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I am interested in people who have special needs family members responding preferrably parents/primary caregivers but others please answer too just mention your child's relation to yourself ie: grandparent, uncle etc...
On a scale of one to ten... 1 being horrible and 10 being great...please rate your district and say why you gave the rating you did. I am asking for 2 reasons. First I may have to move if I cannot get what my child needs and secondly there are no resources for families of 'atypical' children on how districts preform in this area.
We are in Sachem school district and I have to give it a 1 for horrible. The nickle and diming is insane and the head of student services runs special ed like he is a dictator. The sad part is much of the teaching staff and some of the old administration still remember the good old days under a previous administrator. So the great reputation Sachem used to have in this area is not even close to how the district is being run now. As far as the superintendent he seems to encourage the behavior and/or convienently let it slide. He is being told he is saving money on paper but too ignorant to factor in all the wasted $$$ for extra CSE meetings, impartial hearings and lawsuits ...not factoring in that each meeting has at least 5 staff members and the law fees associated with all the legal actions.
To sum it up....Sachem is making programs for their lowest functioning students just to keep them out of Bocese and save $$. All the while cutting in a stealthy way (putting more responsibility on one person when clearly another should be hired). They will not provide OT more than twice a week for children despite the child's disability, they push speech groups of 5 children (in one 30 minute session btw 5 minutes a child) on parents saying "they need to learn pragmatics" but the child is non verbal and would obviously need intense therapy on a one on one basis to even speak a word....all in an attempt cut the amount of speech therapists. They cut previous programs especially their once well regarded Step program(for sutistic children) . It is now a shell of what it once was due to cuts especially in one area where they cut Teacher Assistants and replaced the position with aides (aide is a non certified HS dimploma position compared to having to be a certified teacher).
They question even the recommendations of the disabled child's medical team for example not providing air conditioning for children who have medical conditions (remember ALOT of children in special ed in Sachem need a 12 month program) or not providing the appropriate assistive technology or another example is not broviding the appropriate therapist to help with the needs of the child (like no feeding therapist).
So we are at a point of if you are not going to really provide a free appropriate education for kids with disabilities let them go private or cross district them out to a district that will.
So you can see I really wish there was a rating for a districts Special Education departments since obviously I am really dissappointed with Sachem.
So again 1-10 on your district and your opinion please. It will certainly help me and other parents who have kids with special needs.
I got very upset reading your post, there is not ONE person who decides at your
CSE meeting what services are and will be needed, it is EVERYONE at the meeting that decides and "agrees", that includes YOU!! I think you need to read your rights, and contact a suffolk county advocacy group. Have you read IDEA? google it, and study it for a while, and you need to contact someone that can help you. Your childs needs are not being met and this needs to be addressed. I would rate, by far, Mineola at a "10" The director of pupil services is and has always been amazing!! Also, look up "no child left behind" on google. you need some support. good luck IDEA 2004 News, Information and Resources -- Link to new IDEA Web Site. No Child Left Behind - ED.gov
here are the links...
As a parent with a child in parochial school, I have heard that Sachem and South country is the WORST for giving any type of service to children in parochial. There answer has been ; if you want the child to receive services, send him/her to public school.
As a parent with a child receiving resource, I can say that Longwood is by far the best for giving services to children in parochial school.
While it is our choice to send the children to parochial school, the public school is getting a free ride on our taxes.Therefore when there is an obvious problem and the teacher and results say there is a problem, why is it so difficult to receive help.
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Hi yeaitsme,
sorry to hear about Sachem district. They provided my son with excellent services after
he left early intervention. We currently live in the
Bayport Bluepoint district. It is a very close knit district. My son who has high functioning Autism,
is treated like a freak show there. He is placed with one other 4th grader and 2nd and 3rd graders. He gets pulled out for his services. He attends art, gym, library class, with a regular class. On the surface this may seem like inclusion, but there is no attempt by administration to teach the other children about differences in people in the classes he attends. The other children make fun of him. His teacher
uses the Wilson reading program. She is not certified to use it. Before his last IEP meeting
the school psychcologist was complaining about his salary. I can go on and on. I am just so angry
that my son is treated like he sub human.
Put your child in a different school immediately...Get out of Bayport-Bluepoint if that is how you feel. The early years are incredibly important - no time to waste.
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Keep away from Bayport Bluepoint for Special Ed.
