A follower of this blog contacted me recently to share a video on YouTube that outraged her. She explained that she is blind and so are her two children.
She is also a lawyer, who has overcome many obstacles to achieve an education and a profession.
She was outraged because this video featured a young man who said he was blind and that he was unable to get the support he needed in public schools. He was educated, he said, in a private school. He is a remarkable young man who is a champion golfer despite the loss of his vision; he now attends USC.
She wrote that both her children had been educated in public schools, and what she heard from the video was not true.
A blind guy, college student and champion golfer, waxed poetic about his opportunity to go to college because he was fortunate to have parents who could afford to send him to private school, which in California, (he maintained), is the only way he could get such opportunities. He said that he received services that the public school could and would not provide; they had “tried” that route. I wish I knew who to contact to get an opposing ad done with me and my kids, all of whom excelled in public school; the general public needs to know about the IDEA. Clearly, Betsy DeVos cannot tell them, as she knows nothing about it and wouldn’t care if she did.
The truth is that private schools, charter schools, and voucher schools are not required to meet the requirements of the federal law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Students who leave public schools abandon their federal rights, a point made recently in an investigative article in the New York Times.
So, here is the lowdown. This video appeared on a YouTube channel called PragerU. PragerU espouses the views of Dennis Prager, a rightwing talk show host. There is no “university” with that name. If you scan the videos on the PragerU site, you will find they are all shout-outs for anti-government propaganda. Since he is now 68 years old, I assume he will decline Social Security and any other government benefits.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I graduated from a California public high school in 1964. There was a blind student one year ahead of me who attended both the junior high and high school I attended.
I did a cursory google search for research into the Florida McKay voucher program mentioned in the video, and couldn’t find anything. Have there been any studies or is it too early?
In North Carolina, charter schools are public schools and, as such, are bound to abide by IDEA.
Theoretically, maybe. But as “choice” schools, they are free to make it clear that they are not the right “choice” for certain families/kids.
Vouchers and charter schools are an abomination in terms of special services. As metnioned in Ravitch’s blogpost, the last I saw, they are exempt from federal and state oversight…and let me tell you that without someone overseeing them, they will NOT initiate the programs and services which tend to run the costs up. But then, public schools are not “businesses” with the mentality that the “bottom line” is what matters most. They are institutions designed to plug and provide much needed services to all of society, in a manner consistent with middle class values…something our new president and his appointees seem to know little about, or in some cases, seem to want to leave behind. Thanks for sharing this Marie~
We had a blind student in my elementary school. The public school worked with a BOCES teacher of the visually impaired that taught the student braille. Appropriate materials were purchased in braille and on tape to serve this student, and a TA that knew braille was hired for the first three years she attended school. Starting in third grade, students helped the student when the class had to go to lunch or a special. The PE teacher provided an adapted PE program within the regular class time. This girl graduated from our high school and went to college to become a teacher of the visually impaired. I know our school system did its job well with adapted inclusion. While it cost the district more money, it saved the district by keeping the student in district. Other students also learned to be helpful and tolerant, and some became friends with this visually impaired girl. Good public schools know what to do to help students that don’t “fit the mold.”
“Other students also learned to be helpful and tolerant, and some became friends with this visually impaired girl.”
And that may be the most important aspect of inclusion. Our poverty rural district has a great sped program with programs designed to connect the regular students with the students with disabilities. The community is very proud, it usually hosts the regional special olympics, resulting in those with handicaps being able to integrate more fully and openly with the community, the stigma having been lessened through public school exposure to their peers with handicaps.
Not every student can be mainstreamed. If this student had had multiple issues, she probably would have required a more restrictive environment. What we did with this student would probably be harder today with budgets being slashed by states and charter drain. As charters expand, there are diminished resources for everyone else.
I get quite a number of “Prager U” links from my conservative friends. The videos are usually fairly short, full of misconstruals and specious claims.
“Prager U” = simplistic jargon self help platitudes
I get them from my cousin. I choose to ignore them. I’m not going to change her mind, and I have no need to start an intra-family feud.
My principal (!) recently sent one of the PragerU videos to the entire faculty (on motivation). I was well and truly appalled. People share these around as if they mean anything. Is it the “University” in the title, or is it just everyone believing that if it’s on the Internet, it must be true
I’d say it’s the branding of the site as a “university” (sic). Anyone can call themselves what they want to call themselves whether that naming has any bearing to a truthful description is another story.
Are you suggesting that being on the internet does NOT necessarily mean it’s true?
And if having “university” in the title makes you credible, i’m going to start calling myself SomeDAM University Poet.
Actually, that sounds very impressive. Sounds like I have a PhD in poetry or something when my only real training is reading Dr. Seuss. Bet you can’t even tell.
Also, I suggest you start calling yourself “Threatened University Out West”
Not only will it make you more credible, but it also might get you donations from people who don’t want to see you shut your doors. Maybe someone will even give you a million dollars if you name a building after them.
Lol, SomeDAMPoet! I may need to change my name.
But to have a principal use one of these to “prove” his argument? I was horrified.
As long as it was not his/her principal argument, I’d say it was OK.
And maybe you can name your tool shed after someone for the donation.
Hope that helps.
I have a former old friend who is obsessed with Prager. The former friend (we were friends back in grade school) will not miss a show. He even joined a Prager fan club, mostly all older white men. There are Prager fan clubs across the country that meet to talk about Prager and the crap he dishes out as if it is solid gold pouring forth from his anointed mouth. The reason me friend is a former friend and not a friend anymore is because I told him to stop preaching Prager crap and he couldn’t. Of course he preached other Alt Right hate trash too. End of friendship.
Lloyd, sad. my experience too
Sadly, it WAS the principal’s main argument.
This is a brutal (but wonderful) piece by Mercedes :
“So, let’s put him in charge of a remodeled,now-ed-reform think tank in 1997; keep him in charge until 2014, at which time Finn chooses to retire and hand the TBF presidency to faithful sidekick with zero classroom experience, Michael Petrilli (though Petrilli’s Linkedin bio reads as though he has been TBF president July 2005 – present”).
However, Finn did not leave TBF. No need. He is now emeritus. And in his TBF emeritus role, Finn continues to receive an annual income that no K12 public school teacher realistically expects to touch– and all for selling corporate ed reform, including writing opinion pieces like “Will Teacher Tenure Die?” and “studies” like this propaganda promoting Common Core.
Finn’s is a low-risk tenure, folks. He faithfully promotes the corporate reform agenda, and the philanthropic money continues rolling in.”
I think about this same sort of thing when Duncan or DeVos lecture people on how they have to keep retraining and take a different job every five years.
Both Duncan and DeVos have bachelors degrees, right? Degrees they got at least 25 years ago?
Have either of them ever “retrained” for anything? They’ve been ed reformers for 30 years. It’s the definition of job security.
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/will-fordham-institute-tenure-die/amp/
Thanks for the link. Mercedes shows Finn for the vapid, corporate shill that he is. The sarcasm is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Mercedes backs up her comments with evidence showing how much money Finn gets for being a “hit man” for privatization. Bravo Mercedes!
Thanks for the link.
The hypocrisy at Fordham couldn’t be cut with a machete.
Without oligarchy funding they would be like Gates without money. Nothing but blowhards.
Gates without money?
Is that one of those koans?
The sound of one hand clapping…
I’ve heard Prager preach his misleading, manipulating message to his minions. Prager is a puddle of puke.
Here in Florida many school districts have their own charter for students with disabilities. I believe they are trying to reduce costs and circumvent IDEA. However, if they do not hire qualified staff, the blind student I described above would not have been able to go to college to become a teacher of the visually impaired.
Prager is your typical far right wing radio hate spewer. Hate wing radio is a massive juggernaut that vomits all the specious libertarian/Ayn Randian glop 24/7 from sea to shining sea. Liberals and progressives have been eliminated from talk radio in this country. Ayn Rand signed up for Social Security and Medicare, what a “moocher.” I’m sure Prager has done the same. At least one obnoxious right wing jerk has been quieted for the time being……Bill O’Reilly. Poor Bill, he was fired with a $24 million dollar severance package, how will he survive?
Prager is propaganda for non-critical thinkers. It is full of false assumptions and bias.
There are still liberals and progressives talking on NPR radio, which is the only talk-radio I listen to. Granted, they have their corp sponsors & their missteps, but still worthy of support I think.
I’m confused. As publicly funded schools, I was under the impressions charter schools were still under the IDEA laws. I understand they are not governed by public school districts, but the charter laws I have read do not seem to exempt them from IDEA. Please help me understand.
In theory they should be subject to IDEA. However, as private entities, they control who is accepted in the school. They tend to select those with mild, inexpensive disabilities. The severely impaired wind up in the public schools where funding has been reduced due to charter proliferation. Some schools have been sued for IDEA violations. Sadly, many poor parents are unaware of their child’s rights so they are less likely to challenge the charter. https://ggwash.org/view/33215/charter-board-failed-to-act-on-violations-of-special-ed-law
And if the charter school DOES accept a child with more significant disabilities, they provide no services for that child, citing the expense. This usually gets parents to re-enroll their children into public schools, or the student’s needs just get neglected. The stories I could tell.
Charter law is state law. I expect you are right: charters claim to be public schools, hence are subject to fed IDEA law. So their rejection/ expulsion of SpEd students will be sub-rosa, via subverting lottery admission, or accepting then ‘counseling out’– or simply waiting for parents to move back to pubschs as they grasp that the charter cannot accommodate their kid.
But the posted example happens under voucher law, where anything goes, all dependent on state voucher law. Listen to BDeVos on proposed national voucher sys: priv schs supported by public-taxpayer-underwritten vouchers can accept whomever they want, & are not reqd even to post sch perf stats, for SpEdor any other student. Try the school if they accept you [& they probably won’t if you’re SpEd or otherwise expensive to teach]: ifyou don’t like it, try another…
Charters claim to enroll SPED students but they avoid those with serious disabilities. Unless they exist for students with disabilities, they choose only the mildest LD
The U.S. Dept. of Ed. condones lying, by its behavior. For more than 8 yrs., with impunity, the Department deceived the American people by referring to contractor schools as PUBLIC charter schools. Congress did nothing to stop it. The FTC did nothing to stop it.
This post and the comments are another indication of the importance of this blog in speaking truth and exposing the disinformation campaigns on the internet.
It is astounding to see how far the crazies have pushed the country to the right. Are we still living in a republic? Or has National Socialism become the norm? Are we waiting to hear of death camps?
Hopefully we will turn around before all this.
Is there a link o the video discussed? The posted link just gets me to Prager’s youtube chaanel.
I think this is the link to that Prager video on YouTube
Thanks, Lloyd.
https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/why-special-needs-students-want-school-choice
The California Lutheran high school Jake Olson attended has 80 students and 11 teachers with a 7:1 ratio in classrooms
The high school has 18 percent students of color while the state average is 43 percent.
“At California Lutheran High School, we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ for eternal salvation and teach the unchanging will of God, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, for guidance in living.”
https://www.privateschoolreview.com/california-lutheran-high-school-profile
According to Great Schools.org. 71-percent of the students are white vs 26-percent for the state.
http://www.greatschools.org/california/lake-elsinore/10192-California-Lutheran-High-School/
I searched for the annual tuition but couldn’t find it.
https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/why-special-needs-students-want-school-choice
The family that posted did not specify the state where their blind kids got good ed under IDEA law. Meanwhile I note that the video they objected to was posted by a former CA public student who, he says, obtained better-than-pubsch hs ed as a handicapped student in a private school, & thus promotes school choice.
Here in my chi-chi hi-RE-tax, excellent NJ pubsch district, I had a neighbor whose CA-raised family transferred in, & chose to send their young kids to a very-expensive privsch in a nearby town. I asked her, why on earth? (they were paying the same exorbitant RE taxes as I– & sacrificing the camaraderie/ social life of the surrounding elem distr, which besides having a hi-performing sch, enjoyed a 50-yr tradition of a parent/PTO-written/ produced/ performed play, our main fund-raiser, which cemented the nbhd & gave rise to active BOEd & town-council members).
She was 20 yrs younger than I, so a grade-schooler when Prop 13 was enacted in ’78. She told me, you’d have to be raised in her CA generation to understand. Post Prop-13– a measure which reduced RE taxes[/ school funding] by 57%– the quality of pubschs plummeted to the degree that anyone middle-class or up who could possibly afford it sent their kids to Cath or better privschs, as a simple point of class pride. She would no more send her kids to pubsch than send them to foster care– regardless of NJ realities– it was an ingrained mentality.
The blind student spokesman in this video may be reflecting a CA reality: pubschs have sucked there for 40 yrs despite IDEA law, whose implementation has probably been sadly underfunded.