Feb 4, 2019, Loveland (CO) Reporter Herald: Thompson School District to discuss out-of-district placements—Program could return special-ed students to Thompson School District http://www.reporterherald.com/news/education/ci_32429878/thompson-school-district-discuss-out-district-placements The Thompson School District is looking at bringing a program in-house for some special-needs students instead of sending them to schools in Greeley, Fort Collins and Denver. Charlie Carter, the director of support services, will propose to the Thompson School District Board of Education on Wednesday a new partnership with Catapult Learning Schools to open a program here in the Thompson School District for some middle and high school students with special needs. "I'm really excited for us to include these kids in our community," said Carter when reached by phone Monday. … It specifically affects one group of students who have been bused to schools in other cities because their specific needs were not met within the district. Last year, the Thompson School District paid $804,155.91 for out-of-district placements for 30 students with special needs to ensure that they received a "free and appropriate public education." This year, $890,000 is budgeted for those placements. … To have Catapult Learning Schools open two classrooms in the Thompson School District, staffed with teachers, teaching assistants and counselors and with a capacity of 20 students, would cost the district a fixed rate of $580,000 per year, according to information that will go before the school board. "The per-pupil cost will be lower, but additionally, where we will see significant savings is in transportation," Carter said. The per-pupil cost with this proposal would compute to $29,000 per student per year. Right now, the cost per student per year is $38,500 at Sierra School in Greeley and $57,700 at the facility schools in Denver, according to information from the district. Those numbers do not include transportation costs. The 20 students who could be served by this program do not account for all the special-education students who are currently sent out of district; that number, though it varies, was 30 last year. However, this is the first step in a phased plan to provide these services to students and families locally…. "Our hope is to ultimately bring all of our students home."...
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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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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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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