I encourage resident's to be cautious when reading the front page GC News article "Consultant Applauds Special Ed Programs". There are lot of facts that the public should be aware of:
1) The consultants were chosen by the BOE - parents or SEPTA were not invited in the selection process. SEPTA was notified a week before by Dr. Feirsen that they decided to to invite consultant's in. A select number of parents in the district know why the consultant's were all of a sudden "invited in", and I assure you it is not because they were concerned about having fair programs. However, I was not shocked to see Ms. Foley's statement that they would be "remiss" as a board to not go out and mission people who are outside our culture to come in and tell us what their bird's eye view is.
2) Not one single parent was interviewed by this audit! Only staff, administration, document reviews, site visits, and quantitative analysis. What analysis? Of course administration is going to provide well thought out perfected documentation and prepare for site visits.
3) Hilarious! The first line bragging about our special education programs is the fact that we have a lot of para professionals. Any special education professional and/or parent know that the goal here should be to move students PAST needing an aide - not encouraging them to depend on another adult. This is not something to brag about. Dr. Neiman even acknowledged that later in his report.
I have not been shy in voicing my questions regarding ethical standards of our special education system. Thank you for reading.
With kind regards,
Melanie Donus
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