true story, as heard at a presentation yesterday
The mom of a child with a disability starts to look into finding a school for her son for Grade 1.
She meets with the principal of their neighbourhood Catholic school.
Principal:
Well, you should go to a district site (a 'special ed' segregated program) . THEY should be with THEIR OWN KIND.
Mom, surprisingly articulate after the THEY comment, and recognizing she's at a Catholic school:
So you are telling me when Jesus said, 'let all the little children come to me', he meant - 'I mean THAT child, but NOT THAT ONE?'
Bravo, Mom. Well said...
She meets with the principal of their neighbourhood Catholic school.
Principal:
Well, you should go to a district site (a 'special ed' segregated program) . THEY should be with THEIR OWN KIND.
Mom, surprisingly articulate after the THEY comment, and recognizing she's at a Catholic school:
So you are telling me when Jesus said, 'let all the little children come to me', he meant - 'I mean THAT child, but NOT THAT ONE?'
Bravo, Mom. Well said...
posted by foodie suz at 9:42 AM
8 Comments:
Oh hooray, for the mom who thought quickly enough to offer a comeback, and oh horror, for the original comment. It just makes me shake my head. I mean, really. Discrimination is ugly, but never more-so than when it involves children.
'With their own kind... uh, you mean like with the HUMAN KIDS WITH HEARTS, MINDS, and FEELINGS?' Grrrr.
Wonderful response. We had a similar insidence here at a Board of Education meeting, when one of the town coucil members 'trying to insight unrest' began to question the amount of special education children in our district....
His quesion, in a very sarcastic tone? "Well, who is classifing all these retarded children?"
to which a Board of Education member and parent of a little girl with T21 responded....
"That would be GOD"
It is sad, but this happens way too often.
Peace, TM
Kudos to the mom for thinking on her feet...I would have been too flabbergasted to respond. I agree with Jennifer, discrimination is ugly, and its even worse when directed at children.
Applause for that mom! Oh the ignorant things people say!
Ok, this is why mom takes care of things like this. I would have decked him to buy some time to think of a come back:)
Good job mom.
Whoo-hoo! Hoot! Hoot! (applause) (whistle)
I have mixed feelings about this blog. First, let me tell you that I am the mom of two adolescents, both severely atypical in both neurology and general medical conditions - in other words, they are medically and psychiatrically fragile. Second, I teach kindergarten in a Catholic school.
Fromm the parenting side, I can easily relate to wanting a faith-based education for both of my boys. One made it through until graduation from HS (with an unbelievable amount of very expensive educational support services) and the other we removed at 4th grade. With both of these boys, we have been playing catchup with the public support systems and educational opporutnities because - this is big - the Catholic schools are not able to access much of what the public schools can offer.
I know, many of you will start chatting up about IEP's and IDEA, but you must know, because I have sat on both sides of the negotiations table during conferences about getting public educational support services, the public school system is only required to offer private school students "in kind" or "equivalent services."
On top of this terrible injustice is the amount of gatekeeping that happens when you try to get such services for a private school child who really, truly qualifies. It takes, on average, 6 months of banging on the gates for kids in our Catholic schools to receive services. About 50 percent of them "do not qualify;" see, you can make those test numbers dance to a different tune... Finally, these services are prorated; our students receiving LD support services start in mid September, receive 1 hour twice a week and are "discharged" when the funding formula indicates that they have used up the funding in February.
Add into this the higher academic rigor that most Catholic schools embrace on top of the general larger class sizes before you make a decision to push for enrollment.
Catholic schools run "lean" and do not often have onsite specialists, like the public schools. Getting the public schools to offer 'consultative services' is like pulling teeth.
We have opened our doors to a few neurotypical students in kindergarten; after one year, 100 percent of these parents pulled their children to return to the public schools, where they could receive the integrated services that they are entitled to and deserve.
In a nutshell, I would offer this solution: consider Catholic school enrollment in the middle school years, after succesfully navigating the early elementary years. Learning to read and reading to learn are two essential skills that may need the support services that only enrollment in a public school could provide.
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