My Special Needs Grandaughter
Especially dear to my heart is the education of children with Special Needs. In the Farmington Public Schools, children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are not fairly treated and are often socially isolated from their peers who don’t have IDD. As a result, those with IDD do not achieve their full potential, and both groups suffer from a lack of mutual interaction and understanding. Indeed, I have heard from parents who complained about the treatment they and their IDD children have received from the District. This is not just the parent’s opinion, because according to the Mich. Dept. of Ed., students with disabilities at Harrison and North Farmington, did not meet academic progress targets.
One of my priorities is to work on remedying this sad situation, at no additional cost to the District. Therefore,
a) I shall solicit comments and inputs from parents of children with IDD, and use these inputs to see that changes are made to better serve this growing constituency.
b) I shall work to have the District establish a Best Buddies program in the schools. Best Buddies is a volunteer program founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver. It creates opportunities for one-on-one friendships between IDD and non-IDD students, and integrated employment and leadership development for people with IDD. From personal experience, I know this volunteer program has been very successful in improving academic progress in every State in which it has been implemented in the secondary schools.
electginsberg 