May 22, 2018, Attleboro (MA) Sun Chronicle: Attleboro Superintendent: $9.4M to bring city up to par http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/attleboro-superintendent-m-to-bring-city-up-to-par/article_b7ed8dc2-4606-5a09-9fe7-c94298c50d07.html After saying city schools really need another $9.4 million above his $74.7 million budget request, Superintendent David Sawyer had a simple question about the money. … Yes, $9.4 million is a lot of money, he said. Yes, the city cannot afford that much, he said. And yes, the schools will accept the $74.7 million it is asking for, a 4.2 percent increase. ….Sawyer said the schools are getting by with a “service-level” budget that does not add personnel or services. To go on like that is “unsustainable” as costs and student needs are rising faster than funding, he said…. Already, he said, problems are arising with a need for more special education for problems that may be worsened because of crowded classrooms. He said to bring the schools up to a higher level some of the things that would be needed but are not included in the budget are: … • 59 paraprofessionals, or classroom aides, to help teachers, especially those in kindergarten. That would cost another $2 million. … • 38 specialists such as guidance counselors, English as a second language teachers, Special education was supposed to cost $7.3 million, but really cost $13.9 million.
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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.)
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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