Jan 17, 2019, Patch Reading MA: Reading School Committee Hears Growing Needs Of Special Ed https://patch.com/massachusetts/reading/reading-school-committee-hears-growing-needs-special-ed The Reading School Committee, minus one member along with much of the emotion of a year ago, continued its budget work at the RMHS Schettini Library Thursday night. The Regular Day and Special Education budgets for FY2020 were the focus of a three-hour meeting that was held minus Sherri VandenAkker, who resigned from the committee last week. Also missing were many of the parents and teachers who filled the room a year ago when proposed cuts fueled a passionate response. When Reading passed its override last April it meant $2,654,969 additional dollars for the school system. This year's message to the town is much different than last winter. … That doesn't mean Reading doesn't face challenges, especially when it comes to the growing cost of special education. Of the five cost centers, special ed has the largest increase. The $14,927,638 request is 7.4 percent above last year. Regular Day, which comprises 58.1 percent of the budget, asked for $27,0115,632, an increase of 1.4 percent. "We are spending tax payer's dollars, we understand that, we get it," said Sharon Stewart, Interim Director of Student Services. From cost of living adjustments, to the need for additional staff, to increases in out-of-district tuition and transportation, special education is a challenge for school systems across the state and it's only getting worse. Even with the budget increase, its possible that other costs will force the school department to ask for additional funding from the April or November town meeting. Principals Beth Leavitt (Barrows) and Sarah Marchant (Coolidge) illustrated some of those challenges at their schools. …
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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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