Educators with PRIDE Unite

[Martina]

Thanks, but my kids aren't ID, but SDC. In my district, ID kids get workability. RSP kids get to go to the fabulous career tech half day school -- which is modern and huge and gives certificates in things that allow them to move directly into good jobs.

But SDC kids get neither. The Career school won't let SDC kids in. Workability only serves ID kids except for assessments. So SDC kids, those in between ID and RSP, who really need access to training programs, get sent off to community college programs, which they have less chance of succeeding in.

[txdoc]

Originally Posted by Martina

Thanks, but my kids aren't ID, but SDC. In my district, ID kids get workability. RSP kids get to go to the fabulous career tech half day school -- which is modern and huge and gives certificates in things that allow them to move directly into good jobs.

But SDC kids get neither. The Career school won't let SDC kids in. Workability only serves ID kids except for assessments. So SDC kids, those in between ID and RSP, who really need access to training programs, get sent off to community college programs, which they have less chance of succeeding in.

Trying to understand. Not familiar with acronym SDC.

[Galahad]

That's awful. I know that the community college programs are just not working for many sdc kids. The coffee shop is where some of the sdc students work while in high school or just out of.
If we only had the money to set things like this up. The money, time and energy...

[Martina]

Originally Posted by txdoc

Trying to understand. Not familiar with acronym SDC.

It stands for Special Day Class. It is used for kids who spend more than fifty percent of the day in self-contained special education classes. RSP -- Resource kids -- spend less than fifty percent of their time in self-contained (all Special Ed) classes. Often they just have a support class or two.

SDC students sometimes have more or more serious learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, or lower IQ. Sometimes their not that serious learning disabilities have been neglected and they just ended up many grade levels behind. But they are not ID (Intellectually Disabled or Mentally Retarded). For whatever reason or reasons, it is hard for SDC students to succeed in school.

More districts are trying to include SDC students in General Ed classes for more of the day. It is good for them socially -- most of them -- but most districts do not have the resources to do it successfully and SDC kids start flunking out. Great idea, but so hard to do in schools with large class sizes and stressed to the max teachers.

[txdoc]

Originally Posted by Martina

It stands for Special Day Class. It is used for kids who spend more than fifty percent of the day in self-contained special education classes. RSP -- Resource kids -- spend less than fifty percent of their time in self-contained (all Special Ed) classes. Often they just have a support class or two.

SDC students sometimes have more or more serious learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, or lower IQ. Sometimes their not that serious learning disabilities have been neglected and they just ended up many grade levels behind. But they are not ID (Intellectually Disabled or Mentally Retarded). For whatever reason or reasons, it is hard for SDC students to succeed in school.

More districts are trying to include SDC students in General Ed classes for more of the day. It is good for them socially -- most of them -- but most districts do not have the resources to do it successfully and SDC kids start flunking out. Great idea, but so hard to do in schools with large class sizes and stressed to the max teachers.

Thank you. We don't use that terminology. We code by numbers. Same reporting requirements. In our district, we commit a significant amount of funds to inclusion support and co-teaching. Even at the high school level, I have inclusion teachers in every content area class. We use as little resource as possible. Our kids are more successful on state standards if they stay in the general education setting. All our resource teachers are also highly qualified in special ed and the content area they teach. We have dramatically increased the rigor and relevance of the instruction for all of our students but continue to put necessary supports in place. I also have a dedicated and competent behavioral support team who works diligently to build resilience for our kids with ed. When we have to go more restrictive, we have an award winning campus which includes a therapeutic milieu so that we can keep kids out of .hospitalization. Can you tell I love my job and my district?

[Soon]

Is waking up on a Saturday with the realization you don't have to go to work one of the best feelings--ever!? I thought, for a moment or two, I had to get up and get dressed and start the teaching day...slowly dawned on me...nope! I also got a whack of essays done this week but have another pile(s) waiting for me. I take Saturdays off entirely, though!

Today is definitely a ME day.

Wishing you all a great weekend.

[bkisbutchenuff]

Haven't posted anything about yesterdays tragedy...I think because it hit so close to home...all the innocence taken out by an unstable young man...in a place once thought to be safe from such acts...

and

as innocent lives are taken....other innocent children do great things...students auditioned for the Honor Orchestra last Sat. and today. 4 passed the audition and 4 did not....I am so proud of their efforts!

[Martina]

Rest in Peace --

Victoria Soto -- Teacher
Mary Sherlach -- School Psychologist
Dawn Hochspring -- Principal
Rachel Davino -- Aide
Anne Marie Murphey -- Aide
Lauren Rousseau -- Teacher

And thanks and gratitude to all the staff who risked their lives to save children, the clerks, the custodians, the aides, the teachers.

They made me proud to be a public school teacher.