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Show Parents speak out against cuts in special education By CHERIE HUBER Almost 100 parents met at Monte Vista school to listen to speakers who told them that "grass roots is where politics begin." The parents who are concerned j about the cuts in special education i and how it will affect their children and teachers in the program who are losing their positions are working work-ing together to reverse the situation. situa-tion. Kelly Anderson of Bountiful who has a son at Monte Vista told the group that the most powerful political person is the person with the vote. He also said that he considered consi-dered this not a financial issue but a social and moral issue. He questioned ques-tioned why special education is being singled out for cuts when other programs like football, art and choir do not have to take equal cuts. The second speaker, Judy Nix-son, Nix-son, is a social worker serving 90 students in nine schools. With the cutbacks she said that social work was cut from 1 196 students, speech therapy from 750 students, psycho- logical help from 350 students. She also told the audience that these cuts are just the beginning and that more professionals will be rift next year. "If Davis county goes, the rest of the state will be watching and it will follow suit" she told the audience. audi-ence. She also told the parents that despite what they may have been told, insurance will not cover these services. She also told the audience that an aid may give therapy if training has been given and if a professional is in the building. But she questioned ques-tioned whether the aids have the I knowledge to cope with many of I the problems. i The next speaker, Christine Workman is an aid in a self-contained self-contained classroom at Meadow-brook. Meadow-brook. "I would not feel confident in delivering special aid," she said. She went on to outline the parents legal rights and recourses as advocates advo-cates of handicapped children. If services are cut, she told the audience, audi-ence, parents can demand that the school board contract privately for the services. She also told the group that principals have been told not to sign Individual Educational Educa-tional Programs that name specific pnfessional help. Parents however howev-er have the right to ask that specific kinds of help and a set number of hours of therapy be placed on the record. Mrs. Workman advised the parents pa-rents to continue to write, call and make themselves vocal. Then if in the fall the services are not pro vided, they can go to the Legal Aid Center for the Handicapped in Salt Lake and use due process of law. She told the parents that although many parents have been told that to do that would drain more funds from the Special Education Edu-cation funds, this is not true. She also told the parents that if the cuts were across the board, only one half of 1 would come from special education. Representative Arlo D. James from West Jordan spoke on his proposal of a state lottery to raise funds for education. (See separate story). The final speaker Sherilin Rowley Row-ley repeated the need for the parents pa-rents to become very vocal in their feelings. Home and work phone numbers for members of the school board were given out. "They should only have time to catch their breath from one call, before someone else calls thjm," she said. She also suggested that parents withdraw their membership from the PTA as the PTA didn't pass the measure that would give their support sup-port to 100 funding for handicapped handicap-ped children. The measure lacked seven votes at the PTA convention and it was reported that many of the delegates from Davis County were the ones who voted against the issue. |