When the Boker family moved to the Boston area from Israel, finding a town with a top-rated school system was a priority. Lexington shot to the top of their list.
“We moved to Lexington for the excellent school system,” said Holly Boker, the mother of twin boys who require special education services. “There was a high level of professionalism. That’s what attracts a lot of people to Lexington.”
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Something not right here...why are we talking about stuff that happened in 2006 and even in 2003? This isn't the Catholic Church...if you think they mistreated your kids, you go up to the school the moment you hear about it; you don't wait until some one with guts writes an op ed piece to expose this fool of a Superintendent and whatever other evil people lurk behind the curtain turned away heads. Lexington sound "smart" but very unwise.
What about the right of the other children in these classes to have a safe and orderly learning environment? When a child exhibits an extremely disruptive and antisocial behavior, they need to be removed from the class so learning can continue.......and so the other children understand that there are consequences for such negative actions that are destructive to school climaute. We do as much(or more) to adults who break society's rules.
And that's why you're not a SPED teacher. The whole point of this series of articles is to indicate that there has been an evolution in the approach to these kinds of student issues, and that does away with punitive "time-out" procedures. There are other, better ways to address "acting-out" behaviors, and most school systems have been adopting them.
Towns who provide attractive services for sped kids are a magnet for families with those kids. They move into the wealthier towns, then hire an "advocate" to push the system to send their kid - all expenses paid - to a boarding school. The $100,000/year tab comes out of the budget that would have otherwise gone for general education.
I was always told that, as a parent, a "timeout" was the correct way to discipline an unruly or misbehaving child.
One way to aid in solving behavioral AND academic problems is to place cameras throughout the building. Right now it is just a -"He said--She said" issue. A form of Big Brother --absolutely! But after watching the behaviors of kids today in the malls, church, and in public in general it is obvious that certain parents are limited in parenting skills. How can a class be taught with all the constant interruptions because of behavioral issues. Which leads to "creative grading" but that is another issue.