Proposed Cuts Would Hurt Tacoma Special Education Programs (WA)

June 23, 2011

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A few days before the school year
ended, Tacoma school employee Albina Patterson received a surprise visit from a
19-year-old man who was in her class the first year she became a paraeducator.

This student had started out
academically behind most children because he had Asperger’s syndrome, a
disability similar to autism that affects social and communication skills and
coordination.

As a paraeducator, Albina worked
with special-needs children like him in third through fifth grades for nine
years. Most are at least two grade levels behind in reading, spelling or math.
Some of her students have health issues, and all have learning disabilities.

Working with a teacher, Albina’s
goal is to bring these students up to grade level and mainstream them into the
general education population before they enter middle school. It’s not easy. She
says what’s most challenging to her is designing a way to make each child
successful because they don’t all learn the same way.

More than 12 percent of the students
who attend Tacoma Public Schools are in special education. Most special
education classrooms consist of a certificated teacher and at least one
paraeducator, formerly called teaching assistant, to help the teacher.

Every day paraeducators get the
classroom ready for learning. They help students get off the bus and across
campus to get their breakfast. They monitor the playground. They help their
students get on the right bus after school is out. They assist the teacher with
record-keeping, homework and other tasks. They deal with emergencies. And they
help students learn.

Because of their l earning
disabilities, these students need structure every minute of the day, constant
adult supervision and one-on-one assistance. Some are volatile and can be a
danger to themselves and other students.

The children with defiant behavior
often require two staff members to defuse disruptive situations, but there may
only be one staff member next year.

Medically fragile students with
severe disabilities need paraeducators to help them with tube feeding or catheterization.

In spite of the crucial role
paraeducators play, the school district is planning to reduce the working hours
of more than 130 workers by a half-hour a day because of state and federal cuts
in funding for education. More than 12,000 hours a year of time spent with
disadvantaged, special-needs children will be lost.

What does this mean for parents and
children? Simply put, the quality of their education will suffer.

With these cuts in hours, families
would have less time from advocates they need to help their child become
successful. Communication between the school and the family would be
diminished. Most important, the safety of their child is at risk.

And the paraeducators? They will
lose as much as $200 a month on a salary that is already at the lowest rung of
the school district’s pay. Many of them work two jobs to make a livable wage.

So what about that young man who
visited Albina the other day? She made a difference in his life, and he wanted
her to know. Today he is attending Tacoma Community College and getting h is
associate degree in graphic design.

These cuts hurt. Tacoma’s special
education students, teachers and families need the support of paraeducators.

A rally will begin at 5 p.m. today
outside the Central Administration Building, 601 S. Eighth St., Tacoma, before
the School Board meeting begins.

We invite parents, current and former students,
and classroom staff members to tell the School Board about the impacts of these
cuts on students. Sandra Schroeder is president of the American Federation of
Teachers Washington.