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I have a son with both a physical and a learning disability and we've found working with the school system an uphill battle almost every step of the way.  

The teachers themselves, and the special-ed advisors in the schools have generally been wonderful (albeit with a lot of missed handoffs).  But the district (Tigard-Tualatin) is unresponsive.  We were told that they get over $10,000 dollars in funding for each special-ed student. (I think it's triggered by having an IEP) But they derail it to other programs and the funds don't go to help those specific students.  In our case, it was clear that alternate placement was the right approach and we had doctors and psychologists all agreeing but we never got the district to approve it, even though it was substantially less costly than the incremental funding he brought in.  We had to spend about $20K in attorney's fees just to get their attention and we still ended up with an unsatisfactory solution.  

My point is: There is already a huge problem with integrity, accountability and transparency, *before* we start talking about cuts in funding. These administrators are doing these students a disservice that will impact their entire lives and in my opinion, they should be held personally accountable.

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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That's an interesting choice of words.  My son, who is a special-ed student tells me that using the term "sped" is like using the "n" word; something highly offensive if used by outsiders.   

posted 4 years, 2 months ago
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