MY THOUGHTS ON INCLUSION:

In retrospect, as a member of the Katy ISD school board from 1991 to 1996, I recall that some of the board members would privately state their opposition to the practice of Inclusion, but none of them would discuss the matter as an agenda item as I suggested, because they felt it would have been political suicide. The decision to allow Inclusion was made by the superintendent, Hugh Hayes, without Board approval.  

So much for speaking one’s mind! In my opinion, the issue needed airing, because parents of Special Education students never heard both sides of the discussion so that they could have an informed point of view.

At the same time, Katy ISD at the direction of that same superintendent, discontinued the Honors program for academically high achieving students thus denying those who are most likely to provide the leadership and ability to maintain our country’s place in the world, the inability to do so. He dismantled the program without any approval by the School Board.  He did not even mention it to them, and most of the Board didn’t even notice that he had eliminated ability grouping!

The parents of high achieving students foolishly sat by and let it happen.

My opinion regarding this issue is that Special Education students should be in their own Special Education classes with Special Education teachers who are trained to address the issues of those students.

I have always been amazed that parents of these students who desperately need the love and care that a trained Special Education teacher can provide, would rather foist their child into a classroom where their child disrupts the learning of the other students, where that child is often teased (that’s just what kids do), and where the child must surely realize that he cannot succeed, where he cannot be accommodated, and where he cannot receive the attention that could have been provided. What parent would want any of their children constantly administered to by an “aide”?  And that is exactly what is happening. 

Who could be so selfish?

It would seem to me that parents who insist on such an arrangement for their children exhibit evidence of their own immaturity in not accepting what is real for their child and  essentially deny that child the best resources that are available. Such an attitude, all in the name of somehow making their child seem “normal,” borders on cruelty.

I also believe that parents of Special Needs Children have been conned by public school administrators into accepting the Inclusion model based not on definitive research showing that it helps, but so that the school district will not have to hire all those expensive Special Education teachers to help those children! A bunch of aides without degrees are certainly much cheaper than college educated special education teachers. 

Housing these students in a regular classroom is also cheaper than providing specially designed facilities.  These children are simply pawns of parents in denial and greedy school administrators who want the extra state provided funds that come with high numbers of Special Education students.

I know that if I had a child who needed such attention, I would be demanding that he/she get it and in the most responsible manner which is not at the hand of a regular classroom teacher, who in most instances does not have a clue how to proceed, and we should not  expect her to have such training.

Instead what I see are selfish parents insisting on their child being promoted, given “good grades,” and being allowed to graduate--and this goes on through college.  By now I’m sure that these parents also want the government to force employers to hire their children, even though they cannot do the work!

Imagine that. 

As a school board member, I listened on two separate occasions as Katy ISD teachers came to plead with the board to stop the Inclusion model.  They were met with silence from the Board and my tears and admiration for them for stepping up in public to state what we all knew was the truth. I often wonder what happened to those teachers for speaking out about the situation.

If one understands the agenda of our federal and state governments, which is to dumb-down 85% of all children, then one can easily see that this policy of disruption for all classes has played into that agenda quite well.

Things are never as they seem in public education.

On a factual note, there are 9.1% of KISD students labeled as Special Education students. That percentage constitutes about 5,000 students.  Most of them just need minor modifications to the curriculum in order to be accommodated.  But KISD has built a reputation of doing whatever Special Education students’ parents want, and so people move here especially to enroll their children in KISD’s Special Education program.

One must also take note of the fact that the declining Maintenance and Operations portion of the taxes available to our school district is highly impacted by the increased number of employees who require salaries, benefits and other accommodations.  In the case of Katy ISD between 2007 and 2008, the total number of staff members rose from 6,514 to 6,786.  Of that number in 2007, 511 were “Aides,” but in 2008 that number had jumped to 639!  During this interim, the student population in 2007 was 50,725, increasing to 53,762 which is a 5.99% increase. Since the district opened two new schools, it is perhaps understandable that the number of staff increased from 6,514 to 6,786, a 4.17% increase. In opening two new schools the District obviously needed more employees.  However what we see is that the number of Aides constitutes the greatest increase in classroom employees, from 511 in 2007 to 639 in 2008 or a 25.04% increase!  Guess why they needed so many new Aides? Hiring twice as many Aides as new Teachers would seem to indicate that something besides teaching is going on in our schools. Aides are NOT teachers! And please do not suggest that I am anti-aides!  Aides have traditionally performed worthwhile and important assistance when they are actually needed.  My concern is with how they are currently being used in this particular program. 

Public debate with the resulting informed opinions needs to occur in our school district. 

The purpose of public schools is to educate each child so that he may enjoy the best use of his God-given talents, and right now, Katy ISD is not doing that.

No one can argue that we should slight one group of children to favor another.