Parents, Legislators and Administrators Advocate for Children in Special Act Public Schools
Folks like to say that Mt. Pleasant Blythedale, is “the school where students learn as their bodies heal.” The school was created in 1971 to provide equal access to children with serious medical needs who require intensive rehabilitation. The students are transitional sometimes there only weeks or sometimes several years, but eventually students are discharged from the rehabilitation hospital connected to the school and returned to their community schools.
Like all schools hit hard by the 2008 fiscal crisis, Special Act Schools, were hit particularly hard. Like its students, the parents are also transitional so providing stable parent advocacy is even more problematic than in typical schools.
Grass roots parent advocacy led to the now famous court decisions and legislation, PL 94-142, that revolutionized the way Students with Disabilities are educated. Of the ten special act public school districts in New York State, only MPB had an organized group of parents who understood and embraced the need for serious fund raising for programs and personnel, not just celebrations and special events.
“Neither the school nor the parents will ever be the same.”
By chartering an official SEPTA PTA and enlisting the support of Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, chair of the Assembly subcommittee on students with special needs, the MPB SEPTA, planned a kick-off event held November 24th where 90 parents, teachers, students, legislators David Buchwald, Thomas J. Abinanti, and members of the NYS Board of Regents attended.
Assemblywoman Mayer followed with a call to action and is spearheading along with the parents, legislators and Regents the advocacy efforts to reframe budgeting for Special Act schools. So as many times as Margaret Mead has been quoted about never doubting “that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world,” these words are truer and more important today than ever.
Superintendent, Dr. Ellen Bergman has stated that no matter what the outcome of this budget season, “MPB SEPTA has given voice to the disenfranchised. Neither the school nor the parents will ever be the same.”
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