Re: [slist] The City of Weston taking over their public schools?

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Gordon wrote: >> Good information. I like any parent of any child am willing to explore anything that> would help any of my kids. That being said, on this one we don't need a special> program; give me a ball, a bat and kids with gloves and a place to> put them, and that should be sufficient to get these kids going. I believe I> have fields, but if Weston wants to provide something better, Ihave> a responsability to listen.>> I asked, and may receive 10 hours of field time in Weston. I'll assume everyone is well intentioned. Basically we are up against a lack of

knowledge and embarassment from that deficit. I sat> through a meeting last night where a man told me with a straightface> that a program that gone down 67% was succesful; another mantelling> me that his program was the largest provider of special needs> programs in Broward County, but when pressed admitted that none of> those sports programs were in Weston. I don't think any of these> organizations have a responsabilty to do anything for my son; they> insisted they wanted to do something for whatever motivation.All I> ask is if they want to use public fields, they have to allow my kid> the facilities to play as well on his terms, not theirs. My son is> not a VIP, challenged, or more special than any other 12 year old> boy; he's just one of a number of kids that needs some adaptationin> playing sports and learning the lessons from them than other boys.> And there is

no reasonable reason this cannot happen. >> We had a boy in baseball last year who insisted every hit was a> homerun. As one of the coaches, I had to instruct him thatsometimes> you only get a single, or out. And he was fine with that lesson.The> other coach, with all good intentions, behind my back decided thathe> needed that "win" because he was "special". Now how "special" do you> think that 10 year boy is going to be in 10 years when he has to> function in the adult world without being educated in rules orlimits> of behavior and expects a win?>>>>>>> > > >> > > > > > Subject: The City of Weston taking

over their> public schools?> > > To: sList > > > Date: Monday, August 11, 2008, 10:56 AM> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > > A fair amount of notice has been given to the City of Weston> taking> > > over their schools from the Broward County Board of Education.> Now I> > > understand this may be just posturing by the City, but the> members of> > > this list might want to consider the ramifications if this> occurred for> > > special education programs. If the way the City handlesresources> for> > > public field space is any indication, our kids would probablyget> the> > > short end of the stick.> >

>> > > As has been mentioned previously, the City of Weston delegates> the use> > > of its public fields to an organization called the WestonSports> > > Alliance, Inc (WSA). The WSA is made up exclusively of the> established> > > youth sports organizations of the City. Neither the WSA nor its> member> > > organizations are required to create or maintain anyrecreational> > > programming for special populations, and currently only two> programs> > > exist; 1) AYSO which groups 50 children of all disabilities ina> one> > > and a half hour session in the middle of Sundays, 2) and aLittle> > > League program that has a similar structure with 13 children.To> my> > > knowledge, no child from any of these programs has graduated to> any> > > form inclusive enviroment to

play with their peers, and very> little> > > training or development is attempted. The field time allocatedis> > > Sundays when no other groups want the space.> > >> > > Over the last three months, attempts have been made to secure> field> > > space for a baseball program to actually teach our kids the> sport, and> > > have them play in some form with their typical peers so thatsome> point> > > in the future they can actually play the game. Continuallythese> > > efforts have been met with responses from the Mayor of theCity,> the> > > President of the WSA, and the Presidents of the AYSO and the> Little> > > League that the current programming is sufficient, and various> road> > > blocks have been put in place to stop putting these kids on the> fields,>

> > so more programming can be added for typical kids.> > >> > > Now I don't think it is a stretch to imagine the ramifications> for> > > Weston's public schools. A city school system would havelimited> > > resources, as there are limited resources for recreational> programs.> > > Would a city appointed board determine that it was enough toput> all> > > special populations in one setting where they had no ability to> > > interact with their typical peers? If class space was lacking,> > > finding "seperate but equal" locations to warehouse these> children?> > > Fighting McKay so they could receive state dollars to maintain> subpar> > > programming?> > >> > > If the City of Weston cannot adaquately manage sports fieldsfor> our> > > kids, what

business do they have managing their schools?> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >> >> >> > Caprio-Negret> > Vice President/Director of PR> > Rainbow Guardian> > www.rainbowguardian.org> > samantha@...> > > >