This is what it looks like when parents and professionals collaborate!
This is an organization in New Jersey. This article is a couple of years old. I don't have the original link to the story. The link to the Pathways organization is listed at the bottom.
MONTVILLE --Montville mother Melinda Jennis knows that, in many school
districts, educators and parents of students with disabilities typically
meet under limited circumstances -- at a yearly planning meeting or in a
courtroom.
Jennis knows because she was one of those parents. At one time, she said,
she was known as "the mom from hell."
These days, Montville's director of special education services, Maria
Eppolite, uses the words "positive,""productive,""influential" and
"respected" to describe Jennis.
Jennis and Eppolite say they do not always agree, but manage to work out
their differences in the best interests of students.
Jennis, president of Pathways for Exceptional Children, is working to
change the perception that, in the arena of special education, parents
and school officials are adversaries. Through Pathways, Jennis has
brought thousands of dollars of special education equipment, training and
materials into the Montville district. She's also become a mediator for
the K-12 district, helpingschool officials and parents avoid litigation
in nearly 20 special education cases.
"Somebody has to be dedicated to show it can be done," Jennis said.
On Nov. 18, Pathways will conduct a conference open to all parents,
teachers, school administrators, town councils and town recreation
departments to learn from Pathways and share ideas for incorporating
children with special needs in local schools and communities.
In addition to Jennis and Eppolite presenting their stories of
collaboration, Barbara Gantwerk and Roberta Wohle, two state education
officials overseeing special education, will speak about how New Jersey
educators must do a better job of including children with disabilities in
regular education settings. New Jersey has the highest rate of students
educated in segregated settings -- 9 percent. The national average is 3
percent.
Word of Pathway's success has spread, with more than 50 communities
asking Jennis for help in duplicating Pathways'programs. Since November
2002, when Pathways was formed, the group also has created more than 30
recreation programs in conjunction with Montville's recreation
department. Some 150 children with special needs, ages 3 to 18, have been
given a chance for a typical life -- playing sports, going to the movies
and playing with non-disabled children. In addition, about 1,400 typical
students have been trained as mentors.
For example, last month, Montville held a home run derby for 35 children
with special needs, ages 4 to 12. Local firefighters served as umpires,
and 50 typical children served as mentors.
"This is everybody's issue,"Jennis said. "Everybody has to be a part of
this."
What Pathways does differently than other parent support groups is
welcome school officials and parents of general education parents into
the fold, Jennis said. Often, special education parent groups will
exclude others, further isolating themselves, even while wanting
inclusion for their children, Jennis said. Pathways opened its board of
trustees to include a special education director and parents of general
education students.
Jennis has achieved a level of trust in the Montville school district
because she has shown that she wants to help the schools and children,
Eppolite said. The Montville special education director said she hopes
the conference will show others that their collaboration can be
replicated elsewhere.
"I hope people will understand that districts and parents can work
together in support of children," Eppolite said. "We can work
collaboratively. Litigation has been going on for many years, and I
haven't seen it work."
Both parents and educators sometimes don't believe what Jennis and
Pathways have accomplished, Jennis said. The conference, Jennis said, is
a way to show them the proof.
The day will start with teen mentors and parents talking about their
experiences in the program.
Jonathan Kayne joined Pathways when he was in middle school. His mother
saw an ad for the mentoring program and called to sign him up.
"She didn't tell me she'd called, but, today, I'm glad she did," said
Kayne, 16, a Montville High School junior.
Kayne is a lead mentor, who shows younger students how to help support
children with disabilities. He also has a weekly two-hour "Big Brother"
session with Michael, an eighth-grader with a learning disability.
Kayne helps Michael with his homework and, once that's done, they play
keyboard, do puzzles or just hang out and talk. The two have become
friends.
"A lot of kids didn't know (students with disabilities) existed," Kayne
said. "People look at someone with special needs as different, and maybe
I used to, too, but they're not. They're the same as us."
In addition to feeling good about the support he offers, he has gained
leadership and public speaking experience, he said. He now is considering
an undergraduate degree in scientific research of autism and other
disabilities.
The idea for the mentoring program stemmed from Jennis watching her son,
Jacob, travel back and forth from home to school and never going anywhere
else. Jacob has autistic-like difficulties and attends school outside
Montville. He had nothing to do after school and had no friends. Today,
the 9-year-old has a social calendar that's tough to keep up with.
"These kids go from home to school and do nothing else,"Jennis said.
"They're totally dependent on their families. They have no community."
"With our programs, they learn teamwork, rules, practice, discipline.
These are keys to success later in life. They're exposed to the real
world."
Check out the website for Pathways at
http://www.montvillepec.org/index.htm