Special education teachers, students and their families gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to appeal for more support in the classroom for the first-ever Special Education Day.
Special education teachers, students and their families gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to appeal for more support in the classroom for the first-ever Special Education Day. Organizers filled the lower rotunda with students from Kanawha County's Self-Sufficiency Classroom.
Blair Malkin, a staff attorney with Mountain State Justice, said these students have the most complex needs and require the most support on a daily basis. Malkin is also chairman of the board of directors for Exceptional Possibilities of West Virginia, a nonprofit organization that creates and advocates for events and resources for individuals with disabilities and their families. She said the day was aimed at raising her awareness about the need for special education.
“This is a chance for special education teachers, aides, and students to come to the Legislature and promote the need for more special education teachers and aides in the state. It's also an opportunity to see how it works,” Malkin said.
He also highlighted the shortage of special education classrooms and cited the unintended effects of the education law passed last year.
“When Congress passed the Third Grade Success Act last year, it mandated that every first-grade classroom have an aide,” Malkin said. “So almost half of the special education support workers left special education and went into those jobs because, frankly, those jobs were easier and they paid a little bit more.”
Rachel Brown is a special education curriculum specialist for Kanawha County Schools. Kanawha County Schools is the state's largest school district, with more than 23,000 students and nearly 10% of the state's public school enrollment. Brown works closely with self-contained classrooms across the county.
“Of my 66 classrooms, half are staffed with long-term substitute teachers or substitute certification candidates,” she said. “We have untrained teachers, and Kanawha County Schools has a strong alternative certification system, but you are trained on the job.”
Mr. Brown is also one of the lead organizers of Special Education Day at the Capitol. She says the unintended effects of the Third Grade Success Act on special education classrooms will only get worse in the coming years.
“Many of my aides in Kanawha County Schools have advanced to first grade,” Brown said. “Next year, all second-grade classrooms will have assistants. Starting next year, third-grade students will have assistants. As a result, the number of assistants in my classroom has decreased dramatically. , they are essential to the success of my classroom. Our students need your undivided attention.”
Brown said SB 680, introduced by Sen. Amy Grady (R-Mason), would provide a 10% raise for self-contained teachers and a 5% raise for self-contained aides to keep special education educators in the classroom. I hope that it will help you.
“I hope this shines a light on legislators,” she said. “A lot of the general public doesn't know about classrooms like I do. We're that 1 percent. And it's easy to just close the door and not realize they're in school. And we… We want to raise awareness and make sure Congress knows about our students and our needs.”
Brown said Special Education Day made history by bringing the most people with disabilities to the Capitol at one time ever.
“I wanted the day to be for the students,” she said. “I also wanted the Capitol to see the students. The Capitol is a beautiful place and is our state capitol, but I also wanted them to be able to get out and do a lot of things. No. This gives them the opportunity to come here and participate in the sessions.”