Candidates Discuss Special Education Needs, Concerns

About 20 people turned out for a meeting of the Special Education Alliance Wednesday, as the seven candidates vying for seats on the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education answered questions about how they can improve the district for special education students.

“We do this every year there is a contested election,” said alliance co-president Eileen Reilly-Horch. “Special education is what this group is about, and I don’t know if there are any other groups that could do a meeting like this.”

Vying for two open seats to represent Bridgewater on the board are incumbents Evan Lerner and Arvind Mathur, and newcomers Elizabeth Eisinger Lande, Barbara Kane and Lisa Giranda. Running for the one open Raritan seat are incumbent Al Smith and Ann Marie Mead.

After each candidate had an opportunity to introduce him or herself, questions from members of the alliance centered on the strengths and weaknesses of the special education program in the district, and how to work with those students who do not make proficiency.

Lerner said he would like to see fewer students leaving the district for special needs services, and more staying in-house to get the help they need.

“In the last three or four years, we started a new literacy for special education program,” he said. “I think the best way to work with special education students is to teach young kids to read and write. We can then raise the bar, and hopefully the number of students who are partially proficient will shrink.”

Kane expressed a similar opinion, stating that the best thing to do is to address the issues in the younger grades, namely Kindergarten through third grade.

“Issues with learning have to be addressed in grades K through three,” she said. “I would look at the issue of equity and the greatest access to materials. One size does not fit all, and I would say to the teacher to tell me about the child to make sure the resources are there.”

Giranda said she believes the district’s biggest weakness is the education process itself because it is important to figure out how best to communicate with the students, and convince them and the parents to advocate for the children.

“It’s not necessarily a weakness,  but we have to help the students become their own advocates,” she said.

In response to a question about how to keep in mind those students who never make proficiency on the academic tests, Mathur said it is important to take everything on a case-by-case basis.

“We have to trust our team to decide what is needed to help,” he said. “I think we can trust the administration to decide.”

All the candidates had a similar reaction, saying that all students are different, and each has to be treated differently based on specific needs.

“We have to make a plan to help the students be functioning,” Kane said. “It’s the job of the board to look at the pennies to make the best possible solution.”

And, Lande said, it is important to remember that some students who are not in special education classes do not always make proficiency.

“Different children require different methodologies,” she said. “And we need to get more feedback as the children grow older to make sure each child feels like he or she is accomplishing.”

Some students, Smith said, don’t test well, but are not in special education classes.

“We have to take a look at the whole child, the whole system and the whole teacher,” he said. “The tests are not a panacea.”

But all the candidates agreed that social skills training is very important as part of the academic curriculum.

“It’s going to be critical to success,” Mead said.

Lande said she is more concerned about the social skills of the middle school students, and would recommend reintroducing social training for them.

“And a little tolerance training wouldn’t be adverse,” she said. “Children’s needs are varied, so it’s hard to create one program.”

Lerner said he believes it is important for regular education students to work with those in special education classes because they learn what it is like to be with all kinds of people.

“We have a Panther preschool program with regular education students with special education ones,” he said. “It teaches the kids to be nice to others, to do service and to work with others.”

Smith agreed that is important for all kinds of children to work together, and he remembers when he used to drive a bus for autistic children. He said he would see students who were very antisocial, which he does not believe would serve them well later.

“You cannot teach unless there is a minimum of discipline, order and acceptance,” he said. “If they can’t survive in society, we failed them.”

As to the question of how they will as board members work to get more funds for special education, the candidates said the most difficult issue for all districts is finding more money.

“We have to work with the pot of money we are given,” Mead said. “There have been a lot of funding cuts, but we can look at it now with a new set of eyes. We have to look at the money we have, and different ways to consolidate.”

Kane said one option might be to look into shared services among districts, but with the main intent of doing more with less.

And Giranda and Lande said they believe it is a matter of looking outside the box and being creative with the funds they have.

“We need to see how the industry has downsized or shifted, and then respond,” Giranda said. “We need to brainstorm, come up with some ideas and maybe find more funds.”

Smith said the district jut has to be as efficient as possible with the money it does have.

“The key is to make every dollar do $1.10 worth of work,” he said.

And in line with that, the association asked for the candidates’ thoughts on the benefits of co-teaching, which all said is still based on what the individual children need.

“It is good for kids, and helps them socialize,” Mead said. “They play together, lead and are led. We have the right resources for that.”

Giranda said it still depends on what is best for the child.

“There are different perspectives for teachers, and there is the ability to share ideas at the end of the day,” she said. “If it benefits the child and works, I fully support it.”

And Lande said it is a difficult challenge for the principals to find the right combination of teachers to work with the individual students.

“It isn’t for everyone,” she admitted.

Finally, the association asked for opinions on Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed regional schools for special education students, and, although some of the candidates said they were not entirely sure what the entire proposal was, they do believe it is better to keep all students together.

“There is no place like home, and I have a lot of faith in our staff,” Lerner said. “I would not like to see the kids in other schools.”

“Bigger is not better, and you cannot put a money tag on a child,” Mathur added.

Smith outright said he believes it is a terrible idea.

“Are we going to academically segregate them?” he asked. “What happens to socialization?”

Reilly-Horch said she believes attendance was a little lower than normal at Wednesday's because of the snowy weather, but she was glad to have the opportunity to hear from the candidates.

“Certainly I’ve become more informed about who I want to vote for,” she said.