22
days, 22 days, 22 school days. It’s like my students had a summer break in the
middle of the school year. Except, their summer break is usually 10 days.
They’ve never been out of school for 22 days, unless they had major surgery or
a serious illness.
So
Wednesday, they will roll into school and I will happily greet the chaos that
is our normal. But what have we learned at the expense of them missing 22
school days?
I
can only hope that we have started a conversation about why special education
students have to be bused all across New York City and beyond to have their
educational needs met. I hope we have realized that we must do better.
Of
course, I was ecstatic Friday afternoon to hear the possibility of the strike
ending and in almost disbelief when I heard it was officially over Friday
evening. It’s hard to believe that a letter from 5 Democratic mayoral candidates
was all it took. I also like to think that schools being less fearful of the
press this past week also hastened the end. When the face of the bus strike
became the children with special needs who weren’t getting to school, 1,285 never made it at all,
ignoring the strike was no longer an option for at least some politicians.
Even
in my excitement that I will be reunited with my students this week, after
recharging my batteries over this long weekend, Bloomberg and Walcott continue
to exasperate me.
With the claim of saving $60 million, Bloomberg and Walcott are calling
themselves the victors and saying that they “put children first,” after my
students lost almost 5 weeks of school. On Friday after the Democratic mayoral
candidates came together to craft a letter
that ended the bus strike, Bloomberg and Walcott issued their first official
statements in weeks, gloating. And before this, Walcott even made a statement
saying that students whose educations were disrupted will still be expected to
participate in state testing, which we all know will lead to their scores being
held against their teachers.
Now
I’m getting asked how will my students make up the lost instruction time. To be
honest, they won’t. Most of the students with the most significant special
needs had the most difficulties getting to school; they already attend school
year round. In addition, there is already a shortage of Occupational, Physical,
and Speech Therapist; there is no way they will be able to make up missed
therapies during the school day. This leaves it on the parents to find
therapists who will come into their homes, which is extremely difficult to do
for even the most savvy parents.
So
its time to make a plan for what needs to be done going forward.
The
DOE’s Office of Pupil transportation needs to be held accountable for creating
routes that are efficient.
The
bus drivers and matrons’ union, ATU 1181, needs to create a platform that
legitimizes their concerns, rather than just fighting for job protections. They
now have until the next mayor is elected to do this.
NYC
Schools, in particular District 75, needs to do a self-examination. Why are
students being bused near and far to receive their educations?
Parents
need to push the NYC DOE to provide appropriate educations in their communities,
ideally their community schools.
I
hope to do my part by continuing this blog and developing a strong community of
teachers, teacher educators and advocates who recognize the improvements that
need to happen to special education in New York City. Let’s not just be
satisfied with getting our kids back to school, let’s make this system better
so that this never happens again.
I’m
looking forward to giving you an update on Wednesday, our first day back!
