Funny, I thought liberals cared about children with special needs. I thought Ted Strickland was going to do something about education. Well, he has. Actually, his education department has screwed over thousands of children with special needs in the state of Ohio. What am I talking about? The Dispatch has the story:
As state-mandated testing of third- through eighth-graders kicks into high gear this week, a widespread shortage of test forms used by a select group of students has some districts scrambling.
Marysville is among them. The Union County district had ordered test booklets for special-education students and English-as-a-second-language students who need to have the test read to them. The booklets never came.
Although testing began yesterday for everyone else at Marysville Middle School, those students had to wait.
They are hardly alone. The shortage affected about 450 districts, the Ohio Department of Education said.
Substitutes hired as test readers had to be called off, arrangements for special testing sites had to be canceled and plans had to be adjusted to occupy those students who couldn't take the test.
Officials don't know what happened, but it seems to have been a combination of errors, said Stan Heffner, the state's associate superintendent of curriculum and assessment.
Some districts simply didn't order enough, perhaps because of unclear instructions. Others, based on past numbers, seemed to have overordered and the Education Department erroneously lowered numbers on its own, he said.
Heffner said 20,000 special test forms were printed. It appears 60,000 were needed.
"We are doing everything we can to fix this," he said. "I can assure you we will make everything clear so that we don't have this problem again."
Why do I care? Because it affected me and my kids. I am currently serving out an internship in a middle school in SW Ohio. I am working with some wonderful children with learning disabilities in the 8th grade. My supervising teacher and I have been working very hard to get them ready and pumped up for the test. They showed up this past Monday ready and psyched about the test, only to find that probably another functionary of his Tedness screwed up again....first they lose our identity data, now they discriminate against thousands of children....the state really takes care of us, now, doesn't it?
These kids, when told, of course said, cool, the whole school is not taking tests. Then we had to tell them, no, just you. This immediately made them feel like lower class citizens. So, we didn't have enough tests. This should take high priority, right? Nope, it will be at least a week, and we may not even have the tests Monday. So, the regular ed kids will have to stay in the boring lockdown test taking posture this week as well as this past one, and many are holding it against our kids. Some ignorant teachers in the building are blaming us for this. Nope, blame Taxin'T-Shirt Ted and his party of frat boy harassers, who are more concerned with getting some play fro underlings than in doing their jobs (yes, that was a Marc "I will not answer the do I do it with my sox on question" Dann reference).
When we thought of an alternate solution, the lovely bureaucracy at the state told us no. So, we are left with kids who were ready, and now are so down that they are being singled out, along with a population of regular ed students mad at them and jealous because we had a "free" week (three hours of review time a day is not free) and who have been made to feel like no one cares, and who are probably going to bomb the test. But will this be factored in when the geniuses under Tave Zelman and T-shirt Ted print results? Hell no.
Some parent should sue. I really think so. This is a patent case of discrimination based on a disability.
But of course, the state doesn't know what the left is doing from the right. At the school where I am interning, the director of special services had taken questions from teachers about the "new" rules for the test. So she called the state department in charge of testing...."oh, well if it deals with special eduation, you need to talk to those folks." Well, she called the state department in charge of special education, and the person said, "well, first of all, this is a testing issue, so you should talk to them." When it was relayed that they referred us to them, and we had questions about IEPs, the person IN CHARGE OF THE DEPARTMENT said "well, I don't think I even know what an IEP is, much less how to help you."
OK, stop right there. For those of you not in the know, in special education students who get services have Individualized Educational Plans, or IEPs. This is a FEDERAL MANDATE. Every student who gets special education must have an IEP. Way back when I was getting my initial certification, ALL teachers were required to take one class dealing with the IEP. And the head of the section of the state department of ed dealing with special education doesn't know what one is? Come on now.
I have verified this story because the local director of special services saved it to her machine and played it at a regional conference later to show the stupidity of those who claim to be looking out for the children.....
So, we have a department that doesn't know what they should know, and these same people are making judgements in Columbus for the boots on the ground and who gets screwed???? The kids....Thanks Ted....and by the way, keep on pulling all that state funding from schools and funnelling it into the social programs....it is paying dividends....but not the good kind....
Ted Strickland and the Ohio Democrats believe in the three I's:
Ineptitude, Incompetence, and Indecency (Marc Dann's Specialty)...
but apparently don't know federal law....like IEPs....
Hey Ted, didn't you like serve in DC at some time? And I don't recall screwups this big happening when Republicans were in control....
Let's review: Brunner wants to run an election gestapo of intimidation,while voting irregularities only have increased,Teddy's staff can't keep our identity info safe,
Marc Dann can't keep office staff or state vehicles safe,and DICK Cordray wants all our driver money put in his name....and the state faces record deficits and screws our kids six ways to Sunday to pay for pet programs of theirs....love that new direction....
In Ted Strickland's Ohio, if your child has special education or learning disabilities, they just have to wait at the back of the bus.....
