Teaching Your Children Well

Since Congress enacted what’s now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975, state and local school boards have made massive adjustments and accommodations to meet the law’s requirements—in spite of the federal government’s consistent failure to fully fund them. The result has been nothing short of revolutionary.

But, again, don’t take our word for it. Ask parent Pam Conway.

“How many times have I said ‘wonderful’?” she asks in the middle of an interview about her experience with the St. Paul public schools.

Conway’s journey began when her son Tom, who’s now twenty-one, was born with Down syndrome. He entered St. Paul’s public school system in preschool and was one of the original participants in the special ed inclusion program at Hayden Heights Elementary. He spent mornings in special ed classrooms and afternoons in regular classrooms, all the while accompanied by a special ed teacher. Pam Conway says she will never forget a conversation she had with Tom’s junior high homeroom teacher. “I told her who I was and thanked her for accepting a special-needs child in her classroom,” she recalls. “She hugged me and said, ‘All children have special needs.’ ”

High school was an especially positive experience for Tom because he became part of the school community. According to his mom, he took shop classes, was involved in a “wonderful” special ed program, and played in a “wonderful” adaptive sports program. Tom even played on a championship floor hockey team for Humboldt High. Now Tom attends a program called Transition to Independence, also run by the St. Paul schools. He has done well at several jobs and looks forward to moving to his own place.

It angers Pam Conway when people say special ed takes money away from regular classrooms. “My son is a contributing member of society,” she points out. “Years ago, you were told to put such a child in an institution.”

Jill Manske is a professor of biology at the University of St. Thomas. She and her husband, Michael Klutho, an attorney, learned that their son Kevin was autistic when he was about three. Their pediatrician immediately sent them to the St. Paul public schools for an assessment of Michael. “From that moment,” says Manske, “almost without exception, every teacher and department has been amazingly professional, going way beyond what one would expect, to care for these kids and their families.”

Kevin entered kindergarten basically nonverbal and remained a nonreader until third grade. By the time he left elementary school, he was reading at grade level and was almost there in math. Now sixteen, Kevin attends St. Paul Open School and is doing “just great,” his mom says. “This is a kid who talks about college now,” she says. “Things we never dreamed for him we now think about, thanks to this army of angels who helped support him. Watching them has made me a better teacher too.

“It’s not an overstatement to say the public schools saved my kid,” Manske continues. “We didn’t move here for the schools, but we were certainly lucky to find them.”

Emily Lagace is a doctor, as is her husband, John Faughnan. Two of their three children have some areas of developmental delay. Both boys—one eight, the other six—started in St. Paul’s special ed program when they were two. The schools have been “absolutely helpful,” willing to listen to parents and treating special-needs families as a resource rather than regarding them as a nuisance. “The boys are coming along as well as they possibly could—happy and learning in their school settings,” says Lagace.

The family recently moved, but to another home within the city, thus keeping their children in the St. Paul system. Their daughter, who is three, will also attend the city’s public schools. “We could not consider doing otherwise,” Lagace says.