By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writer
The federal government has sent the Edmonds School District and five other area schools districts $490,000 and told them to come up with innovative ways to improve special education instruction.
Now the question is: What will they do?
Teachers met Monday in Mountlake Terrace to begin charting a strategy that will allow them to kick off projects in the fall.
Joining the Edmonds School District in the project are: Lake Washington, Bellevue, Shoreline, Northshore and Bainbridge.
Mike Veak, a special education teacher at Edmonds-Woodway High School, said he’s seen educational reform proposals come and go during his 30 years of teaching, but is hopeful about the potential for change that the projects funded by the federal grant could bring about.
"This is a new idea … a great idea," he said, following Monday’s meeting.
Special education teachers have often been caught knowing that students need help, but not being able to provide it to them in a timely way, he said.
Some of the problem, he said, is the long time referrals take between educational, child welfare and mental health programs.
For example, if a students gets kicked out or leaves home and is sleeping on the streets, teachers sometimes aren’t sure where to refer the child for help.
"By the time the referrals get done, the school year is over," he said.
Veak said he doesn’t blame the agencies, because case workers are often overwhelmed with work loads.
Steven Day, a teacher at Mariner High School in the Mukilteo School District, said that sometimes just scheduling conflicts can make it difficult for teachers to meet with mental health counselors and representatives of the state Department of Social and Health Services to map a plan for assisting troubled students.
Mick Moore, with the Puget Sound Education Service District, which is helping coordinate the efforts to bring more innovation to special education through the federal grant, said that teachers have complained about the excessive paperwork required in tracking special education students.
This and general teacher dissatisfaction have led to increasing numbers of special education teachers to say they’re ready to leave the profession, he said.
"If we don’t turn this thing around, if (teachers) aren’t better prepared, we’ll have an increasingly difficult time educating students who are the most difficult to teach, those with disabilities," Moore said.
The goal of the pilot projects that the federal grant will fund is to demonstrate what works to improve special education, he said, and then have those programs duplicated throughout the region.
You can call Herald Writer Sharon Salyer at 425-339-3486
or send e-mail to salyer@heraldnet.com.
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