In completing the reading assignment, I found myself reflecting my first two years as a teacher in Washington State. My first teaching assignment was teaching Deaf and Hard of Hearing for grades Pre-K and Kindergarten. While I worked for a district that served nearly 23,000 local students, the district was contracted by several neighboring districts to provide instruction and services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students. While these students were receiving an education by teachers, paraprofessionals who were fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), and had access to sign language interpreters in their inclusive learning environments, they were not attending schools in their district of residence. For many of these students, their academic day started before dawn and ended after dust, due to extended time spent transporting to/from school. The problem lies in that their district of residence did not have the finances/budget to hire qualified Deaf/Hard of Hearing teachers, paraprofessionals, interpreters, Audiologist, SLP's that specialize in working with DHH students.
I would change how funding is allocated to districts to enable them to provide FAPE and services for students with special needs and allow them to attend their home school pithing their district of residence. According to an article titled "Importance of Students attending schools in Their Neighborhood there are safety, financial rewards along with diversity, culture, sense of community and health benefits to students attending schools in their communities. (OCadiz, 2017).
1 Comment
Samantha Sanchez
2/28/2019 12:19:03 pm
Lisa Marie,
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Author:
|