leadership in high schools

This is an example of a young man, a senior student who has had several weeks of success working within special education.  His enrolled program, his entry point is Alternative Education but within this setting his social interactions and behavioral outcomes have been disasterous.  He has had one major and one minor referral to the court system for incidents that have occurred within the school in unsupervised settings;  his name has constantly been linked to harassment of other students as well as a case of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.  This young man whom I shall call Rich, is classified OHI.  He is severely hearing impaired but does not wear any hearing devices and I believe has become an expert lip reader.  His grades in classes have not been shabby but his behavior has had a very negative impact on his programming at BOCES. He was asked to leave his CTE program in his junior year, for fear of the huge danger and safety risk he poses to himself and others.  Hence we have no ready work skills training for him once he graduates.  Other avenues have to be, and are being explored. 

Earlier this year, the child study team within Alternative Education challenged me to examine a different approach for Rich.  Lets give him smaller classes, more supervision and more direct special education instruction and then examine the impact of learning on social/emotional behavior.  I insisted that gen. ed participation with P.E. and lunch not be affected because this would be the constant.  This occurred with some base resentment from Rich but a willingness to try because he wants to graduate.  His mother at her wits end, was ready for anything.  The school district asked only for parental support that this idea be tried.  Now 10 weeks have passed, there is evidence of stability in terms of behavior and positive social interaction with other students.  The Special Education High team at the Hewes Center has seen the impact of their work with this student and the energies they are expending on this student now deserve recognition.  In order to salvage a graduation diploma, the experiment was undertaken, it was either this or a school dropout.  This case is about special education students swimming in the “right waters” for them.  The right water here was always Special Education, but since the entry point was Alternative Education, the student had to go through much growing pain in order to be placed in the right educational setting.  The key to this students success is very small, structured, personal classes in a quiet, tension free school environment.  Once this student got the taste of success – fewer disciplinary referrals and no references to the court system, he has begun to trust in his own ability to succeed in school and graduate with his cohort.  Now the school district will have to acknowledge that the placement has to change, move from Alt. ed. to Special Ed. placement, in order for this student’s success to be guaranteed because the energies of the special education teachers have got to be rewarded and the work of this department validated.  To this end the conversation has occurred with the district and the appropriate paperwork has been completed last week.  It is examples of collaboration like this based on data and research that will allow the Alternative and Special Education programs at BOCES to refine the student identification process for both programs.  There will always be those students who are classified that will do well in an integrated general ed. structure but there will always be those classified students who need a special ed program not because they are failing academically alone but because they need the structural supports and modifications that special classes provide for them.  The challenge for teachers and administrators is to provide challenging classes with demands that students can meet and structure that provides support for positive behavior/educational success.   This is the challenge of Special Education leading up to a Regents Diploma outcome.  Rich is another student example of reinforcing the concept that Special Education students within a specialized setting, can tolerate more demanding student instructional activities and more challenging curriculum in order to reduce social/behavioral dysfunction.

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