Regarding the SAD 45 situation
To the editor:
I am writing in regards to the article in last week’s Star-Herald by Joshua Archer concerning MSAD 45 (RSU 45). I was in attendance at the meeting and there were several parents, grandparents and staff in attendance also.
The board chair opened the meeting to the Public Speaking portion of his agenda and to his credit he did allow the public to speak for several minutes. He could have closed that portion of the meeting at his pleasure but allowed people to express their concerns. I found everyone there to be respectful and courteous and they were not accusatory toward the board or the superintendent. Everyone there was present out of concern for their children and the staff just has questions about what the future holds for our schools and their jobs.
I did not see this as a public forum. One board member expressed her disgust quite clearly to those present and I did find that inappropriate as each member at that table is there at the pleasure of the voting public.
The issue at hand seems to be the way that students from self-contained classrooms are being handled when mainstreamed into the regular classroom. I understand that state mandates govern much of this but question how this is being interpreted in Washburn.
When a student is introduced into the regular classroom from a self-contained area and said student finds the situation overwhelming, the classroom is emptied of all students but the student in need. This sometimes results in all areas of the building being placed “on hold” until further notice. Sometimes this is a few minutes but in other instances can be 30 to 60 minutes. I cannot understand how this benefits the educational process for any student including the student that needs the extra help.
If indeed this is how the Department of Education mandates the procedure, please provide in writing this procedure to the parents. I do not believe other schools in the area handle this in the same way. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
All our students deserve that right to a quality education that matches their needs.
Connie Heald
Perham
