Nov 16 2007
An opportunity to promote Alternative & Special Education
Last week I attended a Faculty meeting at Ripley Central School. I was there by invitation to speak on behalf of the instructional programs housed at the Hewes Center, Erie 2 CC BOCES. As a precursor to my formal introductions, the High School Principal, Sue Hammond, had taken my suggestion and asked the Faculty last month to watch Sir Ken Robinson a presenter featured on TED TALKS ( Ref: Google this). I am always humbled by these opportunities to address school audiences or for that matter any audience, especially when I am speaking about what I am so passionate about - education and the programs I work with at the Hewes Center - Alternative and Special Education. I am humbled not on my own account alone but on account of the weight and responsibility I bear when I speak for the Faculty and Staff I work with. I know that this Faculty and Staff keep me motivated, teach me anew every day and demand that I be an excellent leader and speaker! So here goes……..in writing.
I spoke to the Ripley Faculty as one educator to another. Who is the Alternative Education student? I shared with the Faculty our philosophy, our organization, our school culture, our successes and our sad failures. I talked of the need to identify students early because this way we can return students to their home schools and local communities faster. Early identification always means fewer drop outs; this has been played out time and time again in our BOCES . Rural Schools fight three battles in my mind - poverty, lack of lack of social opportunities to interact with other young people and dysfunction caused by a distressed family structure that provides little stimulation for the growing mind. My message to the Faculty is that together, we as educators, whether we are located in component schools or in our BOCES, are fighting an uphill battle to reclaim our youth, invigorate our local communities and stymie the brain drain from Western New York. It is my contention that educators, politicians and tax payers in Chautauqua County need to pay attention to the Alternative and Special Education Student populations that we work with because these young people are not as mobile as their honor roll counterparts. These student populations tend to stay home and attend local colleges. They tend to return home and invest in this county because they are familiar with its norms and because they value family despite how many times this institution has disappointed them. Our collective future are these youth. I distinguished between the Part 100 Regulations and Part 200 Regulations that guide our practices. In essence the Alternative Education student is made up of regular, special ed classified with general education integration and 504 plan students.
Surprises for the Faculty at Ripley:
We do not have a standing Library or Librarian on our campus? Ans. We have direct access to the wealth of the BOCES media and resource library.
We are not a school. We are a BOCES cooperative. The social dances, sports teams, music and dance programs exist in public schools. Our BOCES programs cannot fully replicate the school community because our students are drawn to us from all over, hence the student is not in essence a BOCES student but a Ripley(or any other school district) student and all social and sports affiliations need to be made with reference to the home school not BOCES. This is why at all in-takes, our students are encouraged to maintain full communication with, and take advantage of, opportunities in their home schools.
Referring a student to the administration for an out of district placement is a huge professional responsibility and has to be guided by much deliberate thinking and research. This is because the suggestion to seek an out of district placement means that the student is going to be placed outside of his local and school community and with that, social interactions and opportunities to form connections in the local community are interuppted.
Students who attend BOCES are always the students of their districts. We recommend credit, we do not award it nor do we hand out graduation diplomas.
My time spent with the Faculty and Staff of Ripley Central School was rewarding and refreshing. The warm welcome I received will sustain my work this year. Ripley Faculty who are interested in our BOCES programs have been invited to seek professional opportunities to visit our Hewes Center.
2 responses so far
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Una,
This is my first time viewing a blog. I was very impressed with what you had to say, not only about your Ripley adventure, but your other thoughts as well.
Gregg
Una,
This was a very thought-provoking blog entry. I like to think that we are cooperatively supporting the local school districts, not trying to copy them. We have our own ways of meeting the needs of our students who will be staying in the area. In order to provide them with a quality education, academics and social skills are of equal importance. One can always find information that is lacking, but social abilities and citizenship skills also need to be in place to improve the livability of Western New York.