When Public Education Jumped the Shark

During the week before school, Mr. Helpful Special Ed Coordinator visits my room to give me paperwork for a student. He wants to give me a head's up about one particular freshman boy who is diagnosed as Oppositional Defiant (OD). OD is one of those abbreviations that makes us cringe when we see it on our new class roster. By law, any student has a right to the least restrictive environment possible. It is in Junior's best interest to be mainstreamed with the rest of his peers. It is in his best interest, you see. HIS best interest. The law gives every student the right to a free and appropriate education. And if a student is in Special Ed, we make darn sure that every single one of his needs is met. We do this because if we do not meet every single one of his needs, his mother can sue the school district. The people responsible can be fired, or the entire district can be penalized. Since schools cannot survive these types of lawsuits, they spend plenty of time and money making sure that special ed students have every one of their needs met. We meet all the normal needs, such as preferential seating, less homework, more time on tests, and reading material to a student. We also meet absurd needs that were dreamed up by parents and lofty special ed administrators, such as allowing student to sleep in class, and calling mother every time the student fails to turn in an assignment.

Mr. Helpful Special Ed Coordinator explains to me how much "progress" Junior has made over the years. And in the most chipper voice you can imagine, he brags that it's been several months since the boy has "self soiled" as a defense mechanism. Apparently, this 250 pound boy has been purposely crapping his pants in class when he does not get his way for years. I am instructed to ignore his minor attention-seeking behavior, and send him to the special ed discipline room if he disrupts class "too much." "If" he disrupts class. He disrupts class every single day. His special ed paperwork forces me to ignore attention-seeking behavior, however, his peers have grown up with him. They have experienced his "self-soiling" incidences repeatedly and tolerated the mean things he says daily since kindergarten. He makes racist remarks, sexist remarks, and insults the football team. I cannot do what I would do with any other students and turn these into teachable moments because I have to ignore them. The other students, however, do not ignore his attention-seeking behavior. They argue back which escalates his behavior. They exclude him, refuse to work with him or sit anywhere near him. When they cross the line and threaten to hurt him, I have to give THEM an office referral. So the kids who reach their wits' end with this boy end up in trouble. Meanwhile, the brat who knows his teachers are required to ignore his bad behavior continues to bully everyone. And we just count our lucky stars that he is not pooping his pants in class!

Now, what I do not understand is that if by law every student is entitled to a free and appropriate education, why is okay to trample on EVERYONE ELSE'S rights just to make sure Junior has every one of his needs met. It has been several months since this class began. It has been nearly impossible to teach in that environment. When I have suggested that Junior be taught in the Special Ed department so that EVERYONE ELSE can learn, I have been told that he is a smart kid and needs to hear my content on a daily basis. So I would like to apologize to every parent out there whose child's educational needs were not met because we were busy making sure Junior's mom doesn't sue us.