Memo to New Member of the Montgomery County Board of Education Scott Joftus

Mr Joftus: We have never met, but I just read your piece from 2012 that contained the following:

"My daughter’s kindergarten class included a troubled boy who was going through the foster-care placement process. He is exactly the type of child that can benefit most from an excellent education, but he regularly disrupted class. One day, when I was in the classroom, the teacher—talented, but inexperienced—spent more than half of her time trying to keep this boy on task. I feel for children like him; my company works with schools and districts to improve outcomes for these kids. But I was angry. The other children were clearly uncomfortable. His disruptions reduced learning time for my daughter, and seemed to steal some of her innocence and excitement about school."

I noted that your essay did not contain a solution, just your anger over "children like him" disrupting learning time for your own daughter. I have been a special education advocate for over 25 years. I have been in a meeting where an MCPS school principal told me that once a particular child left her school, he would be "someone else's problem." Attitudes like that do nothing to solve the issues of children with emotional and learning challenges. Believe me that their caregivers are unhappy with the situation, teachers are unhappy with the situation, school administrators are unhappy with the situation. But the answer lies WITHIN THE POWER OF THE BOE TO ADDRESS: staffing and training. Prompt referral and evaluation if disability is suspected. Instead, what usually happens is escalating discipline and suspensions. It will take a true advocate for children to turn around this system of blame and punishment for students with behavioral and emotional challenges. I have not seen that any of the current BOE are that person. Are you? Lyda L. Astrove Esq.