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Off the mark

By Gloria J. Timmons - BOE member, Nashua | Apr 14, 2019

According to Mr. Teeboom’s latest Telegraph column, he believes that badly needed educational services for special education students and non-English speaking students are a colossal waste of money. Mr. Teeboom seems to give us the price of everything, but unfortunately, neglects to show the value of anything. His personal story regarding how he learned English is nice enough, but it is anecdotal. He fails to realize that not all students are the same or learn at the same rate under the same conditions. Studies show that children’s experiences can sometimes be a hindrance to learning, whether it is trauma, lack of any schooling in their country of origin, or lack of understanding of the English language. Eliminating special education teachers and ELL teachers will have a negative affect on the grades of our students. In this life, you get what you pay for. It would be a colossal undertaking to put a dollar amount on the lifelong negative impacts on our special education and ELL students if our school district were to implement extremist measures by eliminating or cutting back on special education and ELL teachers. Parents of these students deserve equal opportunity for their children in our public school system. This is what public schools are all about. We would not be doing our job if we neglected these students and their families.

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