. Without the built in time the consultation time might be 5 minutes to whatever, this would guarantee an amount of time that the two would have to meet about your child. Also be reasonable here. If any family with a student with and IEP or 504 plan have questions or concerns about their childs program please feel free to contact the PEAL Center (Parent Education Advocacy and Leadership Center). www.pealcenter.org Please check out our website. This is why we are here.

Anonymous said...

Open up the IEP's? I know for a fact, many regular ed teachers only look at the goal sheets to an IEP, and that's only if the special ed teacher gives it to them. No-one, really knows how to use Encore (which is the system used to do IEP's-which is changing over the summer into a totally new computer program). No one will look at consultation time, and if they do look at it, they will just say they are doing it. Do you know how many times, in passing down the hall, I'll bring up questions like, "Hey, are you testing the kids today? Or, do you have the modified test or homework?" Consultation, whether it be 5 minutes or 45 minutes, won't happen because we lack the time needed during the day to do it. Our mornings are constantly used for ESEP time, which is what the principals have to do, meet with his/her teachers mostly to review RISE, instructional cabinet, discipline team meetings, etc... There is no time set aside to meet and discuss each individual student. I had 9 students with IEP's last year in my room. 5 minutes each, 45 minutes? Not going to happen. I hate to sound like I don't care, because I do. I love all of my kids and what PPS is doing is such an injustice to our special ed population. They want inclusion. It is a great model, but WITH support. A great deal of support. Go into many classrooms,and if there is support, it's the special ed teacher sitting in the back of the room working with a few kids. The district talks about how many in-services they have....but that doesn't mean it's happening in class. I never see special ed supervisors doing observations on our special ed teachers, only the principal. And, if the special ed teacher is only in the classroom 1-2 periods a day, then that means the regular ed teacher is responsible for all of his/her students learning independently for the rest of the day. I teach upper intermediate and have students on a 1-2nd grade level. I have 1 hell of a time reaching the students when I am by myself. Very little support due to not having enough special ed teachers in a building....and it's only going to get worse.

Anonymous said...

Stephanie and SE teacher, thank you for the reality check. Your attention to detail reveals care and concern about your students. Keep at it, please, as you (and those like you) are the only hope for our children.

Anonymous said...

I personally had a special needs child that required a personal aide. (as a mom) I cannot imagine what would have happened if that was taken away or reduced. It would not only affected his safety, it would been really distracting for the other kids and teachers to deal with his cognitive level.