KEY EDUCATIONAL STAFF AND THEIR ROLES

I wasn’t clear about all the different people involved at the school.  Once I had a better idea of who they were and how they worked together, I felt more comfortable communicating with people at my daughter’s school.  --Marguerite, mother of Dora, age 9

The best advocates understand collaboration.  They know that working with others sometimes means compromising, finding alternative solutions, and accepting group decisions.

In your interaction with the school system, you will be working with an array of educators and administrators.  To be most effective, you should understand the roles of the various school system personnel who influence your child’s educational experience.  This can decrease the frustration level for many parents and allow parents to make specific requests to the appropriate persons.

CLASSROOM TEACHER

The role of the teacher has changed drastically in the last 20 years.  Many educators are finding that the changes are due to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation are difficult.  They are under tremendous pressure from their school principals to produce students who score well on mandatory statewide tests.  Many states are adopting teacher evaluation policies that punish or reward teachers based on the outcomes of their students’ performance on these tests. In almost every state all students must take these tests every time they are offered. It is generally required students take the test form for the grade level in which they are enrolled, even if they are working below grade level.  This remains true whether or not students are placed in special education. In response, many teachers are required to conform to a preset curriculum program and follow a standardized pace. As a result, teachers have been forced to eliminate the majority of the creative activities from their instruction. By the middle elementary years a major focus of instruction is to ensure mastery of skills to optimize test scores.

Teachers today face many additional stressors.  Her are some examples:

• The growing numbers of at-risk learners and the philosophy of including these children in mainstream classrooms has resulted in increased responsibilities for which teachers feel unprepared;
• A decrease in parental involvement and changing standards of behavior and social mores has increased classroom management difficulties;
• Frustration of teachers being required to ensure all learners master the same material at the same time regardless of their personal development and needs;
• School administrators require classroom teachers to complete additional paperwork, stick to a rigid program and maintain an orderly environment at all times, sometimes without permitting students much needed breaks such as recess;
• Budget cuts have led to increasingly overcrowded classrooms and reductions in support staff, less time to plan adequately for instruction, and a lack of access to necessary resources.

Classroom teachers can help children with special needs by providing simple accommodations within the classroom.  Many times these are referred to as “generally accepted good teaching practice” Examples include:

• Allowing a water bottle on a student’s desk
• Providing bathroom passes
• Placing the student’s desk in a location that minimizes distractions
• Giving permission to a child to take a quiet time out from work
• Routinely reducing the amount of class work and homework and providing homework waivers or extensions
• Allowing use of a calculator, computer or other technology aids

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR

A school administrator needs to be an instructional leader, but some are simply building managers.  In the current educational climate, an effective school administrator needs to be both an instructional leader and an effective manager.  The school administrator is responsible for:

• Ensuring that students pass state-mandated tests
• Maintaining  a balanced budget
• Complying with district directives, initiatives, and policies
• Encouraging family involvement and maintaining good community relations
• Ensuring staff compliance with all state and federal regulations

The building level administration has the power to:

• Assign staff within the building;
• Change classroom assignments;
• Provide a second set of textbooks;
• Assist with ensuring teacher compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Section 504 of American Disabilities Act;
• Waive tardies and discipline actions;
• Make decisions about site based funding allocations, sometimes earmarked, and at other times at administrative discretion.

The school principal can be an important ally, particularly in situations regarding discipline and the allotment of educational aides.  In larger facilities, schools sometimes have a building principal and multiple assistant principals that deal primarily with student discipline.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST

The school psychologist is responsible for completing the educational assessments as well as explaining the results of the testing to the parent for the child study team.  The school psychologist has the potential to be an effective ally for the parent and advocate for the child if they are well-informed about bipolar disorder and well versed in current treatment practices.  He or she can also be a difficult roadblock for a parent if they are not informed about pediatric bipolar disorder or if they do not believe in or discount the child’s diagnosis.

The school psychologist is responsible for:

• Collaborating with others to ensure that a child succeeds academically, socially and emotionally;
• Assessing/evaluating student strengths and weaknesses by completing assessments, observations and review of outside reports and data;
• Working with individual students and teachers to help develop techniques to manage behavior at home and in the classroom, develop effective teaching and learning strategies as well as prevent or manage crises.

Some, but not all school districts will also have their school psychologists assist with related matters.  This can include:  intervention; prevention; research and planning; developing or providing programs for children at risk of school failure who are struggling with social skills; anger management; or providing individual and group counseling to assist with family and school crises such as death, illness or community trauma.

SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER/GUIDANCE COUNSELOR

In many districts, the school social worker plays a similar role to the school psychologist. They are generally assigned to secondary schools and sometimes at elementary sites with a large percentage of at-risk learners and those that receive federal funding under the Title I program.  He or she is part of the child study team and becomes involved at the point when concerns are raised about a child’s emotional/behavioral issues.

A social worker is responsible for:

• Collaborating with others to ensure that a child succeeds academically, socially and emotionally;
• Evaluating student strengths and weaknesses by completing assessments, observations and review of outside reports and data.  These are usually related to the emotional and behavioral component, whereas the school psychologist’s assessments more often have to do with academic performance;
• Working with individual students and teachers to help develop techniques and to manage behavior at home and in the classroom, develop effective teaching and learning strategies, as well as prevent or manage crises;
• Prepare a “Functional Behavioral Assessment,” which most districts require for students who demonstrate emotional or behavioral difficulties and are being assessed for placement in a setting which assists students who are emotionally impaired (in schools where there is no social worker, the school psychologist sometimes fills this role). Providing individual and group therapy as identified on a student’s IEP, as well as assessing crises situations for students on their caseload.

The school social worker can be an invaluable resource for parents.  It can be helpful to be in touch with him or her on a regular basis, since the classroom teachers do not generally have the time or knowledge of the issues to call the parents and provide an update on the child’s emotional status.

DISTRICT-LEVEL PERSONNEL

The mandate of the Director of special Education or Superintendent is to ensure a continuum of learning opportunities for all students within the district.  This may mean managing a variety of programs within the district or developing collaboratives or consortia to provide special education services as needed.  The Director of Special Education is responsible for:

• Ensuring compliance with IDEA, NCLB, and ADA as well as other state and Federal regulations;
• Ensuring special education services are provided to students within the district’s budget;
• Working directly with building administrators and school psychologists to ensure that student needs within the district are evaluated and met.

The Director of Special Education has the authority to:

• Hire new staff as needed to ensure that a student’s FAPE (right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education) is provided
• Oversee the appropriate teacher credentials are in place so that every student is taught by a highly qualified educator
• Authorize a change in placement for a child including out of district, in-district and homebound instruction

Parents who are struggling with school personnel should speak with the Director of Special Education before filing a formal complaint.  This key administrator can correct problems occurring within the child study/IEP team, and can pressure reluctant building administrators to provide necessary services.  When a parents feels the team is ignoring a child’s need or is not providing the level of service the parent feel is appropriate, contacting the district administrator in writing to request an informal due process hearing is a good idea.  The district administrator can resolve issues and prevent the IEP team from becoming adversarial.