Gilroy
– The numbers of special education students in the state are
rising faster than the numbers of teachers needed, putting an
inordinate amount of stress on teachers, many of whom quit special
education after five years.
Gilroy – The numbers of special education students in the state are rising faster than the numbers of teachers needed, putting an inordinate amount of stress on teachers, many of whom quit special education after five years.
The situation is not as bad in the Gilroy Unified School District, but that’s not to say special ed teachers here don’t feel the stress.
The state’s department of education released Thursday a compilation of data that tracks the progress of special education students in California, including data from test scores, ethnicity breakdowns and student/teacher ratios. The most current data available is from 2002-03.
According to the report, about 10 percent of the state’s 6.3 million students receive special ed services. While the number of students receiving services increased by 7.4 percent between 1998 and 2003, the number of special ed teachers increased just 1.3 percent, a trend State Superintendent Jack O’Connell said needs to be reversed.
“We’re not doing enough to attract and retain our special education teachers,” O’Connell said.
This is the first time that the data has been compiled into one concise document, intended for use by parents, educators and policymakers, O’Connell said.
The report, called the Pocketbook of Special Education Statistics 2002-03, is available free online at the state’s department education of Web site, www.cde.ca.gov, or by calling (916) 445-4613.
Of the roughly 9,700 students in the Gilroy Unified School District, 980 receive special ed services. Of the 41 special ed teachers, 17 are special day class teachers who provide all basic instruction in the classroom. Sixteen are resource specialists who work with children individually, consult with classroom teachers and coordinate special ed programs, and eight are speech language pathologists who screen students to place them in the appropriate classes, as well as assist students in developing effective communication skills.
“One of the greatest challenges throughout the nation, and specifically in California, is finding qualified staff,” said Marcia Brown, who oversees GUSD’s special ed program.
Brown said many special ed teachers quit teaching special ed within the first five years because of the demands of the job.
But David Christian, a special ed teacher at Luigi Aprea Elementary School, said he enjoys working with his students, partly because he’s more involved with the students and parents on a daily basis. Several of Christian’s 10 students have difficulty understanding verbal language, some are classified as mentally retarded and others are autistic.
The special ed students spend most of their day in a classroom with other special ed kids. But if a student demonstrates strength in a particular area, he or she will spend about an hour working in that subject with grade-level students in a regular classroom.
“That has been really been a positive thing for them. The respect for classroom behavior is better because of the models they’re exposed to in the mainstream experience,” Christian said.
Another challenge of special ed programs, Brown said, is meeting the needs of those students while monetary support for the programs continues to dwindle. Decreased funding from the state also impacts partner agencies who help provide services to the district, such as California Children’s Services.
GUSD spends $8.1 million annually on its special ed program, $3.5 million of which is not reimbursed by state or federal governments. That money is divided among the district’s various special ed programs, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, resource specialist programs and special day classes. Services for preschoolers and severely handicapped students also are offered, while some GUSD special ed students are served through county programs and non-public schools.
Karen Yinger teaches eight severely handicapped students at South Valley Middle School. The biggest challenge, she said, is the time it takes to create an individualized education plan for each student. Those plans are followed up by a review every three years to ensure the student still should be placed in a special ed class.
Although the demands of her job can be overwhelming, Yinger said she enjoys watching her students progress and appreciates the support the community has for special ed kids.
For example, the group visited Los Pericos Taqueria in Gilroy for lunch Thursday to practice ordering food and exchanging money, and the owner invited them back next week for lunch on the house. Every May, Yinger takes her students to Dutchman’s Pizza where the owner lets them make their own pizzas and eat for free.
“Seeing the response from the community towards these kids makes it all worth it,” Yinger said. “They’re so warm and accepting. It really is lovely.”
