Aug. 26, 2019, Cincinnati Enquirer: Fairfield schools make room for middle schoolers with academy expansion https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/08/26/fairfield-schools-make-room-middle-schoolers-academy-expansion/2119685001/ School officials here are working on a plan that would expand the Fairfield Academy to include middle school students within a year. But to do that, the district’s storage space in the building would have to be renovated and converted into space for the 30 middle school students the Academy would enroll in the 2020-2021 school year. “We are going to use the same layout or a very similar layout to what we have (for the high school students) because we know that we’ve experienced success there,’’ said Joe Penney, the Fairfield Schools’ business director. “It’s a welcoming educational environment.” The Academy opened in 2013 to serve students in grades 9-12 who need a different learning setting other than the large freshman or senior high schools…. “This is something I’ve been thinking about for many years. I’m so proud of the Academy. We try to meet kids where they are.” Typically there are about 100-115 students enrolled with a maximum of 120, Smith said. The expansion would add 30 students – 15 from Crossroads and 15 from Creekside middle schools. … Middle school students will have a full school day at the Academy. They would have lunch and take elective classes at the nearby Crossroads Middle School…. The Academy opened in 2013 to serve students in grades 9-12 that prefer a different learning setting or didn’t do well at the freshman or senior high schools. Since then about 500 students have gone through the program, with 215 graduates, Jamison said. … Students have access to mental health, social, and emotional support, community resources, an intervention specialist and other community resources, said Mandy Aug, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction…. “Research shows early intervention and support can yield greater long-term social and academic success for students,’’ Aug said. “We believe we can have that same success for students in grades 6-8.”…
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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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