Putting special needs students in general classrooms a 'disservice'
Posted: Monday, July 12, 2010 12:00 am | Updated: 12:31 am, Thu Jul 22, 2010. By Jacob Owens
Stephen Stiles said it wasn't an impulsive decision that caused him to file his candidacy for a county school board seat just hours before the statewide July 6 deadline.
"My wife, Debra, and I had been talking about it for weeks now, but circumstances prevented me from filing until July 6," he said last week.
Stiles is the fourth candidate to file for the District 5 school board seat, which draws from the North East area and currently is held by Kirsten Gerhart, who is not seeking re-election.
Stiles will face off against travel agency owner Dawn Branch, former state Libertarian Party chief David Sten and fellow late filer Robert W. Lynn in the Sept. 14 primary, with the top two vote winners to face off in the Nov. 2 general election.
With three children who all graduated from Cecil County Public Schools and a wife who works in the county schools, Stiles said he feels a deep connection to the public school system.
One of the issues he said is closest to his heart is one that has shaped who he is through the years.
"I have spent 32 years working with developmentally challenged children, many of whom have lived with my family in some capacity," he said. "Only in the past few years, however, have I seen a move away from a system that aids those students in the classroom. We are moving individuals into classrooms where they won't learn the things they need to know and will have difficulty succeeding."
Stiles said the 2001 No Child Left Behind legislation and the move toward including some special needs students in general classrooms has been a disservice to many.
"I believe special needs students' time would be better spent if they were learning life skills," he said. "It's not fair to those students to be expected to reach up to lofty goals, and it puts a greater strain on our teachers to find ways to reach those students. Special needs students are best served with hands-on, repetitive learning with a specialized instructor."
Stiles also said teachers are overburdened from trying to meet expectations on standardized state tests.
"I believe we are spending too much time teaching to the state-mandated tests," he said. "The High School Assessment tests and Maryland School Assessment tests put a pressure on our educators to get good scores because no one wants to be seen as lagging behind others."
Stiles said the discussion of tying scores from those tests to teacher evaluations and tenure also worries him.
"I think some evaluation should be tied to a teacher's tenure," he said. "But test scores should be one of many factors in a teacher's evaluation."
Stiles also said the slow economy affects the way in which school boards should view state and federal mandates.
"Sometimes I think we go overboard when fulfilling these mandates, which puts us in a bind financially," he said. "There are times when school boards statewide should stand up to the state and tell them we simply don't have the funds."
Stiles also said the Cecil Technical High School is a project of great importance that needs to get off the ground sooner rather than later.
"When my last son entered high school about eight years ago, he wanted to go into automotive technology courses at Cecil County School of Technology, but he couldn't because the classes were full and was placed in HVAC courses instead," he said. "But HVAC didn't interest him and we ended up paying out of our own pockets to get him in a automotive training course outside of school. We desperately need the vocational programs expanded in Cecil County, and we are failing our students by not being able to offer them."
Stiles said he recognizes the financial challenge that the building of an all new technical high school would present. He said it requires creative thinking to find that money.
"There are a few places in the county with the space to begin piloting some of the vocational programs on a larger scale," he said. "We should be looking at leasing opportunities so we can get these programs off the ground while we wait for the tech high school funding."
Stiles said he would bring that creative thinking, as well as fiscal responsibility, to the school board.
jowens@cecilwhig.com
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