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A lot of the big sports districts push the great players along and the parents seem okay with it, there is a Mom at my daughter's dance class her children attend Sachem, I am no expert but one of her children has very poor attention spans and is always testing very low on weekly tests etc. What does the mother do? She has him in football, soccer, basketball, but refuses to believe and address the education end of it. She says well if he does well in sports he will get some scholarship. The child is only 8, cannot read and cannot pay attention at all, disruptive etc. So, clammie is right it starts at home a lot of times.
I know someone like that too. Baseball is more important than education. She actually called the teacher to complain that there is too much homework since they have practice BUT she is in pat/med. So I definitely can see why teachers are frustrated with parents.
I'd give Copiague a 4....they have self contained, but no inclusion in the elementary grades. My kindergarden aged son is very high functioning and now in addition to his therapy schedule, he has a schedule for his self-contained classroom and mainstream classroom. He is constatly transitioning thru the day it seems and I think it stinks.
i have to say that on the preschool level,they were awesome--no fights, whatever i wanted, i got. but now on the elementary level, things are different. i have asked many times to have my child placed into another district that has co-teaching inclusion, but apparantly for high-functioning kids, cross districting is not an option. At my last CSE meeting- which was 3 days ago- I was told that this part day self contained, part day mainstream class would be better than my child in another district in inclusion. after a 10 minute long conversation, i just could not get them to admit this was not the case. we are moving.... have a buyer for our house,etc....just don't konw where to move to that will fit our family of 1 special ed kid and 2 gifted kids!
by the way, they claim they will have inclusion next year in elementary school grades- a class of 30 kids, with a gen ed teacher and a part day special ed teacher....for 30 kids! sounds like a zoo to me! no thanks!
I'm in Levittown, and I've heard wonderful things from a lot of people. My experience getting my son Speech was quick and easy, and the teachers, administrators and parent rep were nice and informative. I'm only at Pre-K now, but again, I've heard a lot of good things. They are accomodating, and parents have strong advocates with the SEPTA.
Actually, I'm discovering a lot of things about this district that I really like. A lot of opportunities and programs available.
Wow! You said it all! I'm in Sachem, too and know exactly what you're talking about. The nickle and diming business is right on the money, pardon the pun. Mr. S------o is quite the dictator; you're correct.
Do you have kids in special ed, too? I'm interested in what you've been thru with the district. Could you possibly fill me in?
Thanks. I appreciate it.
-Hoping for better
quote=yeaitsme;1562135]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.[/quote]
Hello, this is for Yeaitsme,
Sorry to hear all the stress you're going through for your child. We are in the North Shore district. We have gotten every thing we've needed for our child and some. Dealing with the special Ed dept in any school can be rough. My son was mainstreamed for 4 yrs. We fought placing him in -an inclusion class. However, it (just started this Sept) seems to be fabulous. The teacher is incredible and has state of the art tools. She got a grant for these amazing teaching tools. He's encouraged constantly by both the teacher, therapists etc. That being said, CSE meetings are a nightmare, because they just are !! But if it helps we are happy. I hope you find a good district, it can make all the difference for both you and your child. Best of luck.
patrice
I asked a friend who works on LI and I was told that a lot of Syosset and Woodbury schools send their children with special needs to the Plainview-Old Bethpage school district, where they are handled well....good luck in your search!
I had a lengthy conversation with the superinrendant of special ed at HHH- it sounds like a really great program. but realize that if the superintendant wasn't able to enticeme, then who would? so i take what he said with a grain of salt. i have heard others say great things about that district.
we are choosing between HHH and Babylon. They are very comprable in their "scores", but obviously Babylon is quite a bit smaller than HHH. In fact, the Babylon district has approx 500 students in grades 9-12, whereas HHH has 1600 in 1of the 2 HS. I think the choice of housing is going to dictate which district we ultimately end up in. I have also done some research about the Plainview-Old Bethpage district and would be very happy moving there as well. Unfortunately, the houses we have looked out seem to be mostly splits and/or ranches on smaller lots (like 60ish x 100) and the prices are crazy.
But in my opinion, I think that HHH, Babylon, P-OB, and honestly West Babylon are good districtsfor special ed. I have found out that West Islip and Massapequa do not have strong special ed resources. My home district- Copiague- does not have good special ed resources, but Lindenhurst and Amityville both supposedly do.
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Yeah, me too
