Instead of thoughtful planning for Autistic students, Cherry Hill has a history of horse n pony shows with “pilot programs” for a just few students and neglect many others. In an affluent township like ours it is a shameful secret that they do not provide needed education for autistic and special education students without a legal & emotional struggle. Often our kids are used as scape goats for administrations budgetary concerns.
I believe all students education comes before any extras including district paid trips, elite programs, hiring administrators to new positions that they do not have job descriptions, contests, t shirts, football fields, and other expenses.

Kathi, I’d much appreciate it if you posted a link to my blog and I will be following yours.

Stuart, thanks for all the details. We have lived in a few different towns in New Jersey and what you describe does not sound uncommon.

CHSEPTA’s original mission was hijacked by a few power hungry self-serving parents. The same few got themselves elected every year. Under the current leadership the Cherry Hill Twp Schools actions were not to be questioned, given full approval and we were told to avoid controversy.
Many good parents are members of CHSEPTA, they have worked tirelessly to make a difference. To run for office or vote in CHSEPTA you have to be a member. The new outsider slate has seasoned parent members running side by side with younger parents. Because we believe, CHSEPTA can do a better job, provide a real web presence, improve communications and work with the administration by open truthful exchanges. CHSEPTA needs to become an inclusive organization with open communications, community education, and supports to professionals. Our school district has a relatively new administration and new BOE members making critical changes in all levels of Special Education.
CHSEPTA is where Special Education families, the community, special education professionals, BOE, administrators, medical and educational professionals, paraprofessionals and classroom teachers can all work together to provide a level playing field for Special Needs students.

What the article did not mention, but I will share with your readers is that they are forcing students into regular ed settings, in the name of “Least Restrictive Environment” and then eliminating all of the support services required to maintain them in that setting.

The district is making global policy changes that go against IDEA. They changed one term in the IEP that led to this latest issue. Instead of writing “1:1 Assistant” they began writing “Individual Assistance.” Slick trick on the district’s part! It led to many children that require a 1:1 Assistant going without.

For my own son, this led to setbacks in his progress. He was experiencing episodes of being non-verbal, grunting when he needed something. He lost skills, his frustration tollerance decreased, he had behavioral challenges and increased frustration. He became a flight risk and eventually began to threaten suicide. Still, they would not assign a 1:1 Assistant!

We had some sharp parents in our town that realized they were not the only ones having difficulties like this. They began to ban together and the group grew quickly in size.

These were parents that tried to go thru the special ed PTA for support and advocacy. They received no help at all. Cherry Hill SEPTA has really just become a mouthpiece for the district. They do not support special needs children or their parents. They basically plan bowling trips and regergitate district rhetoric!

The parents that formed SEA are some of the most compassionate and caring parents you would ever want to meet. They began supporting each other and each other’s kids. None of them think in terms of “my child” it is now “our children.”

CH SEPTA has their annual elections next week. So it should get real interesting!

I began writing the Autism Blog for the Courier Post and began addressing some of the special ed concerns in our town. I am hoping that putting this in the spotlight will force the district to change their ways.

If you or your readers want to check out the Autism blog, here is a link. Would you mind if I posted a link to your blog?
Kathi Magee

As one of the founders of SEA, I want to give you a greater understanding of why we formed and what we are doing.

I first became an activist for special education last year, when the Cherry Hill school board cut $500,000 from Special Education funding (I fasted for a week to bring media attention to this and the need for more state funding). Earlier this year, some of us began to see that things were going to get worse. This included reading a letter written by our superintendent that blamed special education and specifically SE aides for the budget crisis. This, along with some other issues that arose, led about a dozen of us to realize that we needed to be activists, and so was born the Special Education Alliance.

The first thing we did was to show up as a group to a Board of Education meeting, where I spoke, stated our concerns, and said that while we would work with the board and school administration, we would stand for our kids and fight against any more cuts. One BOE member told us that they had no plans for any cuts – but we had at least made our presence known.

That so many of us showed up at a meeting sent shockwaves to the Administration. We immediately saw that people started talking negatively about us, and even tried to convince some parents not to work with us. That’s how I knew we were on to something.

During this time, staffing of aides for self contained autism classes became a serious and personal issue for myself and others in our organization. This was because the class that our sons were in had only two aides for five young autistic children. To quote one of the aides, the room was in “Chaos”; not only did my son begin to regress because of this, but at least two others did as well. It was a true disaster.

The election for the BOE just happened to occur soon after we formed, and, seeing it as an excellent opportunity to spotlight special education, I ran for a seat. Even though I had a tiny fraction of the resources the other slates had, by using the newspapers and the debate, I was able to make special education the number one issue of the campaign. In response to my statements, the Administration created a presentation that stated that the budget “Includes NO cuts in special education programs or services.”

Just one month later, the very same Administration, run by a superintendent who reaps a quarter of a million dollars a year in salary and benefits, ordered the mass firings of twenty-seven low paid special education assistants that directly help disabled children. Not only did the school Administration deliberately deceive parents and voters in the election, but their actions will cause harm, for three, four and five year old children with autism and other special needs simply cannot withstand this terrible loss of resources.

Although I have been an activist for many years fighting against animal cruelty, and I have seen some truly despicable things, I have never seen something as depraved, dishonest and dishonorable as the how the Cherry Hill School Administration has acted.

SEA will not sit idly by, and let this injustice stand, for it is the most vulnerable amongst us who suffer for it.

Stuart Chaifetz
Special Education Alliance
Akian5@comcast.net