Parents, Teachers, And Parents Support School Board's Inclusion
Plan
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
December 6,
2006
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA--"It's going to make the world better for all
of us."
That quote is from Palm Beach County School Board member Sandra
Richmond, talking Wednesday about her district's plan to include all 24,000
students with disabilities in regular classrooms in all of its 161 public
schools.
Principals, teachers, and parents attended the board meeting to talk
about how inclusive education has worked for them and to praise the board for
taking that important step toward full inclusion, the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel reported.
Carol Blarcharski, the principal at Loggers Run Middle School, said that
regular and special education students have improved dramatically on the
Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test and on meeting grade level requirements
in the year since her school decided to eliminate separate special education
classrooms and move special education teachers through the regular classes
during the day.
The behavior of students with disabilities has also improved, thanks to
peer pressure, Blarcharski told the board.
"Sometimes they would act out in a special education class because they
thought they could get away with it," she said. "In middle school, it's about
looking good for your peers, so now they have role models in their friends who
are working hard and trying to learn."
Sue Davis-Killian explained how her daughter Lisa, who has Down
syndrome, immediately excelled in a regular classroom.
"I tried to teach Lisa to write her name before kindergarten and she
couldn't. But kids in kindergarten write their name on the top of their papers
several times day," she said.
"By the end of September, Lisa was writing her first name. By Christmas,
she was writing her first and last name."
Related:
"Palm Beach School district wants students with
disabilities in regular classrooms" (Sun-Sentinel)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/1206c.htm
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Reproduced here under special arrangement
with Inclusion Daily Express international disability rights news service.
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