A Day in the Life at Chicago Public Schools - Special Ed

A local story went national yesterday. A mother arrived at school to find her child separated from the other kids and wearing a garbage bag. According to the mother one official defended the practice by saying since there was no rule explicitly against it, it wasn't actionable.

Meanwhile, Chicago Public Schools is cutting vast sums of money from special ed in an unprecedented way (after the school year has already started).

Mark Brown, at Chicago Sun-Times, went to CPS' press conference and wrote that this is a calculated move to push kids out of special ed. Special ed is expensive.

In a Facebook post, quoted with permission, activist and former mayoral candidate Jesus Chuy Campuzano agreed. He posted this picture of a slide which demonstrates how CPS is planning to tear apart their special ed program.

Image Description: Who are our Diverse Learners in CPS?

The majority of students with disabilities in CPS qualify for services

because of a specific learning disability (50.4%). For the most part, these students have

average or above average intellectual ability (IQ) and should

be learning with their peers.

I also have a number of other stories from parents I hope to be sharing in a forthcoming piece. It's not good.