I emailed this to Dr.Gaza,
I am not happy with Summer School ESY.
The problem is that the people at Gatehouse who design the programs are not teachers and do not know what is really needed. They don't understand that some kids are just in need of social skills or behavior improvements. They are only set up for the severely disabled or the very LD. They are trying to make the kids fit the program rather than the other way around. They need experienced teachers in on the planning. Every year there is a new ESY principal and admin intern and they have no idea what to expect. The breakfast is cold every morning. A half frozen bagel is not appetizing to a hungry first grader. We are expressly told no recess is allowed. Try keeping special kids working for three straight hours.

when did this site become FCPS whiner and complainers?

None of us have the power to change ESY or people employed at Gatehouse.

Retards tard. Not much I can do about it.

Regards, Karen

So, you're unhappy with the free education that your chromosome challenged child gets? Withdraw it from the program and homeschool. Stop having someone else raise your mongloid mush.
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There are not a lot of career options out there for the holders of Ed.D. degrees, even those awarded by non-online schools.

Unfortunately, obtaining a "higher education degree" such as the Ed.D. does not require teaching experience.

It would seem that the curriculum consists of stonewalling, passing the buck, and making dinner reservations and travel plans.

The language I see here directed towards a student with special needs is digusting. No one is perfect. Everyone has "bad genes," it's just that each person has to deal with different challenges. The child has a right to free education that suits him, just like any other. Not every parent has the ability to teach their own child, and not every parent is able to give their child all of the support he needs alone. The parent's concern is valid, because summer school should be helping kids with skills they need and be developmentally appropriate. If it's not, then it's a waste of time for everyone and even potentially harmful to the student.

"The language I see here directed towards a student with special needs is digusting."

You must be new to Fairfax Undergound - the last refuge of the vilest human beings deeply depressed that it's no longer socially acceptable to be intolerable assholes. Don't worry, they're a small minority (there's a reason their preferred candidates in local elections always get trounced) and are disappearing as their mothers start kicking them out of their basements.

"The child has a right to free education that suits him, just like any other."

Actually they don't. They have the right to a free education that meets certain requirements of Federal law. In a few rare instances that education might suit the child. In more instances those minimum requirements do not. There are certain school systems, and Fairfax is among them, which have chosed to provide programs for special needs students which exceed the Federal minimum. Even then the County has frequently refused to provide educational services which parents have felt were needed, and the courts have said the County could do so.

What advocates of special needs (and gifted) children overlook is that it is impossible for a mass education system to create the ideal learning situation for each of its students. Private schools OTOH can tailor their class makeup to the type of instruction offered, which in turn attracts other students who would thrive under that learning environment.

^^^+1,000 yes, correct. If you would like to reference the U.S. Circuit Court opinion that sets the requirements for FCPS go here: http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/141994.P.pdf

HXGbx Wrote:
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> Private schools OTOH can tailor their class makeup to the type of
> instruction offered, which in turn attracts other students who would
> thrive under that learning environment.

Hahahaha!!! Private schools of note cherry-pick their students, deliberately passing over children with needs in favor of children with money and connections. When corrected for the income and education levels of their parents, it is students in public schools who routinely perform better. Private school teachers overall have LESS education and LESS teaching experience than public school teachers. They are LESS likely to be accredited in the fields they teach and are LESS likely to participate in professional development courses. Private schools are typically NOT responsible to any elected or other outside review board at all.

3mP3y Wrote:
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> ^^^+1,000 yes, correct. If you would like to reference the
> U.S. Circuit Court opinion that sets the requirements for FCPS
> go here...

This case set no standards for anyone at all. It merely decided whether FCPS had met in plaintiff's case the applicable standards for a "free appropriate public education" as established in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. (IDEA). The ruling was that they had.

"They are trying to make the kids fit the program rather than the other way around. They need experienced teachers in on the planning. "


This. And it's not just about special needs children. Too many bureaucrats are trying to "teacher proof" education. It doesn't work and it won't work. We need to attract smart people into the profession and then let them think and do the job.

xcWT4 Wrote:
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> HXGbx Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Private schools OTOH can tailor their class
> makeup to the type of
> > instruction offered, which in turn attracts
> other students who would
> > thrive under that learning environment.
>
> Hahahaha!!! Private schools of note cherry-pick
> their students, deliberately passing over children
> with needs in favor of children with money and
> connections. When corrected for the income and
> education levels of their parents, it is students
> in public schools who routinely perform better.


^ Which is where your argument fails in the case of higher end students.

Please provide the data that supports your assertion.

jJPdX Wrote:
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> ^ Which is where your argument fails in the case
> of higher end students.

Holy fuck!!! You have no idea at all of what "corrected for the income and
education levels of their parents" even means!!! What a pathetic ignorant dumbfuck!!!

quoting from the decision: In this circuit, the standard remains the same
as it has been for decades: a school provides a FAPE so long as a child receives some educational benefit, meaning a benefit that is more than minimal or trivial, from special instruction and services.

N.B. the term "standard" in the opinion. You are correct if your assertion is that this does not constitute legislation although it is rather patronizing to nit pick the distinction between the precedent value of a Circuit Court opinion and legislation.

The link to the decision was provided to assist the OP to understand the law, including Court interpretations, that govern Special Education in FCPS.

data whore Wrote:
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> Please provide the data that supports your assertion.

Please GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU WORTHLESS DOUCHEBAG. And when you're done with that, you can go google the fucking thing and perhaps learn something on your own for once in your sorry excuse for a life.

By the way, the word "data" is plural. No quicker way to confirm your ignorant asshole status than to mess that one up.

once again with feeling Wrote:
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> The link to the decision was provided to assist the OP to
> understand the law, including Court interpretations, that
> govern Special Education in FCPS.

Go hose yourself off, loser. The law is found in the law. Nothing but failure was to be found in your link to an irrelevant court case that only confirmed that the standards applying to FCPS were and still are what was stated in the law.

7VDu6 Wrote:
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> jJPdX Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ^ Which is where your argument fails in the
> case
> > of higher end students.
>
> Holy fuck!!! You have no idea at all of what
> "corrected for the income and
> education levels of their parents" even means!!!
> What a pathetic ignorant dumbfuck!!!


Obviously I do. It means that when I send my kid to one of the other better private schools around here, they're generally going to come out with a far better education. Which is why people who can do so. More and more so as the public schools continue to degrade.

You trying to normalize things on an aggregate basis so that lesser students who receive paced instruction and ESOL and appear to benefit on a relative level at some marginally better rate doesn't affect that.

7UeGm Wrote:
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> Obviously I do. It means that when I send my kid
> to one of the other better private schools around
> here, they're generally going to come out with a
> far better education. Which is why people who can
> do so. More and more so as the public schools
> continue to degrade.

You're just digging the hole deeper, asshole. Perhaps YOU were educated at some private school? Any perceived advantage in outcomes for private school students arises from those schools accepting only the cream of the crop, and then trying to compare that cream of the crop to the general population in public schools (schools that by the way would have taught you how invalid such a comparison is). In fact of course, the same cream of the crop students who are educated in public schools perform BETTER than their private school peers when all is said and done. Judged on equal footings, private schools as a group do a crap job of education in comparison to public schools as a group. It's that fucking simple.

where's the data that supports the assertion that "the same cream of the crop students who are educated in public schools perform BETTER than their private school peers when all is said and done"? Or are you simply bloviating...?

M6VEG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 7UeGm Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Obviously I do. It means that when I send my
> kid
> > to one of the other better private schools
> around
> > here, they're generally going to come out with
> a
> > far better education. Which is why people who
> can
> > do so. More and more so as the public schools
> > continue to degrade.
>
> You're just digging the hole deeper, asshole.
> Perhaps YOU were educated at some private school?
> Any perceived advantage in outcomes for private
> school students arises from those schools
> accepting only the cream of the crop, and then
> trying to compare that cream of the crop to the
> general population in public schools (schools that
> by the way would have taught you how invalid such
> a comparison is). In fact of course, the same
> cream of the crop students who are educated in
> public schools perform BETTER than their private
> school peers when all is said and done. Judged on
> equal footings, private schools as a group do a
> crap job of education in comparison to public
> schools as a group. It's that fucking simple.


You're attempting to apply very broad generalized stats (many of which don't actually even support your conclusion to begin with, which are most greatly affected by the tails vs the norm, and which vary substantially by level, etc.) across the board and on a blanket basis. As well as ignoring the benefits of the ability to self-select.

What you're effecively arguing is that the same student from the same parents from the same upper-middle class home attending a 'cream of the crop' school like Sidwell, Potomac, Episcopal, or TJ (public or private makes no difference, it functions as a selective 'private school' within the public system) would be better off attending Mount Vernon or Annandale and their respective feeder schools simply because they are public schools. Surely even you can see the fallacy.

Had you gone to better schools and developed better analytical abilities then you might better understand how and when to apply such things.