SUNSET AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
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Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.” (Romans 14:19)
Last evening, I spoke to the school board about my concerns with the special education department in our public school system. Thankfully, I have had a working relationship with most of the principals and administrators at the schools, so I could look them all in the eye, shake their hands, and tell them how things were going. Having a child in the special education department forces to you have a lot a contact with the school staff at all different levels over the years.
I tried to approach my speech as if I were writing a sermon, implementing Bible verses without direct quotes. Instead of complaining, I tried to encourage. Instead of criticizing, I tried to state the facts of what went wrong on the first day of school, desiring to forget the past and look to the future of what we could do better for special education students on the first day of school next year. I gave two ideas of how the school could do a better job for students with autism:
The first was incorporating an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) classroom where students would be bussed from all over the district and be together with teachers with special training in autism. This would relieve the students of a lot of their social anxieties, give them routine and structure, and not have to be a part of the crowded masses of students changing classes.
The second was setting up a plan (not an IEP) for the first day of school for each student so that before the first day, they will know the layout of the school, be able to experiment with their locker, meet their teachers, know where they will catch the bus, and meet their tutors, thus relieving them of a lot of anxiety and fears about the first day of school.
Our daughter has been a part of the first wave of autistic students in the public school system. The schools have “learned” on our daughter and have done a lot of things wrong. Thankfully, we have been able to work through most of the problems over the years, but it wasn’t without a lot of sweat, crying, emails, praying, phone calls, and meetings. I want to make it better for special education students in the future. There is always room for improvement.
I am thankful the speech is done so I can relax and move on to the next phase of our daughter’s schooling. Okay, the first week went bad; now I am moving on to help make this a great year for her. I will be real interested to see if any of my ideas are actually implemented in the future.
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forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13)
FULL MOON BY THE ENTRANCE TO THE HIGH SCHOOL
THE HIGH SCHOOL
THIS BUS WAS HANDCRAFTED AND GIVEN TO THE SCHOOL AS A GIFT
THIS MAN WAS A 1941 GRADUATE - IT TOOK HIM FIFTY HOURS TO MAKE
THIS BUS
Lifetime
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