Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 December 2004 — Page 4

PAGE A4

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2004

SCHOOLS

> Continued from Page 1 That was the model that we were using for children back then. From then we evolved to say, ‘no, those children should be allowed to go public schools,’” he said. “Before we were kind of looking at a label and placing the child in a box, now we’re asking, ‘what is the kid’s need’ and we start with general education and then go the more restrictive environments.” To determine whether a child should be placed in a LRE some are screened, which refers to “the use of a brief and economical procedure for identifying children suspected of disabling conditions." The guidelines specify that the primary focus of screening is to identify students who may need additional assessment and not identify them for classification or labeling. Many schools in the state have taken the LRE component and adapted it to fit the flow of how the school is run. The Indianapolis Public Schools system has a unique way of dealing with its special education and general education teachers. “We do a lot of insurance on co-teaching,” said Mary Jo Dard, director of special education and student services for IPS. “What we do when we have an inclusion situation is we have a general ed teacher and a special ed teacher and they teach (the children) together.” She added, “We don’t want the special ed teacher to only teach children with disabilities and the general ed teacher teach everyone else because it singles them

out. We want them to plan together and then teach together.” In Washington Township things are run differently. “We look at inclusion as a philosophy not a placement," said Karol Farrell, director of special services. “The placement responsibilities we have for the children and their families is to assure that our LRE continuum is in place. That continuum ranges all the way from a very restrictive setting to a very non-restrictive setting.” She continues saying, “For example a restrictive setting includes a self contained special education setting while a least restrictive setting allows the child to participate in the general classroom for the majority of the day. When the children are participating in the general classroom, dependent upon their needs, we determine what types of supports are necessary to enable them to receive a quality education.” Though these guidelines allow for a vastly in-depth look at how schools can offer special education students a proper and fair education, Mayrra says problems within inclusion exist. Such as over referral, which happens when more students are referred for special education than are actually eligible under state regulations and isolation where many students served by special education spend little or no time in the general education environment, which may lead to programmatic disruption when students are pulled out of the educational mainstream or are dislocated from their home community. Mayrra says that though there

are problems there are also solutions that permit teachers to ask for help. “A lot of teachers do not know that a provision was added in 1997. which says that a general education teacher has the right to ask for additional support and trainingto carryout achild’sIEP," he stated. “I would also like to see a licensure at the bachelor level in all universities that really combines special ed and general ed.” He added that in Indianapolis, IUPUI has mandated that all graduates in its School of Education must have a combined degree in general education and special education, which allows the new teachers to be better suited to deal with all children that they come in contact with. Superintendent Nate Jones in Pike Township, who recently finished his first year, says he recognizes that problems exist when dealing with inclusion situations and is more than ready to rectify them. “Pike Township is continuing to look at ways to improve their deliver}’ of services. Regarding inclusion we are going to have to look at how we can provide additional and professional development because we have to make sure that when w’e bring a special ed student in the classroom that our general ed teachers are prepared to deal with these students,” he said. “We also need to provide the same additional and professional development for special education teachers. The bottom line is to make sure that all students are receiving the best possible education.”

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Celebrating 100 years Floyd Lolla Sr. (center), recently celebrated his 100 th birthday at Holy Angels Catholic Church. Family and friends gathered to help celebrate while Doris Jean Campbell (left) and Carl Lolla (right) both enjoy the celebration. (Photo/C. Guynn)

Food for the needy Front row left to right: Julius Mayes, Michelle Kimbrough, Marvin Bardo, Nate Lofton and James Mosby. Back row left to right: Arthur Carter, Myron Hardiman and Michael Owens pass out food baskets to the needy at the Indianapolis Urban League for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity's Christmas food give away. (Photo/C. Guynn)

NEWS BRIEFS ► Continued from Page 1 Court upholds property tax settlement GARY, Ind. (AP)-A $53 million property tax settlement between U.S. Steel, the state and Lake County can stand, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled. The settlement should help ease pressure on county taxpayers who face two .years' worth of property tax bills next year because of reassessment delays, Gary Mayor Scott King said. Under the settlement, the steel giant agreed to pay $44 million in back taxes, and invest $150 million in its Gary Works mill over the next four years.

The state also agreed to pay Lake County the $8.9 million in property tax replacement credits it would have received had U.S. Steel not withheld its taxes in previous years. As part of the deal, U.S. Steel also agreed to donate to the city 200 acres of land along Lake Michigan's shoreline that formerly was used as a slag dump. White River on rebound NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP)Five years after toxic discharges decimated fish populations along a 50-mile stretch of the White River, state officials say the waterway is on the rebound thanks to millions of

dollars in restoration efforts. Annual fish surveys show that the passage of time is also reviving the river, which has had at least two strong spawning seasons since the first batches of a million young fish were released back into its waters in 2000. More than $4 million has been spent to restore the river, with much of that used to create riverside buffer zones of plants and trees. But a complete recovery from the massive fish kill is years away. Bill James, chief of fisheries for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said it will take a decade for the river's fish to return to their pre-kill levels.

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