All right. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Yes, ma'am. Come forward. Thank you. We have enjoyed such excellent testimony and you've all been great and wonderful and patient. Thank you.
Thank you for letting me speak. I appreciate the opportunity.
My name is Cecilia Thompson and I am the Secretary for the organization called The Philadelphia Right to Education Task Force, and in addition to that, I'm a 432 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. parent of a child with autism, who is in the Philadelphia school system. I won't be long. Briefly about the Task Force, in 1972, the Park consent decree required a local task force in every intermediate unit. Philadelphia is unique in that it's a school district, but it also operates as an intermediate unit as well, which is kind of a good and bad, because if it was a separate intermediate unit, it would advocate programs for children with special needs, but because it acts as a school district, it kind of wears two hats. 8 percent of children who drop out are children with disabilities, and, unfortunately, there aren't any programs to recapture them in the school population, because a lot of those 433 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. children do have some type of developmental delays where their behaviors manifest in such a way that is very disruptive to the class, especially if they don't have a TSS through their insurance or support staff through the School District. So, unfortunately, the staff, be it teachers and administrators of that particular school, don't go after them because that's one less behavior that they have to put up with in that school. So there isn't anything to even recapture those students at this point in time. And also in reference to the charter schools, the Office of Specialized Services does fund some funding to the charter schools, but because there is no way to audit -- for example, there are children who are supposed to be in charter schools that are supposed to receive special education monies, but those children aren't in school but they still receive the money. 434 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. So I feel that before Mr. Vallas and the SRC and those powers that be cut some funding, they should try to recover funding that was due to the School District from the charter schools before taking any step to cut any funding. But nevertheless, Philadelphia serves a higher number of students with disability compared to the rest of the state. Although we have more students identified with disabilities, we have far fewer kids included in general education and the least restrictive environment. Students in Philadelphia need more support in order to be educated and make progress on the general education curriculum. Proposed cuts to school nurses concern us, when more children receiving medical management come to school with chronic conditions and medical advancements have allowed severely disabled students to attend public schools more than ever before. School 435 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. nurses are also required to monitor Section 504 plans, and that's accommodations for children who are eligible for special education services. Cuts to counselors who have taken on truancy, mental health, case management and special education liaison roles are unacceptable, and students with emotional disabilities need more, not less, support. Development and monitoring IEPs, which are Individual Education Plans, is a critical and time-consuming task. Due process is even more time consuming and costly, yet when there are not enough personnel, due process will continue to balloon out of control. Any reduction in professional non-teaching staff will most certainly impact special education programs. A tremendous number of students with disabilities depend on specialized transportation and well-trained transportation staff. Even though the 436 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Individuals With Disability Act requires reasonable travel times, stories tell of routes exceeding acceptable times. And as a side note, in the School District of Philadelphia, an acceptable time to be on the bus is one hour. We cannot imagine how devastating transportation cuts would be.
Class size, important to the appropriate education of all students, is critical for students with disabilities. Differentiating instruction and including students with disabilities to ensure access to the general curriculum is nearly impossible with oversized classes. This often forces children into more restrictive settings. 8 percent dropout rate for children with disabilities vividly displays more hurdles we must overcome. Our middle schools need more supports to ensure students stay in school, including remedial math and 437 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. reading. And everything else was said, but I didn't hear anything about services for children with special needs. And although legally they can't be cut, everything that affects regular children affects students with disabilities. Cutting art programs, a lot of children with autism have an innate gift for drawing and if you cut the art program because the principal has to make a decision to get a literacy teacher because she's under the pressure or he's under the pressure of getting up AYP, then not only does that art program or that music program affect regular children but it also affects children with disabilities, because those are the programs that they really need to enrich their overall lives and make education fun for them. That's all I wanted to say, and I do appreciate the opportunity to speak.
Thank 438 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. you, Ms. Thompson. We agree this is a very important area and an underserved area. We work a lot -- we've had hearings in past years on children who take Ritalin, Prozac and other behavior-altering drugs, and albeit they don't fit into being autistic children, they fit into children who have no 10 special program designated. All schools, charter and regular schools, take this population and try to fit them into the general realm of their everyday experience, and it's very, very difficult to ask, as you have indicated, already busy teachers to make sure that there's a nurse on that given day or to make sure the designated program or person that provides nursing services or medical services or medication is in place. It's a whole, as you've indicated, really unserved realm that has to be dealt with, in addition to just underserved children who are often poor and don't have family and community 439 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. support systems. But I hope that you will give your phone number to my staff and your address so that we maintain contact with you, and we want to work with you more closely on this issue.
And just one more thing that just popped into my head. I haven't seen what Mr. Vallas submitted to the Council, but I know transportation was still one of those areas that was considering being cut. One of those was the bus matrons. Now, I know the bus matrons can't possibly make that kind of money where they have to be cut, because the driver cannot drive the bus and watch the kids at the same time. There's only one bus matron on the bus, in addition to their considering reevaluating all children with special needs who have on their IEP that they need somebody on the bus with them. For example, my son runs up and down on the bus, and I don't want the alternative for him to be strapped on 440 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. a bus because you're trying to save money. He needs somebody to sit with him just in case his behaviors get out of control. And that's the same for any child with autism or a developmental delay where they can have a moment where their behaviors are out of control. I'm just afraid that trying to save a couple dollars because Mr. Vallas made an oopsie in the budget that now these kids are strapped and restrained and sometimes the restraints can be too tight and you can just have horror stories go on from there. And in addition, as I close, I think with the School of the Future, it's a good idea and I do like it, but there were some mix-up in the funding. The person in charge of that was supposed to take the paperwork to the Bill Gates Foundation where they would have funded it fully, and I believe that was a funding of $100 million, but instead they took the paperwork to the Microsoft 441 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. Corporation, which does not fund the school. All they do is give you unlimited technical support. I heard what he said, but if that flub had not happened, we wouldn't probably be having these hearings.
Well, we'll make a copy of the information he gave to us available to you. And I just checked as you were speaking and it says that bussing is not to be cut, but the whole issue of what individual principals consider is certainly worthy of consideration. But we'll make this available to you as well.
Thank you. The Joint Committees on Education and Finance will stand in recess. Thank you everyone who has testified, who is here, who is still in the building and can hear the rest of this testimony. It's been very, very 442 12/11/06 - EDUCATION - RES. 060806, ETC. important, and we will be in touch. Thank you. (Joint Committees on Finance and Education adjourned at 5:05 p.m.) - - - 443 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on December 11, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)