Feb 4, 2019, KPBS Public Broadcasting, San Diego: San Diego Unified Holds Off On Plan That Would Increase Special Education Caseloads https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/feb/04/san-diego-teachers-march-superintendents-office-ov/ San Diego Unified has agreed to temporarily hold off on a plan that would increase the caseload of some special education teachers. The news came as about 60 people gathered at the district office to protest Monday. The teachers, staff and parents wanted to deliver a letter to Superintendent Cindy Marten demanding she immediately staff-up special education and attend a forum to hear their concerns. The district plans to give some teachers new job classifications that would boost their caseload from 20 to 24 students. But teachers say they’re already maxed out. … Finegan said one student with autism was put in a general education classroom without the support required under his Individual Education Plan to help him be successful alongside typically-developing children. … Members of the San Diego Education Association, the union for teachers and other certificated staff in the San Diego Unified School District, are planning to march to Superintendent Cindy Marten’s office this afternoon. They’re demanding improved staffing for special education, and that Marten attend a forum to hear from special education teachers, other staff and parents. San Diego Unified Chief of Staff Staci Monreal heard their concerns at a forum last week. There, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports, teachers complained of existing caseloads taking over their personal lives and expressed dismay that some would see still higher caseloads next year. The district is changing the job titles of some staff — from special education teachers with a maximum caseload of 20 to resource specialists with a maximum caseload of 24. …
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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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