My daughter deserves more than an occasional education

Yup - that is me in the far left, sitting next to Melodie and me trying not to look at the photographer... The meeting was long, but remarkably controlled. Thank goodness we are not Seattle school district.

Thanks to the Seattle Times for the great photo that went along with the article on the strike and meeting...

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My comments at the meeting last night:

My name is Lara Peterson, and I'm the parent of a preschooler, a 1st grader and a 3rd grader at Spiritridge Elementary.

Thank you to the many speakers who have focused the attention on the issues with the Curriculum Web. My concerns continue to focus on the web, but are specific to being the parent of a special education student. With the massive cuts in special education that already occured last spring we have already hit a point where my child will only be educated 4 days a week - since that is all the budget that is allowed for our school. On the 5th day of each week my daughter will be babysat by a teacher all day.

Since my daughter is not at grade level in any subject, her only opportunity to continue to learn outside of the resource room is a sympathetic teacher who understands her potential and adjusts the curriculum to meet her needs. However, if changes are not made any teacher who adjusts curriculum to meet my daughters needs could be reprimanded or fired. That is not okay. I realize that the school districts lanaguage has been updated to allow for "occasional" deviation from the standardized curriculum. My response to you is:

My daughter deserves more than an occasional education.

My daughter deserves and is due daily teaching and education, that meets her needs and allows her to learn and participate in the school.

Thank you for steps made to date, but it's not enough. You need to continue your discussions with the union in order to meet the needs of ALL Bellevue School District students, not just those in the middle for whom the curriculum was created. And if you think this applies to only IEP students, this also would be the case if you have a 504 student, ELL/ESL student, or even a gifted and talented student.

I want to encourage this school board to continue negotiations with the union and the mediator, in order to bring this strike to a resolution. As a single parent, this extended summer holiday is NOT idea - but I believe that we need to continue to discuss this until we have a resolution that everyone can live with. I would rather deal with this now than have it simmer for another 2-3 years. And yes, I prefer a three year contract so we don't have to deal with this for a while.

Let's do the right thing and keep great teachers here in Bellevue, and ensure that ALL students are taught. I truly believe that my child will be more impacted by NOT having changes made to the curriculum than there will be by this strike continuing. Thank you very much.