Spring 2005 Edition

Fair Lawn's Special Education Thirty years ago, Fair Lawn and other towns could exclude children with disabilities from public schools. Fair Lawn’s Director of Special Services, Dr. Joyce Beam, told Fair Lawn News “Back then, if a six year old wasn’t toilet trained or needed a breathing apparatus, the schools didn’t have to take them in." Today, Fair Lawn schools cannot exclude any Fair Lawn child with a disability. Federal laws require public schools to educate disabled children between the ages 3 and 21, in an appropriate environment. Dr. Beam says "There are many children in our schools who have special needs. They include children with disabilities; students who live in economically disadvantaged school districts; children from impoverished families; children whose primary language is not English; and children who are gifted and talented. In all cases, the needs of these students must be met by school districts through providing whatever support or accommodations are necessary to educate them." Inclusion:  Fair Lawn’s schools try to include children in the regular school environment, as much as possible. They don’t use the word ‘mainstreaming’ anymore. The new buzzword is ‘inclusion’. Dr. Beam said Fair Lawn’s schools try not to pull children out of the regular classroom environment, unless the children have a special need. For example, children who are having trouble keeping up with the curriculum may be given remediation, while the other children are in gym. Children with major disabilities (such as cerebral palsy) may need to miss certain classes, so that they can receive occupational and physical therapy during school. Special teachers (known as ‘resource room teachers’) may come in to classrooms to help children with learning disabilities. Some classes are collaboratively taught with both a regular teacher and a special education teacher. The Cost:  To meet the federal mandate, Fair Lawn spends about $14 million a year, or more than 20% of the school budget, to provide special education services. In Fair Lawn, approximately 60 students are sent to outside schools, at an average cost (including transportation) of $42,000 per student. Since Fair Lawn schools already have programs in the public schools for children with autism and behavioral disabilities, the Board of Education would like to bring these 60 students back into the district. “But, right now we don’t have enough space for additional kids. The referendum will help us, though”, Dr. Beam said. The federal law mandating special education services authorized the federal government to reimburse states for up to 40% of the cost of educating children with disabilities. “But, funding has never come close to that level. Fair Lawn is only getting 17% reimbursement from the federal government. It is an unfunded mandate.  In addition to the lack of funding from the federal government, our own state funds have not been increased for the past 4 years, resulting in a $4 million shortfall from the state.”, Dr. Beam said. Dr. Beam said "If a school budget is not passed by Fair Lawn voters, special education funding may not be decreased, only programs that generally fall into regular education areas, or extracurricular activities. Fair Lawn's Assemblyman Bob Gordon says "all school districts are talking to me about the growing cost of special education.  If the federal government mandates it, they shouldn't be cutting back educational funding.  I remember what Hubert Humphrey once said: A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens." The Challenges of Inclusion: Including children with special needs with other children is challenging.  The Children’s Therapy Center’s principal, Carolann Garafola, says "It takes a lot of planning. You need support from the principals, the teachers, and the other kids. It is not easy. You need a classroom that can accommodate a child in a wheelchair and the curriculum may need to be modified.”  (See related article to read more about The Children's Therapy Center.) Ms. Garafola says including children with disabilities into the regular classroom can help the rest of the class.  “They learn how to deal with children who have disabilities and they learn not to be frightened of seizures or wheelchairs.” Dr. Beam said that strategies that are good for special education students are also good for all students. “Restating, reiterating and rephrasing subject material are just good teaching strategies.” In a future edition, Fair Lawn News will explore the challenges of teaching honors students and children with disabilities, at the same time.