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Parents protest not-so-special education

By JohnL on Sep. 27, 2007.

Under the headline of “Protest over special education draws parents from other schools” in the Lake Havasu (AZ, US) News Herald, Diana Parker reported that a group of parents gathered to express concern about the quality of special education provided to their children. Ms. Parker noted that parents, including Toni Salatti, stood outside a local high school with handmade signs complaining about the schools have too few qualified teaches, aides, as well as appropriate activities.

The [protest] organizers’ concerns center on the Student Development Center, the classroom for the high school’s most severely disabled students.

The class, with one teacher and one teacher’s aide, serves between 12 and 24 kids during the day, Salatti said. She and fellow parent Robin Flores, whose daughter, Mercedes, is in the class, don’t think that’s enough staff to meet the needs of students who require constant attention and suffer from a range of medical conditions.

“If something happens and the aide has to leave the room, that leaves the teacher alone with all those kids,” Salatti said.

Because of the shortage of experienced teachers and teachers’ aides, the students aren’t receiving proper instruction but are merely being kept busy until the day is over, Salatti said.

Link to Ms. Parker’s story.

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