Connecticut Agrees to Teach Some Mentally Retarded Children in Regular Classes

[Guest guest]

HARTFORD, Conn. - For years, many of the more than half a million mentally

retarded children in the U.S. have had different school experiences than

their peers, put in different classes, in different schools, sometimes in

entirely different school districts - yet it was never considered

discrimination.

That may have all changed with 16-year-old Jordan, and a legal deal

his family and other families won from the state of Connecticut. And many

say that it's not necessarily a good thing.

is mentally retarded, a high-functioning Down Syndrome sufferer who

has fought in the courts for 10 years not to be relegated to

special-education classes but to be able to take the same classes as average

kids.

" I never could've felt good about him being in a segregated classroom, "

's father, Bill Jordan, said. " Sometimes it's the easier way out, but

I never felt that that was appropriate. "

Before the agreement, mentally retarded children in Connecticut's 60 school

districts were generally excluded from academic classes such as algebra and

Spanish, but were often mainstreamed into physical education, art and music

classes and in the library and cafeteria.

The kind of education each mentally retarded kid received could differ as

well, depending on how each school district interpreted a child's abilities

as well as how they interpreted the Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act (IDEA), the law that Congress passed in 1975 to give disabled children

equal access to public education.

, who will enter the 10th grade in the autumn, was exceptional for a

Connecticut mentally retarded student. For years now, he has been in a

regular class, becoming a Boy Scout and earning a spot on the high school

swim team at his school in West Hartford, Conn.

But his parents continued to press a fight on behalf of other mentally

retarded children in Connecticut so that they might get the same opportunity

did under a uniform state policy.

The Jordans and other parents argued in a class-action lawsuit that by

barring most mentally retarded kids from regular classes, the state board of

education was violating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Even the U.S. Department of Education has conceded that it hasn't done a

stand-up job making sure each state's school districts followed IDEA.

The parents' fight ended last month, when the state of Connecticut agreed to

a groundbreaking settlement in which it promised to integrate more

special-education students into academic classes and activities with

children who don't have mental disabilities. By agreeing to settle with the

Jordans and the other parents, the state committed itself to spending

millions to re-train teachers to accomodate the disabled students.

" (This agreement) incorporates the basic principles that our law mandates .

which is that mentally retarded students should be schooled with the

nondisabled, " Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal said.

" Hopefully this settlement will save the time and expense that would have

been involved with further litigation. "

And the settlement agreement, which is expected to be approved by U.S.

Magistrate Donna F. ez, could set a precedent for how other states

handle the education of their mentally retarded children.

But many educators and legal experts are worried that adding the kids to the

mainstream student body will result in unwieldy classes, fewer resources and

classes being disrupted by children who have serious behavioral and health

problems.

" Regular classroom teachers are approaching this with trepidation, " the

Hartford Federation of Teachers' Edwin Vargas said. " They want to be sure

that they aren't being set up for failure. "

Walter Olson, a Manhattan Institute expert on disabilities law, said that

instead of helping disabled children move forward, the settlement could set

all the other children back.

" What it means for parents is more likelihood that something is going to be

going on in your kids' classroom other than a good education, " he said.

" More disruption, more falling behind in the material, more distraction for

the teacher. "

That's not the way Bill Jordan looks at it. By being included in a regular

class, as just another part of a group with other kids, children like

can become more than just the kids in special ed, he said.

" We just felt he'd become more socially acceptable if he (were) around

typical kids as opposed to being in a concentrated environment where

everybody has some kind of disability, " Bill Jordan said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,28993,00.html