Soliman: Special needs students get good news and bad news
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
BY AHMED SOLIMAN
NorthJersey.com
Record columnist

Special needs students get good news and bad news

IT SOMETIMES SEEMS everyone is for diversity in our schools. The average American understands the educational value of students attending schools with other students who are different.

But diversity is not just about race or religion. It’s also about attending school with students who have different needs.

The state Department of Children and Families made an announcement this week that contains both good and bad news. The bad news is that about 560 students with special needs or circumstances across New Jersey must begin searching for new public education facilities because the state will close its 18 regional schools and two hospital centers for such children. Thus far, the department has provided intensive 12-month educational services and support to children and young adults ages 3 through 21.

The facilities were needed, the department said, because the extent of the students’ needs required removal from the public school setting. The program was specifically designed for students who exhibit severe cognitive, physical, behavioral or emotional disabilities; exhibit a variety of moderate to severe learning disabilities; are at risk of school failure or who are pregnant or parenting teens.

The goal of the program was a successful return to school and participation in community life.

Expanding schools

The good news, however, is that the reason for the closing is that there has been an enrollment decline as local school districts expand their special needs and at-risk capabilities.

Fulfilling those special needs at the local school district is much better for both the special needs students and the rest of the student body in the local school districts.

Growing up, I attended a school district that offered a fantastic program for students with Down Syndrome and other learning challenges. As early as the fourth grade, they attended the same gym class with us, and we grew up with them all the way to senior year of high school, where we often had homeroom with those students as well.

Interacting with them as students in the same school was very beneficial. They learned from us, and we learned from them.

We realized at an early age that they had the same feelings and frustrations as we did. In homeroom, they would talk about the girls they liked who did not like them back, and they would crack a joke that would make you laugh.

Later in life, as a college student waiting for a train one day, I saw a child with Down Syndrome enter the waiting room of the train station. I also saw the other adults in the room treat him in a rude manner, and avoid him as he walked around the room.

Clearly those adults had not had the education benefit my district had offered by incorporating the special needs education program into our school. The loss was theirs more than anyone else’s.

Challenges

Parents and guardians of the special needs children received letters last week explaining that the centers would be phased out by June 2010. Not everyone sees this as good news; the parents will have to work quickly in the next year to set up their children in a program that fits into their lives and location.

But there can be no denying one clear silver lining in this transition: school districts that are truly diverse.

Ahmed Soliman’s column appears Thursdays. Send comments about this column to The Record at letterstotheeditor@northjersey.com.