Somewhere Near You

     Somewhere in a school near you, students are transferring from other schools with services mandated that they won’t receive. They can’t learn the way other kids do. They don’t have the ability to focus and work in large groups. They get frustrated and act out. The services might include a portion of the day in a quieter setting with fewer distractions, to get help getting through the work. For the most challenged, it could mean a person assigned to them-just to help them learn to cope and get through the school day with their peers- getting as much done as possible; doing as many of the same things as possible. School budgets are challenging these days. There are fewer teaching staff, and larger class sizes. The school will delay and avoid the expense related with providing the service, and trust that the teacher will find a way to cope.

     Somewhere in a town near you, a family has to move. A job is lost, a parent has made a bad decision, a family is in turmoil… The kids are already experiencing stresses that damage chances of long term success, this is one more. The families that still feel school is a priority hope the school will give their kids what they need. More than that, they hope the new teacher will understand their child.

     Somewhere far away, people with a lot of money are trying to figure out how to make more. They have realized that education, like war, offers the chance for private interests to profit from public money. They publish tests and create data. They participate in a campaign of privately backed policy and politicians, and the acquisition of no-bid contracts. They are largely soft-handed, privileged, and far removed from real public schools, the people who do real work, and the very real financial insecurity experienced by most. Step one in their plan to exploit this situation is to target schools. It starts by blaming teachers.