June 17, 2017, The Morning Call (PA News): Catasauqua, Allentown school boards want answers from Innovative Arts Academy after teachers' statements http://www.mcall.com/news/local/catasauqua/mc-innovative-arts-teachers-districts-want-meeting-20170616-story.html
Catasauqua Area and Allentown school boards are seeking answers from Innovative Arts Academy leadership about concerns raised publicly by two teachers over the charter school's special education program.
The teachers, Ann Tarafas and Elizabeth Fox, told charter school trustees on June 7 and Catasauqua Area School Board members on Tuesday that the school could be falling short of state compliance for students' individualized education programs because of lack of staff. The school was missing a psychologist and speech therapy services for months because a contractor was not paid, they said at the meetings. …
Enrollment from Allentown dropped in regular education from 218 in September to 186 in May, but climbed for special education, rising from 22 pupils in September to 30 by May, the report says. …
"At the end of the day it's about providing the best education for our students and ensuring our taxpayers' dollars are being used properly," Martinez said. "If they aren't providing the services they need to, that needs to be investigated."
Allentown provides $9,370 in tuition payments per student to charter schools for regular education students and $22,138 for special education students, according to Innovative Arts Academy financial reports.
Since the start of the school year, Allentown sent $1.8 million in tuition payments for regular education students and $505,499 for special education students to Innovative Arts Academy, according to the charter school's May financial report. …
In those emails, Tarafas and another teacher sent Taylor a list of students who they said were not receiving special education coverage because of paraprofessional staffing shortages. Taylor replied, asking for the two teachers' schedules to better understand how they were allocating their time.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
CHECK OUT MY SUBSTACK:
https://annedachel.substack.com/
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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