Merging of Maine Schools and Special Needs Children (Portland, Georgetown: attorney, home)

[exscrantonian]

Parents need to advocate and possibly have legal counsel in order to get services as best they can. It just makes sense that special ed services wouid be more accessible in less remote areas. it depends on the child's needs...no where is a school district going to hand over their services on a silver platter. As I heard one lawyer say ask once, ask again in writing and then hire an advocate. Not to say that schools don't want to help --it is just that most schools struggle with the needs of so many. Good luck

[wingman580]

Thank you for your reply. It is criminal that in America we are reduced to having to hire an attorney to get the education for children whose birthright entitles them to just that an EDUCATION. One would think in the USA 2007, educators would see the basic need to educate all children to the best of teir ability, as if we do not we all will be paying that childs way in life as an adult either on welfare, social security, or heaven help them PRISON.
The fact that so many stand aside watching nothing happen to help those in need shows that for all our bragging about being #1 in the world order we are no better than those who sat idly by while lynchings, and murders took place at the turn of the last century and centuries past!

Those who sit by not standing in protest to such practices are themselves cowards, and themselves in need of the most Special Educations.Being an adult means there are no excuses, or alibis, especially when it comes to denying basic rights (education) to all children, regardless of ingrained myopic values instilled upon them as children. As Hatred, Racism, Intolerances and the practice of laughing at anothers exspense are values taught not God given.

Thank you, and if this offended you, yes it is you the latter writings refer to and you should attempt therapy in an effort to rid the world of the "us" and "them" mentality.

As I once was taught "There but for the grace of God go I"

Think of this the next time you feel the need to exclude, make jokes about, or are not sympathetic to the needs of someone less fortunate.

[wingman580]

Originally Posted by exscrantonian

Parents need to advocate and possibly have legal counsel in order to get services as best they can. It just makes sense that special ed services wouid be more accessible in less remote areas. it depends on the child's needs...no where is a school district going to hand over their services on a silver platter. As I heard one lawyer say ask once, ask again in writing and then hire an advocate. Not to say that schools don't want to help --it is just that most schools struggle with the needs of so many. Good luck

This is a post I wrote in response to an earlier post by Whofanme:

To All Residents about Education, respone to whofanme

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"As I understand it, the number of school districts in Maine will be reduced from 290 to 80 by 7/1/09, a significant change. It is estimated that 600 to 1,000 teaching positions and approximately 800 Central Office positions will be eliminated statewide resulting in savings of $36.5 million a year."-Whofanme


I would think anyone who knew how to type, read, and write would see the value in learning these valuable assets.
Eliminating teachers out of classrooms with a state average of 10-12 children where they have an opportunity to truly learn and putting them into a school sometimes an hour away by bus where there will be 30+ CHILDREN TO CLASS may make economic sense to someone whom:
A. Has no school age child nor one bound for school in the next few years.
B. Is an out of State resident with a "10 bedroom multi-million dollar home" in (Blue Hill, Steuben, Brooklin, Harpswell, Kennebunkport, or Bar Harbor), who has lobbied The Legislature, The Senate, or The Governor to do this in an effort to reduce their "shorefront tax levy" as the owners of these "summer cottages" have unfettered access to the highest offices in the state. Remember these are the ones who only come in the summer and whose children go to pre ivy league Private Academies such as Andover, and Moses Brown to name only a few. The 2% of homeowners that own these palatial compounds are paying more property tax per "summer cottage" than 87% of Mainers make on paper in a year.
Education is the greatest gift we bestow upon our young, for they are the caretakers of tomorrow, and the caregivers of us in our old age.
How would an administrator on MDI, know or lose sleep if a child in The North Woods, or the Unorganized Areas, went to school only to find no chalk in the classroom and no math book to take home to study? Yes it all looks quite neat and pretty all wrapped up into a 36.5 million dollar savings but we only need to look to our Southeast to Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, Providence, Hartford and NYC, to see the direct results of overburdening teachers and taking for granted an education system that Maine has stood by for generations.
Look to the education system in the poverty stricken Louisiana Delta and backwoods where "hicks" mire in poverty due to an endemic corruption of public education where the "haves" get all the resources of the State and the "have not's" or "hicks" get exactly what no one else will take or what little may be left after the resources are picked clean.
This example serves well as the FBI has taken control of many school districts due to corruption and theft as when the smallest and most vulnerable of our Nation don't even know they are being robbed of anything at all. And yes all Mainers need to Stand Up And Be Counted as you are enabling the very ones you elected to rob your children of the future hopes and aspirations that only a GOOD Education can bestow upon them. As you watch the exodus of your children out of the State due to no high paying, high quality jobs are to be had in an area that could become the great State it once was where nobody had to leave that did not want to just to earn a living.
Again it all starts with the spark of a good education inspiring young minds to create wealth jobs and a better place to take care of their loved ones, because after all these are the same ones who will be deciding on whether we die at home or in an antiseptic, indistinguishable nursing home in State Care!
I would think with the Moody Beach decision clearly delineating that those whom live on the shore own the shore and the land under the water, denying all access but fishing while moving, fowling while moving, and navigation, would serve to show the interests of those whom "have" are clearly protected. But who will the guardians of Education be?
I would think trusting the legislature to "consolidate the duplication of services in education" where the poorest of children are to be represented, and given their only chance through education, would make many shake in their boots, as a child does not recognize a shoddy education unless they have been exposed to a good one.
I implore all citizens to call, write, picket, protest and exercise all forms of reasonable objection to this insidious overhaul and expose it for what it is an attempt by the State to disenfranchise the poor while handing tax breaks to the wealthy.
I am not poor but understand the value of a good education and have heard the argument on the other side of this issue. Moreover our forefathers sought to insure all the right to a basic education as good as could be bought to those who could not.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by wingman580

Thank you for your reply. It is criminal that in America we are reduced to having to hire an attorney to get the education for children whose birthright entitles them to just that an EDUCATION.

A birthright?

LOL

Two of my grandparents taught in one room grammar schools in the 1920s.

No public funded education was guaranteed by our nation.

No taxes were collected in America to support a nationwide system of schools.

The parents of children who wished their children to be educated up to the sixth grade, paid for the school and teachers.

I am wary of anyone who wants to start listing 'birth-rights' to be paid from our tax dollars.

... Being an adult means there are no excuses, or alibis, especially when it comes to denying basic rights (education) to all children, regardless of ingrained myopic values instilled upon them as children.

Could you possibly rein in all those communist ideals?

You are in America.

[wingman580]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

A birthright?

LOL

Two of my grandparents taught in one room grammar schools in the 1920s.

No public funded education was guaranteed by our nation.

No taxes were collected in America to support a nationwide system of schools.

The parents of children who wished their children to be educated up to the sixth grade, paid for the school and teachers.

I am wary of anyone who wants to start listing 'birth-rights' to be paid from our tax dollars.





Could you possibly rein in all those communist ideals?

You are in America.

Seeing as you called my honor into question, and want to talk about what your grandpa might have done in the 1920's let me illiterate upon my family history.
My father, son of an immigrant (1888) who was born (1919) the youngest of 11 children with five brothers, all of whom volunteered to fight in defense of this great country during two world wars to insure that ignoramuses, nut-jobs and all the rest of the great American people could enjoy the freedoms you so obviously take for granted. In case you forgot many have died to give you the right (yes right) to voice your opinion however uninformed or narrow
minded it may be. But not to call names, or bully in a feeble attempt at self aggrandizement. If this it what it takes to make you feel like a "big man" may God have mercy upon you and your family. If your forefathers were indeed educators that spirit was clearly lost upon you.

I doubt very much you would call me a communist to my face!

Moderator cut: Please be advised that personal attacks will not be tolerated in any way, shape or form. Attack the post and not the poster.

And to reiterate the right (yes right) to education our children enjoy in this great country I will refer you to Legislation, regulations, guidance, and other policy documents that can be found in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and other topics at the U.S. Department of Education Home Page. You may also want to see the ED budget and ED strategic plan. I also refer you to Title II,Title VI, Title IX and Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 found here: 34 C.F.R. Part 104 (HTML Version)
Please note that in the U.S., the federal role in education is limited. Because of the Tenth Amendment, most education policy is decided at the state and local levels. So, if you have a question about a policy or issue, you may want to check with the relevant organization in your state or school district.

The vicissitude of insuring all children with a quality place in society is indeed a daunting task.Let us not further complicate this by shoddy education,
the best protection American's possess are their children, whom we all will depend upon someday to sacrifice their lives if necessary, to keep the freedoms we all hold dear. Do not think for an instant if we cheat them out of an education (as best our taxes can afford) and therein their future, they will gladly march to their deaths in war to protect what we would not share with them freely.

Why are you are so afraid of insuring the best education to our children without saddling the masses with the additional cost of tuition for private education in the Primary and Secondary Levels? Could it be for selfish reasons? Or are you just some omniscient fascist that hopes to subvert this country through fear? As it is far easier to scare someone who does not know who the real enemy is. I had read some of your posts but now see you cloak yourself and ideals. How will it feel to be brought into the light of day for the world to see you are a name calling little man?

[forest beekeeper]

Isn't it amazing how many new 'right's can get added onto the public trough when socialists gain control?

And yet people are still walking amongst us [American born citizens] who never enjoyed such socialist 'rights'.

[wingman580]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Isn't it amazing how many new 'right's can get added onto the public trough when socialists gain control?

And yet people are still walking amongst us [American born citizens] who never enjoyed such socialist 'rights'.

I cant help but notie that you bloviate, and criticize anyone and everything you are completely ignorant about. YES IGNORANT, as that is the kindest explanation of you that I will utter and that my enlightened blowhard is what your writings disseminate, fear, bullying, and sheer ignorance of Federal, and State law, that I also point out is your incapacity of rebutting. As I provided hyperlinks to every Law and fact that you so callously disregard.


You resort to calling me a communist, socialist and imply other truly ignorant inuendo.
Or maybe you are so disconnected from reality that you will never quite get the fact that children (of which it seems you have none or any compassion thereof) are truly this Nation's most important asset!

I wonder when your health fails and you reside in state care only then will your concern for our youth be taken seriously?
As it is these same children that you deny today who will be responsible for your anonymous care, compassion, and simply attempting to keep you alive!

I am sure you will want a Harvard educated grad with a MD from Georgetown or John Hopkins Medical School. Who will more than likely turn out to be a Black, Hispanic, or Asian inner city child from modest upbringing. One of the same children you seek to deny basic education to!

God Bless this wonderful Country we live in that allows someone as opinionated as you to speak freely, yet reap the benefits of our educational system that is the envy of the world from the same children that you are so vehemently attempt to pigeonhole and deny to children that in thirty to forty years will be your caretakers!

Be carefull what you wish for "comrade" beekeeper!
You remind me of a Mississippi gentile from the 1860's whose thought and ideals are very similar. Therapy would and should be your first course of action instead of hiding behind anonymous screennames and attempting to bully anyone that will "log on" to this site and may not be educated or exposed to the real Mainer's kindnest and consideration for their neighbors and fellow human beings. It was not so long ago that volunteers streamed out of all rural communities on trains to save this country from Tojo and the Third Reich also known as the Axis Powers. In fact many a Maine family has lost children in the past 7 years in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It would not hurt you to try and assist those in need at any level. Not on a PC but in real life you may acquire a fuller understanding that we are all in the race, the Human Race! There but for the grace of God Go I, is a good rule to pattern your young life after!

[dmyankee]

Hmmm,

Must be an "educator" from one of the Government Sanctioned Liberal Indoctrination Centers (Public School System!)

[Bydand]

Wingman, I would watch who you are assuming will hide under a rock when his Country calls. Forest is retired from the military and I have no doubt it is you, who owe him a round of thanks for spending months and years away from his family so blowhards like you can spout their self-righteous drivel. As for family and kids, if you can bring yourself down from the alter you have placed yourself upon and read some of the posts on this forum, you will see that he had made his home in Maine because he thinks that is the best place for him and his Family (Including his children.)

I think I just found another "Charmin" for my ignore list.

Sorry for butting in Forest, but I hate people like this who spout on for lengthy posts and think they are superior to everyone else. AHHHHHH!!!!!

[Acadianlion]

It seems that Wingman is thinking of moving here because he has heard that special education in Maine is free and liberal and that he can get some sort of free ride.

He should become more aware of the circumstances that surround the financing of public education in Maine...a state of 1.2 million people and one of the poorest and smallest economies in the nation...before he assumes that he can get some free ride for his perceived needs.

It might interest him to know that there is a growing group of property owners here who feel that special needs programs have become bloated, and that special needs children's "special needs" should be addressed by the parents who made those children and not the general public.

I also question the rational thinking process of anyone who joins a group and immediately starts to attack people and systems about which he obviously knows so little. Perhaps Wingman would reach a higher level of credibility if he used a spell checker before sending out criticisms.