This one makes me furious!
The idiots in the Polk county Florida school district came up with an idea to use part of their special education IDEA money on the purchase of IPOD Nano’s to be given away to special education parents who filled out a survey.
The point of the survey was to evaluate how the district was doing in providing a quality education to these children with disabilities.
(I know this sounds like a bad joke.)
Polk County, here’s your answer (and I don’t even need an IPOD) …. TERRIBLE.
The initial report was that the school was using educational stimulus money which the school quickly tried to distance themselves from:
“The stimulus money that I received,” said Woolcock, “I did use for student achievement and to save jobs” by purchasing language and reading materials for students and helping maintain a staff of school psychologists and social workers.
Ms. Woolcock is the Assistant Superintendent of Learning Support for Polk County.
Ms. Woolcock should be waking up this morning unemployed.
The original story ran on February 10th and claimed that the amount of money that had been set aside for the program was $350,000. Ms. Woolcock was very excited about the program and the fact that she’d received a discount on the IPODs :
“The purpose behind the initiative has been to get the parents involved,” said Nancy Woolcock
Woolcock said that in the coming days, the district plans to send fliers and e-mails to parents about the anonymous survey.
By March, parents who have filled out the survey should be able to pick up iPods at their children’s schools, Woolcock said.
Educational information will be on the iPods parents receive, and Woolcock said she plans to have five training sessions about how to use the devices.
This is the first year the survey has been open to every parent who has a disabled child in school.
“They (the state) used to pick a small group, but now it’s open to everyone,” Woolcock said
The Florida Department of Education did not share her excitement and quickly put a halt to the program because it turns out (surprise) – money awarded under IDEA is suppose to be used to help students in the classroom not given to parents as incentives to tell the school they’re doing a good job. The money will now be used to support classroom instruction and curriculum.
WHY WASN’T IT BEING USED FOR THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
A major concern with all of the “stimulus” funding that flowed into the schools last year revolved around the fear that the schools, rather than using that money as an investment, would instead see it as free money that they could use to cover shortfalls and pull money out of one area of the budget and use it somewhere else. So, when Ms. Woolcock protests that she wasn’t using stimulus money she is in fact play word games. TECHNICALLY, she might not have used the stimulus money BUT here’s why it’s a lie:
- I have an expense that costs me – $350,ooo
- I get stimulus money and I use it to cover my expenses
- I now have $350,000 left over
- I use that “extra” money to buy IPODS
TECHNICALLY am I using the stimulus money – No. In reality am I using the stimulus money – YES.
But that’s not even the worst part.
How can someone in charge of allocating funds for Special Education students come to the logical conclusion that the BEST use for ANY of these funds is to spend it on IPODS for the parents who complete a survey. How can parents trust the district and Ms. Woolcock to spend the MILLIONS of dollars that they’re in charge of spending?
THIS IS STEALING ….
- FROM SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS
- FROM SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS
- FROM SCHOOL THERAPISTS AND COUNSELORS
- FROM CHILDREN’S IEP’S.
Now, as if this wasn’t all fun enough. Here’s the kicker …… are you ready ……
In 2007 the school district settled a four year lawsuit with the parents of an Autistic student for failing to provide a “free, appropriate public education”. The lawsuit cost the district over $1.3 million dollars (between legal fees and actual settlement dollars). After losing in court and having to settle, the district decided they needed to change their approach to special education:
“It caused people to step back and look hard at how business was done,” Bridges (school board attorney) said.
What was one of the major changes cited in the news story …… the hiring of Nancy Woolcock to improve the department.
It would all be funny if this kind of stupid, careless behavior wasn’t costing children productive futures.
It would all be funny if this kind of insanity wasn’t causing children to remain trapped behind hurdles caused by their disabilities.
It would all be funny if these kinds of decisions weren’t putting children even FARTHER behind their peers.
It would all be funny if this kind of waste wasn’t hurting and reducing the services that allow these children to
- Speak
- Socialize
- Read
- Learn
- Make friends
- Understand their world
- Get jobs
- Keep themselves safe
- Live independently
Yes, it would all be funny if it weren’t so serious.
Ms. Woolcock should be fired for poor management and poor decision making.
The state and the school district should make public every dime being spent in the Special Education system.
Finally, every parent in Polk county should print this story and bring it to their next IEP when the school explains there’s no funds available for “x” services for their child.
And that’s no joke.
- Parents Settle Suit With Schools | TheLedger.com
- District to Offer iPods For Filling Out Students With Disabilities Survey | TheLedger.com
- Polk school district to give iPods to some parents – Bay News 9
- FOXNews.com – School District Cancels Offer of Taxpayer-Funded iPods for Parents
- Polk County Press Release Attempting to Explain Their Stupidity
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