Some public school officials would like their schools 'to be more like ice cream shops.'  No wonder our children - and the administration's pockets - are so fat!  And who is more naive?  The district officials attempting to integrate a fatally-flawed program into one of the nation's already worst systems, or the parents - from both sides of the equal opportunity argument?

     Remember when professional athletics used to be 'sports?'  Well, I remember when public schools used to be 'schools!'  Now, both are merely different forms of 'big business!'  We know who profits from these arrangements, and who stands to lose everything!

     Arizona districts are beginning to mainstream Special Education students, with the intent to have complete 'inclusion' within as little as two to three years.   Typically, General Education teachers, and the parents of General Education students, are against the inclusion method, citing educational disruption, curricular slowdown, lack of assistance and training - as well as the time, in an already limited, over-extended schedule - and the clinical experiences that what the administration is promoting is contrary to sound educational practices!  Administration, and the parents of Special Education students, claim that inclusion is necessary, and is the Law - to ensure that their children are receiving the identical exposures, experiences and education that the general population is receiving.  The classic, Arizona public schools' divide-and-conquer tactic.

     How do we make this a win-win proposition?  First, the Special Education parents must come to the realization that their children do not deserve the same treatment as the general population - they deserve better!  District officials tender their support for these programs by encouraging them to declare, 'I pay taxes, too!'  Actually, districts receive much more money, from various levels of government resources, for educating their children.  Why are these parents not outraged, when dozens of new administrative positions are created, and qualified, Special Education-trained teachers and support staff are either not aggressively sought, or the positions are eliminated?

     The majority of the Special Education population necessitate extremely low student/teacher ratios, as well as highly-qualified and specialized care, yet the reverse is occuring - and rapidly increasing!  Why is it that appropriate equipment/facilities for Occupational/Physical Therapies, and appropriate, specialized teacher training is not provided by administration, and demanded by these parents, so that their children may be better equipped to exist in a society that continues to evolve in Darwinian fashion, ie., Survival of the Fittest?

     There are always exceptions, and there are certainly many Special Education students able to be successful in, at least, some General Education settings.  However, the protestations of the General Education parents are valid, though deafeningly muted - and proof is readily available by researching the abominable status of Arizona public education, as compared with the other 49 States.  Students should be mainstreamed on a case-by-case basis - and the law IS clear, that this IS allowed.  Someone recently stated that 'it is the IEP(Individual Education Program) that drives a student's day.'  It is actually the districts' budgets that do the driving.  Some districts have publically refused to develop and implement curriculum-driven budgets(which directly, and adversely, affects Special Education funding), while maintaining top-heavy administrative budgets(follow the money trail) with your extra tax dollars!  And, while State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne declares it to be unfair that 658, of 1881, measured Arizona schools are Federal 'failures,' the reality is that the public is buying this nonsense - from the very people who will profit from these flagrant deceptions.

     Special Education parents should demand equal rights - but NOT equal education - they deserve better, and so does everyone else!  As for the ice cream, make it a sugar cone, with 2 scoops of money - not a shingle, with the flavor they're serving!