Thu Feb 7, 2008 at 5:14 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal I think there are a few things that should be added to the above. One of the problems throughout the time that I worked for CPS is that SPED teachers were used as subs and that classes were cancelled. The Union always said that the Board rules stated that SPED teachers (resource, especially) could be used in an emergency which was defined as anytime that the Board claimed they could not get a sub. One year that I kept track of I missed 60% of the time that I was supposed to service children.

During one of the last years that I taught, I had more students in my SPED classroom than the regular 8th grade teacher had and they still tried to tell me that I had to take resource students.

A final problem was that instead of covering self-contained classrooms when a teacher was absent or at a meeting, schools would tell other teachers that they had to combine classes. These students did not count on your quota so sometimes I would have twice as many students two or three days a week and couldn't even file a complaint!

Thu Feb 7, 2008 at 5:18 PMBy: Rod Estvan Special Ed Sub Scandal If you all go to CPS Board report 07-0523-RS19 you will see that there are now 289 special education teacher vacancies. So it is true, there are many subs in special education positions. Both of the comments above are correct by the way.

Rod Estvan
Access Living

Thu Feb 7, 2008 at 9:30 PMBy: George N. Schmidt Special Ed Sub Scandal The situation is bad in the regular CPS schools, and much worse in the majority of CPS charter schools. Like so many things, frantic privatization and deregulation -- all part of Renaissance 2010 -- have created these charter monsters, where "special education" services are either ignored or played games with. If the Corey H Monitor had any real services to offer, this would have been stopped years ago.

If the CPS Office of Specialized Services were really in the business of insuring that children get the services they need, this would never be happening, either in the real public schools or in fantasyland (which is more and more what I'll be calling the Renaissance 2010 schools -- especially the charters -- the closer we look).

If the CPS Law Department were in the business of advising its clients on what the law says and their responsibilities under the law -- as opposed to the current reality, where the CPS Law Department is in the business of aiding and abetting every law breaker from the principals on up -- this wouldn't have ever gotten to this point.

And, of course, if CPS were in the business of trying to educate every child according to decency and the law (as opposed to being the agency of mass privatization, crazed market driven "choice" programs, and Flavor of the Month crazes) like most public school systems still are...

Well, what more is there to say.

It will take us 20 years to simply describe most of the horrors that have been inflicted since this stuff began a decade or so ago, then escalated with the appointment of Arne Duncan and, later, Renaissance 2010.

But right now, the best way to understand what's really being done at the policy and power levels is to assume that the people who have risen to the "top" of CPS this decade are in the business of doing the opposite of what they should be doing (legally and morally) and then screaming their versions of reality while trying to drown out everyone else.

Fri Feb 8, 2008 at 7:09 AMBy: tommy Special Ed Sub Scandal If you are waiting for the OIG's office to investigate keep dreaming. Their office is as inept as they come at CPS.

Fri Feb 8, 2008 at 9:25 AMBy: helene Special Ed Sub Scandal The sub only used masking tape. Lighten up. Exactly how much of all this special ed stuff is real and how much is made up for SSI? Children should know how to sit down even if it is just for a few minutes. Children used to know better and do better when they understood and experienced the negative consequences of their actions instead of the acceptance of their bad behavior.

Fri Feb 8, 2008 at 11:39 AMBy: There is no help Special Ed Sub Scandal There is no help for special ed students. If a student needs an aide, they will not get it. Due to inclusion (the flavor of the week), assistants for student are practically impossible to come by now. Assistants are considered the most exclusive environment for a student. It does not matter how disruptive they are. Special education teachers are told they are suppose to teach students how to behave. The options for student with disabilities who misbehave are very limited. They are rarely sent to the office and nobody will help. It is an unspoken rule, "don't ask for help you will not get it. Do the best you can." This is exactly what makes situations like this occur. Schools need extra help with all kinds of behavior issues but if they (schools, principals, teachers) ask for help, they are failing and cannot do their job. That is how it is perceived by CPS. It is not about what is best for the students.

Fri Feb 8, 2008 at 4:25 PMBy: Rod Estvan student taped to chair If the story about the disabled fourth grade Evers student in a self contained special education classroom being taped to a chair had happened only once it would be one to many times. But the truth is that similar things have happened before in CPS and those of us at Access Living and other disability related organizations in this city are sickened by a pattern of problems going back years.

Let me relate just a few of these stories. There was the case where a special education teacher sent students to the bathroom without supervision and a student with a significant cognitieve disability was repeated sexually abused by another student, day after day. There was the case where a student with severe Autism fell or jumped out of a hallway window landing on his head when his individual aide either failed to do her job or was covering multiple children and could not effectively do her job. In that case the family of the child received a settlement that require that they say nothing further about the particulars of the situation.

There was the horrendous case under the Vallas administration where a bus aide repeatedly raped a non-verbal cognitively disabled girl over several months and became pregnant. Ultimately the aide went to jail, but not before family members were investigated for molesting their own child. I even know of a case where a special education teacher fondled a disabled child and when confronted by a parent about it called DFCF on the parent and said the parent was abusing the child.

In every case that I know of, and there are many, the individual legally responsible for the safety of these students, the principal of the school was held harmless and had no action taken against them, not even a warning resolution by the CPS Board for failure to properly supervise staff. Some of you may wonder how a principal could be held responsible in any way for these types of incidents; they after all never did any of these things.

I call it guilt by benign neglect of supervision. Principals who care about the children in self contained programs at their schools supervise them with more care than their regular education programs, they do not delegate supervision of special education to the case manager who is not an administrator. The CPS will not go after the principal because to do so if to admit culpability and open the door to a lawsuit.

Medgar Evers School has a relatively small special education program, about 40 or 45 students depending on the year. Over all this school is making AYP for its students and about 54% of the parents at the school indicate they are satisfied with their children's education at Evers.

The report in the Sun Time does not provide a few details that appear in the Defender report on the same story. From the Defender we learn that this newly certified special education teacher was in fact 47 years old. Now most of us who have taught know teaching a self contained class is incrediably difficult and at age 47 with very limited experience you will be stressed beyond belief.

I think it was poor judgement on the part of the principal to put this teacher into a self contained setting without providing very close supervision for the first few months. The Sun Times reports that it was other students in the room who went to a school counselor at Evers to report what happened, it was not the administration of the school that discovered what took place.

Those of us who have taught also know that when a teacher loses control of a class every teacher around that room knows it, they can hear the yelling. These things just do not happen, they build up and the Evers School administration in my opinion was not on top of the situation. I would bet something else, the fourth grader this teacher taped to the chair was a challenging student and a lot of staff at the school knew this. It is even possible, and the special education teachers who read this blog will know what I am talking about, that other teachers had already been driven out of this classroom.

When a teacher takes over a difficult classroom they need to be observed and supported. This teacher could not deal with what she or she faced and the principal should have been able to figure that out during the interview process. Benign neglect of supervision leads directly to the type of problem that took place at Evers and has happened before in CPS and in schools in other districts.

Rod Estvan
Access Living

Sat Feb 9, 2008 at 2:58 AMBy: Margaret's mom Special Ed Sub Scandal Okay, I want to comment on the original blog. I am a special educator at a turnaround school. I am not a product of turnaround training; I have walked the walk and hold several undergraduate and one graduate degree in special education.

*I disagree with the comment that CPS does not post SPED teacher vacancies. I've seen them posted many times over the years.

*Yes, many non-certs are "teaching" in special educational classrooms. They are their own worse enemies because, due to fear of losing the job, etc, they do not speak up for themselves or advocate on behalf of their students when asked to engage in illegal practices such as taking on excessive caseloads, allowing too many students to enroll in their classrooms at any one time, etc.

I was almost coerced into taking a young child into my self contained classroom which would have placed my classroom in an illegal grade range of five grades. I firmly stated that I would not be part of this illegal practice. I have also let it be known in a respectful manner that I would leave the position if I were forced to do anything illegal.

Let me state that I stirive to do my job the best that I can each day. I do NOT come in early nor stay late (this "coming in early and staying late" business is an outdated teaching practice that has proven not to be effective, but that is fodder for a different blog) but maximize my work day to the fullest extent on behalf of my students.

I am blessed to have receive, what I think, is an excellent teacher training program at my universities. I am armed with wonderful tools for helping my somewhat challenging students grow.

Thus, my fellow teachers and administrators know that if I choose to leave or am pressured to leave, they would loose a great educator.

My excellent work ethic is my best weapon against CPS trying to influence me into engaging in illegal practices in my special educational classroom.

By the way, special educators are not considered "specials teachers" for covering classes when a sub is not available. The language of the previous contract only considers "special teachers" ie music, art, etc. as those who have to cover classes when a sub is not available.

*In conclusion, I will strongly encourage ALL (not just special educators) educators who feel cocerced into engaging in classroom practices that are not in the best interest of students first and themselves second to arm themselves with the utmost work ethic as the best weapon to fight against CPS pressure.

Oh yeah, would the previous blogger please steer me to the district(s) that offer signing bonuses!

Sat Feb 9, 2008 at 12:03 PMBy: Yoo Hoo! Corey H. Monitors Special Ed Sub Scandal Where are the Cory H. monitors' offices?
Who are they?
What are they monitoring?
When do they work?
How are they funded?
Why are they so silent?

Sat Feb 9, 2008 at 8:19 PMBy: marco! polo! Special Ed Sub Scandal http://clear.cps.k12.il.us/AboutCPS/Board/Board_Actions/FY07/07/07-0725-ED10.pdf

Sun Feb 10, 2008 at 3:47 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal Many of us in Special Education are familiar with Corey H. The Chicago Board, especially their attorneys, have consistently misinterpreted Corey H. to scare schools into thinking that all SPED students belong in the regular classroom. I was at several court sessions where the judge told the attorneys that they were given out incorrect information but it did nothing to change the situation. What the judge was saying is that children should not be placed based on a disability label but rather based on their functional ability. Not all students who are labeled TMH belong in self-contained and not all students labeled LD belong in the regular classroom. The judge went on to say that the full spectrum of services need to be offered from general education to tuition based programs. I think the CPS attorneys misinterpretation is based on a desire to save money because it is cheaper to dump students in the regular classroom with few or any services.

Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 10:54 AMBy: Chloe Special Ed Sub Scandal I am a graduate journalism student at Northwestern and am working on a story involving special education issues within the chicago public schools; a lot of your comments are very interesting and would love to talk through them further if possible. If anyone is interesting in speaking with me about this issues for my story, please email me at chloewiley@gmail.com. Thanks for your thoughtful insight on the subject. I was a former teacher myself and have witnessed first hand these problems.

Sun Feb 24, 2008 at 3:44 PMBy: 20=resource Special Ed Sub Scandal Does anyone know the caseload size for an inclusion program? CPS certainly does not even look at the service minutes nor does ISBE.

Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 1:10 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Special Ed Sub Scandal I've heard from a couple of north side elementary schools where the principals are claiming that there are absolutely no "one on one" aides allowed for any category of special education. Is this going on across the city? If so, why hasn't the Corey H Monitor at least noticed?

When I get five confirmed examples of this, I'm just going to run the story. Meanwhile, though, these principals (who seem to be a bit too impressed with their "data driven management" skills and their tenth reading of "Management Secrets of Atilla the Hen") are getting away with this crap.

And the school year is more than half over, so the kids have suffered a measurable loss. But instead of the principals (and at least one AIO) being called to account for it, the principals seem to have been told to bully teachers who fight back -- or even simply disagree.

Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 5:24 PMBy: Principals need training Special Ed Sub Scandal Usually, it is the case manager who bullies the teacher. Case mangers make an additional $2,500 a year and a good caring case manager deserves every penny. Some weaker case managers are making extra monies fom the discretionary fund and the $2,500 and will do whatever dirty work the principal wants. It is a power trip for them and incompetent principals who know very little and do not want to know the legalities of special education.

Principals need to be trained about special education law by outside groups like Access Living. Maybe then we would stop being the subject of due process cases and lawsuits due to abuses in special education. OSS bullies new principals and gets away with it.

Tue Feb 26, 2008 at 9:20 PMBy: Anonymous Special Ed Sub Scandal No, discretionary funds can not be used as part of the principal's retirement package unless fraud is involved. I've heard several cases where principals, business managers, etc. were caught directing funds to their personal accounts but usually there is enough oversight that they can't get away with it for long. However, I think the problem is that the discretionary funds are used to reward people who are yes men to the administration instead of teachers, case managers, etc. who really care about the students. Sometimes the funds are used to give parents who are vocal jobs so that they will shut up and go along with what the adminstration and CPS does. I think that there needs to be more control over how discretionary funds are being spent and it shouldn't be up solely to the principals and their often puppet LSCs.

Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 1:46 PMBy: 1.04 Special Ed Sub Scandal We have at least one kid with a full time aide in my high school

Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 5:26 PMBy: 1.04 Special Ed Sub Scandal You are probably correct. I will ask the aide tomorrow.

Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 11:15 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal I was Case Manager at two different schools--in two separate areas of Chicago. I attended numerous trainings by CPS and was not impressed by any of them. Most of the information which I got was from outside meetings and from my own research. An additional problem is that many case managers don't even attend the trainings which CPS provides (which means that they don't even have this knowledge).

At my last school, I referred a child for Assistive Tech. and the Case Manager had never heard of the program. After I demonstrated how much good the program could do, other SPED teachers started referring children. Likewise, many ED children did not have behavioral plans until I came to school and insisted that they be written on my students as well as any SPED students (ED or not) that were suspended more than once.

I don't think I ever attended a training which emphasized the importance of keeping good documentation of progress and showed examples of what this means.

Sat Mar 1, 2008 at 7:23 AMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal Sometimes I think it's a power issue. Case Managers are empowered to have a lot of control over the lives of children, parents, and SPED teachers (as well as regular educators). Since principals often know little or nothing about SPED, they relie on the Case Manager for most of their information and are not capable of judging whether or not they are doing a good job. The power and extra money is what leads a lot of Case Managers to keep the job but they are not interested in furthering their education.

Sat Mar 1, 2008 at 5:36 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal I don't think any Case Manager has ever been told that advocacy is a part of their job. The fact that the Case Manager signs in the spot for administration makes clear that the first loyalty is supposed to be to CPS not to the parents. Unfortunately the dual loyalty is often in conflict. I was trained as an advocate by the federal government but never by CPS or the State. You are right, we were often told at meetings not to make commitments for services unless they were available at the local school.

Sun Mar 2, 2008 at 2:39 PMBy: Tired teacher Special Ed Sub Scandal Having a one on one aide is still cheaper than a tuition out placement. I fought for three one on one aides for three students. It was not an easy battle especially when you are the only one advocating for the child. One child's family did advocate with me and received an aide. Another single parent agreed that her child needed an aide for safety concerns but was worn out from taking care of this high maintenance child. Another mother was told that her child did not qualify for an aide. Two out of three received an aide over a three year period.

It does wear one out especially when you have to produce reams of paperwork and fight with a case manager who acts as if the monies for the aides are coming out of her salary.

Tue Mar 4, 2008 at 8:03 PMBy: curious Special Ed Sub Scandal Does anyone know the percentage of students in CPS who receive special education services? I believe it is 14% nation wide. How about the percentage of special education aides compared to a nearby suburb? How about the average caseload per teacher compared to a suburb or city?

Wed Mar 5, 2008 at 11:25 AMBy: It's sad Special Ed Sub Scandal Most of these scandals happen in lower socioeconomic communities!

Wed Mar 5, 2008 at 1:40 PMBy: 1.04 Special Ed Sub Scandal I just asked the aide who is with the kid all day,goes everywhere
the kid goes if that was their job.They said "yes".I have no
reason to ask for an IEP.The paperwork in SPED. is mind
blowing.If it was important , and legal, I suppose I could
sight the IEP.What am I looking for?

Wed Mar 5, 2008 at 5:03 PMBy: 1.04 Special Ed Sub Scandal Well Thanks for the info.I am not the kids teacher.

Fri Mar 7, 2008 at 1:16 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal I just received the AFT magazine and it was interesting to read everything that they say teachers should do prior to an IEP meeting. I know very few schools that are following these guidelines.

Four to six weeks before the meeting.
Coordinate a date, time and place with parents or guardians as well as anyone else who needs to attend. Set up "tickers" alerting you to send out reminder notices for any reports or other input, as well as reminders about the meeting itself.
Gather information. Review the student's records, including any previous IEPs. Check out the student's current work and secure representative work samples. Consult with the student (when appropriate), parents, staff, and other professionals. Observe the child in his or her learning environment to see how things are going.
Identify and review your data. Are the student's assessments current and accurate? Is the child's current level of performance apparent to everyone? Are there any changes at home or school that might affect the SPED program?? Have all records been consolidated and updated? If you find gaps, inconsistencies or changes-and you surely will-take time now to work through them and present the clearest picture possible.

Two weeks before. Develop an agenda for the meeting. If you're the regular educator or other professional, contact the SPED educator at this point to get your concerns on the agenda.
Send parents or guardians notification at least 10 calendar days before the meeting date. Confirm their attendance.
Confikrm attendance of the regular teacher plus any paraprofessionals and other support staff or related service personnel who can provide input, school or district representatives, someone who can explain assessments or evaluations, and any interpreters.
Confirm the availability of space and materials to take notes, and prepare any necessary paperwork.
If possible, send a draft IEP to the parents and other IEP team members. Include for the parents a copy of your state's procedural safeguards, which address the rights and responsibilities of IDEA.

During the meeting
Introduce participants and remind everyone why they are all there.

Review where things stand in terms of the student's education, including the child's growth and any trouble spots. Review and update the goals. Solicit input from everyone, starting with the parents.
Discuss any areas of need that would benefit from new goals or services.
List any new goals and objectives that the student's current performance will necessitate. Make sure they are measurable, and indicate how they'll be measured.
Next, as a team, determine the least restrictive environment for the child.
Also determine whether the child needs an individualizaed extension of services beyone the school year to meet certain goals in the IEP.
Finally, consider whether the student needs transition services, which promote moving from school toward adulthood and may include postsecondary or vocational education, as well as employment services or training in the skills of daily life.
Review the whole IEP and secure the necessary signatures before participants leave.

After the meeting. Distribute copies to all attendees. Acknowledge parents' participation and keep the doors of communication wide open.
Maintain IeP documents according to district and state guidelines.
Follow up on any outstanding issues.
Set a date to update the student's records.

My experience in working with other parents is the weakest areas for many schools is documenting progress. Teachers will simply state that students have or have not meet their goals but are unable to produce work samples, test records or other documentation.

This information is from American Teacher, March 2008

Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 10:01 PMBy: parent Special Ed Sub Scandal I'm a parent who child is receiving special education services, and my child has been racially and emotional harassed and the school wasn't doing anything about it to me. Whenever I ask the school to set-up a meeting with the parents I was told that "the school can't make parents have a meeting with me." And the school always use "student privacy" when I ask what is being done about this harassment. I also contact the regional office and I had an argument with this person who is the district manager(?) asking me if my child is provoking this racially and emotional harassment on.

I even went to the Board( Arne Duncan office) and was told by someone there that they was going to investigate this. But whenever I call back to speak to that person who said that they was investigating it to get the statics, I'm told that "there isn't anyone here who recall speaking with you about this" and the name that this "mystery" person gave me at his office, don't work there. Who ever heard of this?

I finally had to take this to higher up and they came out and spoke to the administration at this school. Now my child has said that the harassment has started again( not the racially). These are about 3-4 students that is harassing my children on a daily basis and I'm sick of it.

I also feel that the school is not trying to do anything about this harassment that child is facing on a daily basis because I have taken the school to mediation and now I'm trying to take them to due-process( I'm looking for an attorney pro bono) because my child hasn't made hardly any progress at this school and the school can't show me and documentation, charts, progress report or anything showing how my child is progressing whenever I have an IEP meeting. I strongly feel that the school is trying to pass my child alone until my child graduate and then my child is out of "their hands."

Isn't what's happening to my child is illegal? I feel that my child might be scared by all this throughout her child and possibly her adult life. This is so wrong and I'm sick, tired and mad. This school, regional office, and the Board need to be held accountable to the fullest for what is going on.

Have anyone witness something like this before? If so, please speak out and write on here what was your experience if any with the school administration and your child or student who have a disability.

I'm also reading others comments on here about the special education system and this is just heartbreaking for the children and the parents. Thanks to the person(s) who created this blog. I hope others speak out and tell what is going on so things can change for the better and the schools, Board, regional office all need to be revamp. Get rid of all the bad seed, and let the caring, supportive and dedicated people who do want the best for the children do their job and do it right. There is a God

Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 2:54 PMBy: hey, mom Special Ed Sub Scandal I feel for you, and you are right: It is illegal, not to mention immoral. Contact the Family Resource Center on Disability (www.frcd.org), if you haven't already, as well as support groups for your child's disability area. Keep speaking out!

Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 6:53 PMBy: HelenKeller Special Ed Sub Scandal Special education in CPS is a joke. Now OSS is doing the happy dance because of the preponderance of new principals who are jumping on the differenciated learning bandwagon which will decrease the special education referral rate becasue "everyone works in groups at their own level" NOT necessarily grade level...wait til the test scores drop...Here again we have had Mastery Learing, Continuous Progress, Whole Language and now the biggest joke of all Differenciated Instruction.

Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 10:53 AMBy: IDEA funding? Special Ed Sub Scandal Just saw this (from another state). Anyone in Chicago joined this effort? Any update?

Urge Your Senators to Support Amendment for $10 Billion More for IDEA!

Amendment to be voted on week of March 10.

Please join CEC in supporting an effort led by Senator Sanders (D-VT) to provide an additional $10 billion for IDEA. This effort – which will be an amendment offered to the Senate’s budget resolution – will be voted on either March 10, 11, or 12, therefore it is critical that you urge your Senators to vote for the Sanders Amendment.

For 33 years, Congress has failed to fulfill its promise to fully fund IDEA. Urge your senators to uphold their promise to children, families and educators of students with disabilities across the country by voting for this amendment.

Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 9:20 AMBy: Bernie is smart Special Ed Sub Scandal http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=297410

link to blog posting about Sanders' effort...

(excerpt)
"Sanders said the amendment begins to address three major problems facing our nation: the growing economic disparity between the very rich and everyone else; the "shameful reality" that America has the highest child poverty rate of any industrialized nation at 18 percent; and record-breaking deficits and a national debt approaching $10 trillion."

Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 12:03 PMBy: Parent Special Ed Sub Scandal Thanks to the two people that respond back concerning my child being harassed at school. I have file a compliant with the State Board regarding the teachers not following my daughters IEP as well as the IEP written incorrectly. I also made a complaint with the OCR who went out to investigate( who knows what lies the administration told) and now I'm waiting to see what is going to happen next.

I also been working with these wonderful two people( one I just start communicating with via telephone) who has been assisting me with my child's IEP and they have inform me that my child IEP isn't written correctly to help her ( this is an on-going problem that I have). They both are very knowledgeable with the special education laws and how IEP's supposed to be written.

I also contacted the Family Resource Center and spoke to the director, but I'm going to call back and speak to someone else who use to be a parent advocate ( I was referr to this person from this other agency).

I'm not receiving an responds back when I call or send an email to the case manager concerning my child IEP meeting that was schedule by someone at the regional office and I agree to it. They act like they don't care.

I hope I can get an attorney who will take my child case pro bono because it seem like the school, the regional and the Board don't care about my child future even though they have a legal contract that they have to follow. If anyone knows an advocate or an attorney who can help me , please have them to post back and leave their contact information.

Thanks once again to everyone on here who is trying to help make these lazy people who don't care about our children and our future leaders be held accountable.

Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 4:19 PMBy: pro bono lawyers Special Ed Sub Scandal To the parent who needs pro bono legal services, and anyone else looking for a lawyer at low or no cost.

Go to the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice for a directory of free and low-cost legal services in Chicago:

www.chicagoappleseed.org

The directory tells you all the requirements to be eligible so you can save yourself a lot of phone calls.

Sat Mar 15, 2008 at 11:58 AMBy: Wake Up Teachers Special Ed Sub Scandal CPS makes it hard on children, teachers and aides because they want to save monies and special education cost money. I could understand this frugality but it only extends to special education.

CPS wastes money on high priced under experienced administrators, pseudo-administrators right out of college, consultants who themselves were poor administrators and lots of money spent on trend of the decade programs like
Mastery Learning
Continuous Pogress
Whole Language
Phonics Only and now the biggest scam of all which will result in a lower number of children being referred for special eduaction programs:

Differenciated Instruction AKA The child is reading at his own level even though it is below level and surprise surprise he will never fail a grade because he is successful at his own level....saves money due to a decrease in retention and special education referrals

Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 12:30 PMBy: time will tell Special Ed Sub Scandal Don't doubt it, Anonymous, that by 6th grade your granddaughter will also have many, many emotional and social problems along with total academic failure if the school continues on it's current approach to her. Criminal. (Heven help her.)

Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 2:02 PMBy: sped spud Special Ed Sub Scandal Yeah, the local education reporters are useless on special education topic. (Well, more than useless: destructive.) You have to find the real stories of what happening on all the disability-related list servs where parents post the truth of their child's experience. Information is power, even if you can no longer (if you could ever) turn to the mass media for it.

What's the story with Renee Grant Mitchell and Deborah Duskey? What are their goals (good or evil) for OSS? What's their legacy?

Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 9:13 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal I agree with the SS on OSS. I have a permanent hearing loss from a student hitting me a number of years ago. Two years before I left teaching, I was in the emergency room five times from student assaults and no one not the case manager, other SPED teachers or the administration would support me. It's the main reason I left teaching.

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 12:51 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Special Ed Sub Scandal We were providing the support from CTU when I was heading security and safety there.

A number of special education teachers were on the "violence in the schools" committee that we had meeting twice a month. We were even (in some cases) forcing the field reps (almost all of whom were UPC, and under orders to tell the schools there was "nothing that can be done") to go to the schools and do something about those problems.

Several people here remember those activities from the union. You were part of them and served on that committee, as far back as before Arne closed Spalding as a prelude to privatizing it (going on now).

We had a program, and in combination with regular discussion and public exposure of these problems, it was working. That page one news story in April 2004 (Ana Cholo, Tribune) about the security problems in the schools was just one example. Marilyn Stewart and the UPC took over and sabotaged all of that work. That's the facts of history.

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 9:50 AMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal Yes, I do remember the committee and the difference that it meant when it existed. Closing Spalding was one of the worst things that CPS and the state did. There are children that need a special school with smaller classrooms and teachers/administrators that worked together as a family. The new CTU committee is no where near as effective as the committee that you cheared.

I did file police reports but because of the age of the students, the police never did more than file a report. I turned all the reports over to the Union but nothing was ever done.

Mon Mar 17, 2008 at 6:37 PMBy: Margaret Wilson Special Ed Sub Scandal Rod,

I too am disabled so I approach things from the perspective of an adult with multiple disabilities (some visible, some invisible), a SPED teacher, a Case Manager, and the parent of a child with a disability. I became disabled in 3rd grade after a stroke which took away my ability to speak, walk, and all academic skills that I had previously learned. By the time that I graduated 8th grade, I had attempted suicide five times (two serious enough to put me in the hospital) because of the ridicule which I faced from my classmates who did not have disabilities and from the teachers. I wish that I could have been in a school like Spalding where I wouldn't have felt so isolated and without support. I know many of your staff members disagree with me but I also know other people with disabilities who agree with me. I am aware that Spalding is going to reopen as a charter school. I think that was their intension from the very beginning. I don't want to get into a debate but I do want you to know that I am approaching it not just from the perspective of a SPED teacher. College was my first experience with feeling successful at school and having teachers who helped me to identify my strengths and to learn to advocate for myself.

Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 3:38 PMBy: ms g Special Ed Sub Scandal I subbed at Spaulding several years ago--1999-2001ish-and found disgraceful behavior--by the adults, not the children. Little, if any, work left for the kids, deplorable conditions in the classrooms, no help in the halls or sent to the classroom when I requested it. I know...nothing new for CPS...but still.

Last time I went it was a snowy day, so maybe there were a lot of teachers out, but they had dozens of kids in the auditorium watching "The Mummy". I have NO special ed training, but SEVERAL of the more profoundly disabled kids, unable to speak, seems to get very agitated and distraught when some of the scarier scenes came on--yelling, throwing their bodies around, crying, one even wetting himself. By the 4th period of this, I finally went up to someone and asked if there was something else we could put in--the man literally looked me up and down, shook his head, turned to the other teachers sitting there and made some sign or gesture that cracked them all up and roll their eyes.

When you sub, you don't really the best vibe of a school--a lot of times you're there because a LOT of people are off and the school is just chaotic, but these kids were obviously upset/scared and it didn't seem to matter one bit.

That said, they had THE best food served in the teacher's lounge, bar none. Like real food--greens and fried chicken and sweet potato pie.

I felt for the kids at Spaulding, but I was never impressed by the staff (though I recognize theirs is a tough, tough job).

Sun Mar 23, 2008 at 1:22 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Special Ed Sub Scandal Happy Easter.

"...We had a CTU field representative, Victor Gonzalez, come to our school in 2004 and he really gave us good advice. If you are hit by any child you need to immediately file a police report. Being in special education is not a pass. Either the placement is incorrect, medication is not working or being administered or the child is mislabeled..." (Wimpy teachers, St. Patrick's Day).

This is still the best advice anyone can give. One of the more open secrets about special education is that at least one of the major gangs (the Black P. Stones) utilized special education classifications to keep their cadre in high school to the age of 20 (or later) in order to manage their markets. I personally worked on one of these cases (a kid from "Chief Town" -- which everyone who needs to know knows) for a couple of years while I was doubling as teacher, union delegate, and security coordinator (gangs specialist) at Bowen High School in the late 1990s. By the time he reached his third "senior" year (at age 20), the kid was really in danger of graduating, and was desperate to figure out how to "fail" again. We basically held private conferences with all of the teachers to make sure that all of the special projects the young man had contributed were duly credited.

I figured that at some point, the case of that guy would become a Chicago Tribune headline. It would go something like "poor child graduated from high school without requisite life skills" -- or some such fairy tale, like the fictional "illiterate valedictorian" that brought fame and fortune to John Kass and Jackie Heard 15 years ago).

If someone commits a crime, file the charges. Contrary to the blatherings of some, the juvenile justice system works very carefully and the city's probation officers (even after all the cuts in the Cook County budget) are very good people. One of the worst things we do to and "for" these kids is leave them with the impression that there are no limits on their behavior because, as they repeated following their training, "You can't suspend me. I'm special!"

Answer: That's true. So we're having you arrested this time.

Now, it takes time to develop the proper relationship with the local youth officers (and later, the judges), but it's worth the investment. Having a PO for a year or two is not the worst thing that can happen to a 14- or 15-year-old who's been allowed to get away with criminal behavior for years.

In some cases, it may even stop him from trying to get away with murder as he gets larger, stronger, and more out of control.

When you go to the garden, you'd better watch your back...

Life's complicated. Spalding was better than what replaced it (i.e., nothing). As to the anecdotals about "bad teachers" at Spalding, can't anyone get over that. The only thing worse than "bad teachers" in a public school system that underpays and overworks its public school teachers (while teacher bashing out of the mouths of non entities like Arne Duncan and Barbara Eason Watkins) is privatization. That's what people are getting. It would have been better to stand up and demand that Spalding be fixed up, half the building at a time, than to allow some bad feelings (and experiences) to undermine it all so that Daley could keep Spalding out of operation for four years until Arne could swing the privatization scheme into the building.

And, by the way, who tracked the fate of those children who had been attending Spalding after the Spalding building was closed down? Were they really better off on the upper floors of Clemente, for example?

Now, after more than $15 million in rehab, they'll turn Spalding, like so many other buildings, over to the privatizers. What a great idea.

Happy Easter, shipmates.

Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 2:32 PMBy: ESY in not for high incidence-unwritten OSS mandate Special Ed Sub Scandal I sent a child to ESY two years ago. She is a child with mild cognitive disabilities who needs a continuous program in order to stay at the second grade level. She is in junior high. No children with mild cognitve disabilities or learning disabilities were in the ESY program so she was placed into a severe and profound room where she ended up reading to the children with autism. Mom was so disgusted she told me she would never allow her child to attend ESY again. I was mortified but this is what CPS wants.

Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 7:59 PMBy: Get the Numbers... Special Ed Sub Scandal Get the data...what are the numbers of children with learning disabilities and children with mild cognitve disabilites who were allowed to attend ESY for the last ten year? OSS has the numbers and the numbers are decreasing at an unexplainable rate. I believe Renee Grant Mitchell is still crunching the numbers at OSS and it is never in favor of the children.

Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 2:51 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Special Ed Sub Scandal "...The parent was told that teachers used ESY as a punishment or to get summer jobs and that this is the reason the Board is making it so hard. I firmly believe that it's just that the Board doesn't want to spend the money to provide the services that the children need..." (Marge Wilson, last Wednesday. Others in a similar vein since).

This divide and conquer stuff is escalating. The only way to handle it for the time being will be meticulous documentation, and we'll be on our own for some time. Every principal who forces down services (and that seems to be the majority) should be documented by our side and written up. But there can't be any of this "a little bird told me..." stuff. Name names.

The veil of silence has only protected Arne Duncan's administration while it has gutted and privatized special education services. The mastermind of the gutting from the inside through early 2007 was David Vitale (Chief Administrative Officer). Now it's Hill Hammock (who now has the job they invented for Vitale). But without the subservience of Renee Grant Mitchell and the top (central office, some but not all areas) staff at Specialized Services, they couldn't do it.

They have names. The are giving orders and issuing memos, almost all of which result in reduced services and multiple tragedies.

One last example before I end for this long night: murders.

A lot of the murdering that goes on around Chicago -- involving CPS students -- might have been avoided had Specialized Services been doing its jobs under IDEA, Corey H, and simple common decency and professionalism. Instead, "data driven" nonsense has ruled, with all the "budget deficit" lies plugged in as needed and then repeated over and over.

Share the details and we'll handle the write ups. In about half the cases I've heard about, both the shooter and the shot were part of the vast population of children who've been systematically denied appropriate and required specialized services by CPS. The blood in on Arne Duncan's hands, despite all the Lady MacBeth washings. And on Renee Grant Mitchell's.

At least let's not let them drift into retirement without memorializing some of their more insidious impacts.

Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 12:48 PMBy: Rod Estvan Special Ed Sub Scandal The standard for ESY is not catagorical, it is called a regression standard. It makes no difference if you are autistic or learning disabled under the law. I personally deeply dislike the regression standard because it is difficult to prove that a particular child will experience academic decline by not being educated during the summer. The only way to prove this is for the child to experience a measureable decline over a summer.

Even this technically has to be documented. For example if the student was tested and a base line was established early in a school year then the child made progress during the school year that was documented only by meeting benchmarks in an IEP without individually administered tests this gain may not be able to be measured against where the child is when they return to school in September.

This regression standard was established by litigation in a number of cases and it is a real problem. Because if a child effectively shows no or little progress they do not necessarily meet the regression standard. I have given up on arguing for ESY via this approach and instead look at whether or not the student has made actual progress over a school year and if they have not I recommend arguing for summer services on the basis that the child is not progressing appropriately. If these services are denied and the child continues to not show progress you have laid the ground work for a due process case for the child that can with good legal representation or a skilled advocate lead to compensatory services far above ESY.


Rod Estvan
Access Living

Tue Apr 1, 2008 at 10:04 AMBy: Rod Estvan Special Ed Sub Scandal ISBE conducts audits of some CPS schools for special education each year. They do not have the staff to review every school. The principal of each school will get a copy of the relevant audit of the school, the CPS counsel in Corey H. case gets a copy of each audit, the Corey H monitor and plaintiffs counsel get a copy of each audit. ISBE prepares annually a summary of all the findings made in audits in a report called the District Wide Findings.

These are all public documents that can be FOIAed from ISBE. FOIA rules are posted on the ISBE website. In order to FOIA an audit for your school you need the specific dates that ISBE monitors were on site and request any report related to that visit. These reports are not listed and on the ISBE website.

Rod Estvan
Access Living

Tue Apr 1, 2008 at 5:15 PMBy: Rod Estvan Special Ed Sub Scandal If the school staff are being told ESY will only be offered to students with severe profound disabilities and the school staff tell the parents that, then school staff are not serving the families well. If school staff can prove students have shown regression from the end of June through August when they have not had summer ESY services they should give the information to families and advise them to file for due process.

Teachers do not have the legal ability to do anything more. The right of students to have ESY services or the denial of them is not a Corey H issue under the Settlement Agreement. This is because each IEP team must write an IEP for each child the and denial of ESY is made by the team not formally by OSS down on Clark Street.

I know full well that staff are told by their superiors the supposed rules for ESY, but these rules if they are in contradiction to the law they do not have to be obeyed by school based IEP teams. Very few IEP teams will buck OSS on the ESY issue because they do not do end of the year evaluations and begining of the year evaluations that can be used to show regression. Instead they guess whether a child needs ESY. What the CPS has done has said simply to schools we guess that only students with severe and profound disabilities show regression over the summer hence only they will be eiligible for ESY.

Now I propose this to special education teachers, for those students you think need ESY but CPS is telling you they are not eligible because of their disabling condition. Test them using a reasonable standarized instrument in June then test them again in September and see if they show regression. If they do show regression request that an IEP meeting be held to change the IEP to allow for ESY based on the evidence you have. If the team and the parent agree change the IEP and inform OSS of the change for the next summer, if they deny ESY placement the parents have a very easy due process case which they will win even without a lawyer. If the parents do not have the skill to do this much then there is really nothing more you can do.

The Corey H. Monitor really can do nothing about a decline in the numbers of students recieving ESY if the IEPs all read the children are not eligible for ESY. I have been there I have audited numerous IEPs where children are denied ESY, as a Corey H monitor I could do nothing except report I thought IEP teams needed more training on reviewing the standards for ESY. Teachers and team members have to have the integrity to not be part of an illegal denial process. Many teachers will complain about what CPS tells them to do but they will do it in the end because they want to keep their jobs. Many teachers will let their case managers blow through the section of the IEP relating to ESY when they simply tell parents their child is not eligible for ESY and say nothing at IEP meetings. I see it happen all the time when I am at IEP meetings.

Rod Estvan
Access Living

Wed Apr 2, 2008 at 10:37 AMBy: GREAT ADVICE for Special Education Special Ed Sub Scandal Thanks for the great advice on ESY. I hope teachers document as advised.

Fri Apr 4, 2008 at 12:16 PMBy: louiebraille Special Ed Sub Scandal OSS will not, nor will they be forced, to release the data.

Fri Apr 4, 2008 at 3:17 PMBy: Rod Estvan Special Ed Sub Scandal Responding to being counter: Teachers are employees of the school district and are under the disciple of the school district. However special education teachers have free speech and professional powers within IEP meetings. The US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has made these meetings an actual free speech zone for special education teachers, hence they can not be disciplined for votes or issues that are student related they raise at these meetings.

This does not mean that after the fact an administrator can not cook up something to get back at a special education teacher. Life is a risk, special education teachers can go along with the flow and complain or they can take a risk within the context of the IEP process. I am telling the absolute truth when I tell you it is virually impossible to make a legal claim against CPS for denial of ESY if students who are being denied ESY on a catagorical basis have the box checked "no" on the IEP and there are no desenting statements from teachers or even parents attached to the IEP.

Now, I have not commented on either Rene Grant Mitchel's hair nor the hair of Tere Garate. I think the confusion in your comments is based on what my role is and that role is being a paid full time advocate for the interests of students with disabilities. Technically a teacher can not do this, I actually know of a teacher who was given a two day suspension for working a second job while at work as an advocate for students with disabilities. I seem to recall she sued CPS and won some kind of a settlement.

Yesterday on Thursday, I attended an IEP meeting at a CPS elementary school located on the far South side. At this meeting the parent I was advocating for also had an attorney and CPS was legally represented. ESY came up and a memeber of the team said well this student can not qualify because the student has a learning disability and only more disabled student are allowed ESY by our rules. I asked the CPS counsel if it was true that the CPS had a catagorical standard for ESY, because I thought the legal standard was regression regradless of the disability. The CPS attorney believe it or not said the standard was regression regardless of disabling condition.

No CPS staff person present could state whether or not they knew if the child experienced regression so the counsel for CPS stated she believed it should be denied. The mother of the child then spoke up and said that at the begining of every school year she had to go back though a lot of what her child had learned because the student forgot over the summer, "is that what you mean?" Her lawyer said yes, that is exactly what we mean. Believe it or not the case manager then said well the rules are the ESY form had to be sent in by April 1, its too late now so we have to deny it. The child got ESY, but the CPS counsel wrote on the IEP that CPS was providing ESY to "avoid costly litigation." I will not give the name of the school or of the child to protect the student's rights, but I swear this is true.

Rod Estvan
Access Living

Fri Apr 4, 2008 at 3:25 PMBy: berniedevlin Special Ed Sub Scandal I dissented at an IEP meeting and was moved to 5 different classrooms and at least had four different grades in the following years.This was done by a vindictive principal and a power hungry wannabee principal case manager who was receiving extra monies from the school's discretionary fund and had no problem carrying out vendettas against any teacher who spoke out against the principal.
Would I do it again-hell yes! It comes down to right or wrong.

Sat Apr 5, 2008 at 2:41 PMBy: OSS is Lucifer Special Ed Sub Scandal If ESY services are being denied while there is an advocate present at an IEP meeting is there any hope that the children will receive needed services? This is pretty brazen behavior. OSS laughs at the Corey H. monitor and misleads the state monitors. It is no wonder older special education personnel are retiring and going to work in other systems and the young teachers are bailing as fast as they can. Sad sad sad...

Tue Apr 8, 2008 at 4:47 PMBy: KitKat Special Ed Sub Scandal Does anyone have the answer to 10:55?