July 5, 2018, Willingboro, NJ, Burlington Cty Times: Bordentown Regional moves ahead with reconfiguration http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180705/bordentown-regional-moves-ahead-with-reconfiguration BORDENTOWN — As promised following a December vote by the Bordentown Regional School District’s Board of Education, some students will attend a new school next year as the district’s kindergarten through fifth-grade classes are reconfigured…. A potential reconfiguring of the district was initially proposed for fiscal reasons, as the boundaries determining who attends which school had not been redrawn since at least the 1980s. Forsthoffer said that it was during that process that the district realized how unevenly represented the special education population was across district schools. In the 2017-18 and previous school years, students who had individualized education plans, or IEPs — which entitle students to special education services if they need them — were a larger part of the school population in some district schools than in others. “Historically, it probably started a decade or two ago,” Forsthoffer said of the trend. In recent years, Barton was a kindergarten to third-grade school at which one in three students had an IEP, while just one in 16 students at kindergarten to third-grade Muschal had an IEP. …

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.