"The full cost of implementing this project will be $3.3 million, excluding the capital investments that will be made to renovate and re-equip Wheaton High School in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. MCPS will need approximately $3.3 million over the next 36 months to cover the costs of necessary equipment and materials, professional development, and supplies."
page 10-11:
"The decrease in overall enrollment and the increase in special education students with severe disabilities, ESOL students, and students performing at the basic level have required the schools to: offer more academic supports and changes to the academic schedule; reduce the number of sections of each course offered; and change the ways in which classroom spaces are used. To repurpose classroom space from high-end classes to support remedial classes, for example, a networking computer classroom had to be converted into an ESOL classroom. Classes formerly used for AP classes had to be turned into Special Education Life Skills classrooms and READ 180 classrooms."
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As a special education advocate, I deeply resent the justification for the grant that MCPS is offering here: that students with disabilities who need the Fundamental Life Skills curriculum are somehow at fault for "taking up space" that would be otherwise used by AP students.
I thought the SAME thing when I read that Ms. Astrove... how arrogant!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you look at the breakdown of the 3.3 million, 2.7 million of it is for salaries and benefits - primarily fornew "administrative" positions.. NOT for students, equipment, facilities, etc.