Shut Up about What you Saw or We Will Send You Home

"The students have a degree of mental retardation and may exhibit judgment problems, Cobbe said."

Read complete article here.

I want to address the issue of the girl student. We now know she was telling the truth, and according to one source she "witnessed something".

The term "behavior is a form of communication" is a bane of those who care for special education kids. Parents intuitively somehow learn to sense when things are wrong. Some teachers do also. They try to interpret behaviors as best they can.

The kids, and I am speaking in wide generalities here, by definition have difficulty with processing information in and generating information out. For those who cannot adequately verbally communicate, it shows in their behavior. It is our fault that we cannot understand what they are trying to communicate. Not their's. They are dealing with the cards they were dealt.

I was once told by a teacher that my son, who is profoundly deaf and visually impaired (legally blind), could "hear more than he lets on". The profoundness of the hidden meaning to that statement will stay with me forever. While my son "senses" things that, according to medical diagnostics he should not be able to, for the teacher to conceptualize that he purposely conceals his ability to hear boggles my mind. It is basically saying that he not only can hear, but he has the ability to purposefully hide it for his gain.

I often hear statements that kids with disabilities are "excused" because of their disability. I want to stand on the highest mountain and yell "it is not an excuse, but it is a reason"! I don't want my kid to act like he sometimes does. He has to be trained differently.

In my case we are talking physical attributes that are more easily identified. In the above case, try having this same discussion about kids who have "judgement problems" and specific learning disabilities that are cognitive. One can easily do medical diagnostics on the eyes and ears. Try doing that with a thought process. Yet the concept is the same. Because there is a wire lose in the way they process, they have to be trained differently. Hence, "special education". It is a reason, not an excuse.

Now to my point. I don't know what the girl saw. But just for the sake of the argument, suppose your child, who is at the same developmental level of the above child, witnessed something that was disturbing. How would your child convey it? What if your child did not have all of the words to describe what they saw? And if you told them to shut up about it, how would they work it out in their mind?

Ticket to Ride

While perusing Section 504 issues that I wrote about on my adjacent blog, I came across this article.

Time will tell if it hits home soon.

Is it Legal to Send Special Ed Kids Home Early? - Wrightslaw

More on Sex

For more comments on how sex abuse is rationalized in our schools click here

It's more than just sex.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/10/24/09ap-abuse.h27.html?tmp=753846500

Another teacher was arrested for having sex with a student. Right here. In Hillsborough County.

It is time to take notice of this national phenonemon.

Please read this entire article.


It's more than just sex when it comes to Teachers and students.

It's about abuse of power.

It's getting worse:
(Following its own, six-month investigation in 1998, Education Week published a three-part series, “A Trust Betrayed,” that documented the national scope of sexual misconduct involving students and school employees. That series, based in part on a database of nearly 250 cases drawn from published accounts, was updated with further research in 2003.)

It's being ignored:

"The findings draw obvious comparisons to sex-abuse scandals in other institutions, among them the Roman Catholic Church. A review by America’s Catholic bishops found that about 4,400 of 110,000 priests were accused of molesting minors from 1950 through 2002.

Clergy abuse is part of the national consciousness after a string of highly publicized cases. But until now, there’s been little broad public awareness of the extent of educator abuse. Beyond the horror of individual crimes, the larger shame is that the institutions that govern education have only sporadically addressed a problem that’s been apparent for years."



It is rationalized:

"The nation’s two major teachers’ unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, each denounced sexual abuse while emphasizing that educators’ rights also must be taken into account.

In case after case the AP examined, accusations of inappropriate behavior were dismissed. One girl in Mansfield, Ohio, complained about a sexual assault by teacher Donald Coots and got expelled. It was only when a second girl, years later, brought a similar complaint against the same teacher that he was punished."

"School officials fear public embarrassment as much as the perpetrators do, Ms. Shakeshaft says. They want to avoid the fallout from going up against a popular teacher. They also don’t want to get sued by teachers or victims, and they don’t want to face a challenge from a strong union."

It is so well recognized it has it's own name:

"Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.

“They might deal with it internally, suspending the person or having the person move on. So their license is never investigated,” says Charol Shakeshaft, a leading expert in teacher sex abuse who heads the educational leadership department at Virginia Commonwealth University.

It’s a dynamic so common it has its own nicknames—“passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”

In the AP report, it states that the victim's ''symptoms" show up later in life. They can not have a "normal" relationship because of the conflicting emotions. Teachers having sex with students is more than just sex.

As time has gone by, I will post this one again.

In case any one wonders what the big deal is, it has to do with control of information. A few years ago, it became necessary for the District to increase the flow of information to the employees and parents. My perception at the time was that a lot of money was put into the process because special ed advocates were providing information to parents, and some employees, that threatened the status-quo of how the District gave out information. Money was put into hiring the Liaisons. Money was put into making sure that parents called the Liaisons instead of advocates.

While it is true that the Federal rules mentions something along the lines that the State has an affirmative responsibility to provide correct information to parents, the timing of the increased efforts were noted.

Now there isn't as much overt advocate activity like there used to be. So, I wonder if there is less need to put money into providing correct information to parents.

They are now one more month behind. But who is counting? Am I the only one that looks? Does anyone care?

****************************************************
on the HCDS Special Education Website:

"Watch your school mail for each monthly issue of"The Exceptional Communicator"

and the quarterly issues of"The ESE Administrative Communicator"Exceptional News for Exceptional People.

Also check out the "Parent Press" and"Parent E-Press Brief"
Newsletters for parents of students in Exceptional Student Education Programs

*******************

This one is up to date - maybe dropping by to attend the Advisory Council meeting would be a fun thing to do soon.

and the"Support for Families Calendar"to keep you connected to what's happening in the community. (click the titles to view links to online versions and supplements

Obfuscate and Cavalier - A Curtain? Shield?

I posted the below from the Tribune on my PRO on HCDS blog. Obfuscate and cavalier are unusual words to be seen together very often.

It took me from 1990 to 1996 before I started to analyze the repeated occurrences effecting me to conceptualize those two words about HCDS. When it was obvious to all that something was wrong, the focus on what was wrong was never the issue. Many many times in many different settings. Rather the focus was placed on a myriad of other areas, frequently me. Many times I felt that for "them" to fix the problem would admit (from them) that there was a problem. Therefore, the "fix" couldn't happen right away or until I was no longer there to see the fix.

My concerns about the special education issues in HCDS are not about me. It isn't because I am a malcontent. It isn't because I will never be satisfied. It isn't because I am an isolated incident. It isn't because I carry a broad brush. My kid is out of the system.

It is because the issues are real for the kids, the parents and the teachers. I just spent Saturday at a conference about special education. There were hundreds of isolated incidents, malcontents and broad brushes. It was not just parents. By a show of hands, I only saw two administrators. Even if there were more administrators there, it would still be a low number compared to the ones that were there because they are looking for answers to problems. According to the administrator that I heard spoke, there are a lot of good things happening in the world of special education.

I hope all of those things reported on are not undone by obfuscation and being cavalier. I hope that everyone, including teachers and supervisors, have the ability to speak up about their concerns when it comes to the rights of children with disabilities. I know, it's about all of the kids. If I had been at a science conference, I wonder if I would have heard "We are here for all of the children, and our support for the science department goes right along with our support for all of the students here in our District".

What is the cost to the District if the kids, the parents and the teachers do not trust the District?


*****************************


Click here: Shooting Case Raises Questions About District's Credibility Tribune says: "Instead of treating parents' questions with respect, they obfuscate or cavalierly dismiss them. "


I have been using the words "obfuscate" and "cavalier" to describe the HCDS since 1996.

*****************


Shooting Case Raises Questions About District's Credibility The Tampa Tribune Published: September 30, 2007 Video: Shooting Raises Questions For Parents If Hillsborough County public school officials want parents to trust them with their children, they need to be responsive and honest. But in Temple Terrace, where many parents are worried about the safety of the area's high school, straight answers are hard to come by. And this seems characteristic of a school district that all too often appears obsessed with avoiding blame and minimizing problems. Consider the town hall meeting inTemple Terrace earlier this month. School leaders brushed off valid questions about student safety, telling parents the area's schools are merely the victims of bad publicity and misperceptions. The handling of the shooting death of King High School student Dalshon Walton during an after-school fight was particularly revealing. It has been nearly two years since the shooting, yet it continues to be a flashpoint for parents with safety concerns because the district has been so eager to dismiss this tragic event as irrelevant. Officials have insisted Walton's death had nothing to do with the school because it occurred just off campus and the shooter wasn't a King student. That remains King Principal Carla Bruning's stance. But investigators and prosecutors have amassed a voluminous file of documents and testimony that shows otherwise. And district officials who maintain there was no connection between the shooting and the school either are ignoring facts or are in denial. We dug into the case, which is detailed in thousands of pages of public documents at the Hillsborough County State Attorney's office. We found strong evidence that Walton died as a result of a dispute between King students, which started in the school days earlier over a minor insult and erupted into the brawl at the McDonalds. Testimony and investigators' reports say Otis Lorenzo Neal, who has since pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was summoned to the fight by a relative who was a King student involved in that ongoing quarrel. In disturbing - but uncorroborated - testimony, a female King student said she saw the boy who brought Neal into the fight with a gun at school the same day. Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Nathaniel Johnson, who is assigned to King, also testified he met with the same boy and his mother earlier that day because she was concerned trouble was brewing. Defying his mother and the deputy, the boy ended up at McDonald's. The fight clearly was a case of a school dispute spilling onto private property. Yet when asked why the school has always denied a connection, Bruning said she never knew the facts. Bruning says she was never briefed on the case and she never asked the details. Sheriff's Major Harold Winsett, who oversees the school resource officer program, says that's not true - Bruning was told by the school deputy the extent to which King students were involved. Even the school district's head of security, Dave Friedberg, says he has long known the facts of the case and that he and Bruning jointly made improvements in the school in response to those facts. Friedberg says school officials may have said the shooting was not 'related' or 'connected' to King because incidents not on school property are not considered school-related. But Friedberg says he also understands parents would have a broader interpretation. 'Is it school related? No,' Friedberg said. 'Does it involve us? Yes.' Friedberg, though, was not the one tasked with responding to the public about this incident. The school officials who did played word games. Their conduct makes the district look as if it intended to mislead people. This undermines school officials' credibility and takes some shine from what appear to be laudable safety improvements at King. The school has undergone security upgrades, adding a fence, surveillance equipment and an armed security officer. The school's annual crime stats show there were just three fights at the school last year, compared to the 58 that occurred in the 2005-06 school year. Yet school officials didn't come to the Temple Terrace town hall meeting armed with such facts, perhaps because that would have required them to acknowledge violence had been a concern. Reasonable parents will understand that bad things happen despite educators' best efforts. And there is no evidence the school was in any way negligent in the shooting. Yet being defensive seems to be school leaders' natural reflex. We've seen it in the way they've dealt with parents who have questioned the elementary math curriculum; in how they've handled parents who objected to abrupt boundary changes and now in how they answer questions about school safety. Instead of treating parents' questions with respect, they obfuscate or cavalierly dismiss them. At the town hall meeting, a King student who says he was at the fight animatedly talked about running when he heard the shots. Bruning heartily laughed at his account. But parents take such matters seriously. And when it comes to their children's safety, they want, and deserve, the unvarnished truth. To see video of a King High School student talk about safety at his school, go to TBO.com. Click on Tampa Tribune and then Opinion."