Tag Archives: Budget Cuts

Will Minneapolis’ “Best Inclusive Special Ed Program” No Longer Exist?

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As Minneapolis Public Schools administrators move to dismantle the district’s popular citywide autism program, parents of current and future autism program students are fighting back.

A brief article by the Minneapolis Star Tribune on June 22 tapped into the brewing discontent over MPS’ plans for the citywide program, which involves sending “level 1 and 2” autistic students (considered higher functioning by the district) to their neighborhood schools rather than to autism-focused sites throughout the city.

The district says this move is about providing more “resources” to neighborhood schools, and about mainstreaming special ed students.

But a group of Minneapolis parents with kids in the autism program are not buying these arguments, and in the last 48 hours they’ve gotten active, putting together a Change.org petition—intended to “preserve the rights of students with autism”–and sending out a press release outlining their complaints. 

The press release was sent via email by Emily Goldberg, whose five-year old twin boys are students in the citywide autism program. It does not mince words. Calling MPS’ stated reasons for taking apart the program nothing more than “rhetoric,”  the parent-crafted document offers a blistering critique of the district’s stance.

Here’s a look at the press release, called “Rhetoric vs. Reality” and signed by over 30 parents (bold type and font color are part of the document):

  1. The District Says: Our new plan will allow more inclusion.The Truth Is: The autism program is already inclusive. It is arguably the best inclusive special education program in Minneapolis Public Schools and is currently recognized statewide for its inclusion and successful education of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The ASD licensed teachers and ASD trained staff give students the support they need to function in a mainstream environment. Teachers say the Citywide Autism Program also allows more inclusion opportunities for (Federal Setting III) students than they will have in the new plan.  

    The change the district is making will put more students with ASD on the caseloads of resource teachers (SERTs) who do not have knowledge of and expertise with ASD; the job does not require them to have the training to know how to educate and support these students. Without proper support, many students will fail academically, behaviorally, socially and emotionally—and will need to spend more time in special education settings.

  2. The District Says: The autism program is not being closed. We only closed three classrooms to fund supports in neighborhood schools. The Truth Is: It is effectively being dismantled. In addition to officially shutting down three classrooms, the district also quietly closed off several more program sites to incoming students this year, with the clear intention of starving out those sites. Teachers have been ordered to remove all references to the Citywide Autism Program from the adaptations specified in current students’ IEPs. The program was designed to serve students…who required a high level of support by staff who have expertise and knowledge in Evidence Based Interventions; now, it will no longer be available to the majority of kids it was built for. (Higher needs) students no longer have access to modeling and increased inclusion opportunities, and some will be served in classrooms with kids of other disabilities and lose their individualized support.
  3. The District Says: This is not about budget cutting.The Truth Is: There is no other rational explanation for these changes. Or if there is one, no one from the district has shared it or consulted with teachers and families. How much money will the district save in five years when there are no Federal Setting I & II students left in the program and the majority of current Autism Program site schools are closed down?

    Why is the district cutting access to early childhood ASD classrooms and raising caseloads from 6 students with ASD to 8 students with ASD in a classroom? Providing intensive interventions when children are young can improve the prognosis for when they get older. Many of the autistic behaviors can decrease or cease. Increasing caseloads to 8 will make it almost impossible to meet the individual needs of the students and turn this essential service into a day care. What reason for that is there besides budget?

Other areas of dispute are outlined in the letter, such as push back against the district’s classification of some students as “mildly autistic.” There is no such thing, the parents say:

Even kids who appear to function fairly well in the classroom much of the time can have violent outbursts, severe sensory deregulations and debilitating anxiety issues. They may sit quietly in the classroom but not learn. Sometimes kids’ classroom behavior is affected for minutes, other times for months. Their needs can change on a dime, and can be hard to identify without ASD knowledge and training. These children need special education services (Evidence Based Interventions) specifically tailored to the characteristics and needs of students on the Autism Spectrum. This is why the Citywide Autism Program exists.

The letter ends on a cautionary note, and with a plea for reconsideration from Minneapolis officials:

We…foresee disruption for general education students, and school-wide frustration for general and special education staff across the district. We predict this will lead to many students and staff leaving the district for greener educational pastures, while the children of families with less means will be left behind to fail.

We urge the district to keep all of its students’ best interests at heart. Please put a halt to this hastily implemented plan that will not serve anyone well. All of our city’s children deserve better.

Minneapolis Public Schools administrators, the ball is now in your court.

Roosevelt Rising

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I’m in Chicago right now, for the 2nd annual Network for Public Education conference, but I left my heart in Minneapolis, at Roosevelt High School. 

RHS Kids 1
“I Am Roosevelt”: Shahmar Dennis, Lewis Martin, Saira Rivera, Maria Sanchez

Right now, students (estimated to be 175-200 of them) at Roosevelt are raising their voices and engaging in some good old-fashioned democracy in action, by walking out of school to protest what they say is a “lack of equity” in their school’s budget for next year. 

This is significant.

I interviewed many of the students and parents leading this protest last week, just before the April 14 Minneapolis school board meeting (where Roosevelt advocates were headed to voice their concerns), and one thing that stood out to me was pride.

Roosevelt students, parents, and staff care deeply about their school, and they’re ready to stand up and fight for it. Displaying RHS Walk out.jpeg

The budget details are gnarly, but the students, many staff members, and Roosevelt parents contend that their school has been given an inadequate budget, just as the school is on an upward swing. 

Note: MPS was contacted for their perspective on Roosevelt’s budget issues on Friday, April 17 but they have not yet responded with an official statement.

Here are the main issues, according to a press release and information provided by Roosevelt parent Jeanette Bower, who is a member of Roosevelt’s site council:

  • Without enough funds, Roosevelt will not be able to meet the needs of its DCD students (Developmental and Cognitive Delays) who need significant support. Right now, the program is understaffed, according to a Roosevelt teacher.
  • Staff positions have been cut, and the school may lose its librarian.
  • Roosevelt is short over $240,000 and won’t be able to adequately continue the Spanish Immersion program the district placed at the school in 2013.
  • Roosevelt switched from a 6 period day to a 7 period one a few years ago, in order to more fully implement their IB model. They did this without financial help from MPS. Now, MPS has made 7 period days mandatory for all MPS high schools, and has provided funds for this, but not to Roosevelt. (MPS Interim Superintendent Michael Goar called this an “error” at the April 14 board meeting, but I have not heard yet how–or if–this error has been corrected.)
  • Roosevelt is the only high school in Minneapolis without a theater program. (To be fair–well, actually, it’s not really fair–no high school in Minneapolis that I am aware of has a district-funded theater program. They might have a theater teacher, but that’s it. Everything else comes from parent/booster club support, partnerships, grants, or other outside sources, but Roosevelt does not have these, and some might say every kid should have access to a theater program–no matter what.)
  • The school wants to offer a well-rounded, viable program to its students, with adequate arts and world language classes (currently, the Roosevelt population is 80% students of color and 76% qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch).

This is what the Roosevelt community is saying about their budget. What the “facts” are may be up for debate, but what the students are feeling and saying about Roosevelt is what has really caught my ear. Displaying 20150424_142338.jpeg

Here are the voices of four students I interviewed on April 14, as they prepared to head to the school board meeting:

Lewis Martin, 9th grade

  • Roosevelt High School is seen as a ghetto school, but we’ve changed. We’ve changed internally, but the district hasn’t changed.
  • We’re losing our community liaisons, but that’s how we’ve changed the Roosevelt story. They would go out into the middle schools and talk about Roosevelt, so people would want to come here.
  • We headed to the school board so they can see we do have a voice, and we’re not afraid to speak up.

Shahmar Dennis, 12th grade, president of the Roosevelt student body

  • We’re a school on the rise, but we’re losing our theater program. We have no teacher, even though there will be a new auditorium at Roosevelt next year.
  • Our music program will suffer with these budget cuts. We can’t buy new instruments, even though we’ll have our biggest class ever next fall (100 new students are expected in Roosevelt’s 2015 freshman class).
  • Our students shouldn’t be punished for doing well.
  • We’ve only received vague explanations for our budget and why its low. We got the lowest bump of all Minneapolis high schools, at 3%. We want to know why.
  • I’m going to the University of Minnesota in the fall. I won’t be here next year, but I want to see Roosevelt growing, and doing well academically. I want to see it have a good theater program.

Maria Sanchez, 10th grade

  • I want the school board to realize Roosevelt isn’t ghetto.
  • Our percentage of graduates is increasing.
  • It’s a nice community here, vs. the stereotypes and preconceived ideas about our school. 
  • Roosevelt High School has a voice, and we’re not going to take whatever they (the district) say. 

Saira Rivera, 11th grade

  • This is important to me because my school is my life. This school is going to get me places.
  • It’s such a tight community here. High school has been the best for me, and we shouldn’t have to lose programs or have 45 students in a class. 

Roosevelt, rising, looks good–even all the way from a hotel room in Chicago.

From the media release for today’s walk out, provided by Jeanette Bower:

Students at Minneapolis Roosevelt High School have planned a peaceful walk-out of classes on Friday, April 24 at 2:10 p.m. to express frustrations over the Minneapolis Board of Education’s 2015-16 budget. In it, the school district allocated $11 million to Minneapolis high schools. At the high end, South High received 24 percent of the budget or $3 million and Roosevelt received the lowest at 3 percent or $324,136.

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Roosevelt, on the rise