🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <n0f87t@ofa123.fidonet.org>, 
Mark.Perew@p201.f208.n103.z1.fidonet.org writes:
> In a message of <Nov 17 04:53>, ivler@mdcbbs.com (J.M. Ivler ivler@mdcbbs.com)
> writes:
> 
>  >In the non-financial area, the State should establish minimum standards 
>  >that 
>  >are required befor a student can move into the following grades: 5th, 7th, 
>  >9th and 11th. These standards would eliminate the passing on of 
>  >unqualified 
>  >students. It would take the wind out of the sails of parents who say that 
>  >their 
>  >children are being treated unfairly when being held back. It takes a 
>  >subjective 
>  >practice and makes it objective.
> 
> I've agreed with everything you have said up till here.  We have a daughter
> who is dyslexic.  However, the district refused to acknowledge her dyslexia
> and insisted that it was a maturation problem.  By the time we recognized the 
> problem and started working on it was too late and she simply was not ready to 
> go on to the next grade, she had to be held back.  However we are two years
> down the road and she is slipping behind again and we can't afford the special 
> tutoring she needs.  The district is being stubborn again and we're getting
> very angry at their refusal to see the problem.
> 
> [BTW, please don't bombard me with messages about IEPs and SSTs.  We know all 
> about those.]

I understand. I really do. I too am dyslexic. I was removed from the public 
school system by my parents when I was going into fourth grade and placed into 
a private school. Why? Because the teachers offered to cut my workload in half 
so I could at least "finnish" what I started instead of just "failing" all the 
time.

I understand the needs of special children. Dyslexics are of above normal 
intelligence, yet have trouble learning by conventional means (My mother can 
not do math, I can not spell...) therefore, other means *must* be utilized to 
ensure that they have the ability to learn.

One key requirement is to decrease the class size. This will permit more time 
for teachers in the early years to detect and analyse reasons for poor 
performance. Also it will provide teachers with needed time to try to teach 
that child (and with an active parents help, that *CAN* be done!).

Finally, you said what one has to consider a key phrase "However, The 
district...", not "However, the teachers..." This sounds like a bunch of 
administrators and non-teachers looking at the financial bottom line and 
protecting their interests.

In conclusion, do you really want you child "moved ahead" to another grade, 
even though your child is unable to complete the requirements for the current 
grade? Is that being fair to your child? Yes, you should demand that the school 
system teach your child, and other dyslexic children. A special teacher for 
grades K-3 to work with these children at a 1-1 to 3-1 level for part of each 
day would cost 2/3 the cost of another administrator, but would be directly 
benificial to the children and their learning experience. How do I know? I was 
responsible for raising the funds to get such a teacher at the private school I 
was sent to so they could afford to take on more children like me, and do what 
the failing public school system can't. Teach.

J.M. Ivler
ivler@mdcbbs.com
Candidate for the California 46th Congressional District - 1994
[opinions reflected here are the candidates, not the sites]