To my local Staten Island, news and media, and political friends. Im asking you for a few minutes of your time to read this. My son was diagnosed with Aspergers and ADHD back in 2010, and struggled with school because his condition was too severe to be in a large integrated Co-teaching class, and too high functioning to be in a general Autism program such as NEST. Because of this, he had been placed in a general special ed class (where he did not interact with non-special ed students) for the last 2 years of his elementary school time, and it really held him back socially and academically. His last year in elementary school, he was placed in a class with kids that were mostly disciplinary problems and not kids with the same type of issues he has and he was bullied by these kids. Last year he was accepted into a one of a kind program at IS24 called the Transitional Aspergers Program (TAP). TAP is designed to help students such as my son that have Aspergers, but didn’t necessarily come from NEST or other programs. These are the kids that didn’t fit a cookie cutter assessment, these were kids that up to this point were kind of lost in the cracks of what services could be provided. TAP is different than most other autism programs in that they have been able to take pieces of other programs such as Co-teaching, combined with the right ratio of Special Ed students to “normal” students, and structure the learning in a way that Aspergers students could grasp. TAP also uses Media and Performing Arts and interaction with non-special ed students to get these kids to learn to come out of their shells and excel. This program was developed over years of trial and error and it arrived at most of its structure from the success of the students that have gone thru the program. We attended a parents meeting in June where they bought back former TAP Students, and the stories were phenomenal. Most of the students were regents graduates, most of the students have transitioned to High School and beyond with less of a reliance on Special Ed resources (which ultimately translates to spend a little more money now, so that these kids can get on their feet so they do not need additional resources when they get older). My son went from hating going to school to wanting to go every day, so much so, he did not miss one single day of school despite there being one of the worst winters in recent history. He made honor roll for most of the year, and performed in the school chorus at events that included a Habitat for Humanity show to honor President Carter. The program has really bought out the best in him. Last night, my wife and i attended a meeting at IS24 that informed us that the Department of Education’s ASD Budget office has cut $250,000 from IS24’s budget. Because of this, The program lost 3 teachers, and other support staff, and has forced the school to combine the 2 classes at each grade level into a single class each. This disrupts the balance that the TAP program has developed during the run of the program in which a class would have 6 TAP students in each class ( which is now 12) with less resources to go around. Faced with hard decisions to either cancel the program entirely and scatter these kids to wherever could take them, the IS24 Administration is trying to make the best of a bad situation. If it was an issue of resources and budgets simply being cut city and program wide, we would understand the Board of Education and the Chancellor’s stubble to make ends meet, but other BOE programs such as the city funded Universal Pre-K program that Mayor DeBlasio insisted be funded locally, and an expansion of NEST (which the Chancellor was highly involved in) have all seen funds that could be devoted to TAP funneled their way. Add in the fact that shoddy book keeping at the DOE lead to the loss of $356 million dollars of federal money that they were eligible to collect only highlights the negative changes that have occurred under the current administration. While it’s great that the schools are getting funding for free lunches or after school latchkey programs, the DOE is neglecting the TAP students and ignoring the results of the program in favor of pet projects. The kids in this program will be the ones to suffer. The kids that no one but this program have been able to reach and draw out the potential from in 6 years of schooling. The teachers and support staff that have worked so hard to find that delicate balance have been told to “do more with less, you are too expensive” while other items and programs are funded without a second thought because they fit a political agenda. If you are a local Staten Islander, I ask that you reach out to our local officials and ask them to help get TAP funded in the manner it should be. If you are a News and Media friend, i ask that you reach out to anyone in your circles that can draw attention to this issue, and see if anyone wants to tell this story. I can direct you to all of the players. If you are a political friend, i ask you to help out if you can, even if its against Party lines. In a world where funding doesn’t grow on trees, yes every penny counts, but results need to matter as well. TAPs results cannot be ignored. And if this program does not get the funding it needs, the lives of 36 students will be negatively impacted.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:39:18 +0000
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