A workshop held Monday at the Manatee County School Board aimed to get the school district, parents, and educators all on the same page when it comes to the county's Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students.
- Parents voiced concerns about lack of resources
- County also faced questions about future school choice
- Fall 2017 will see over 50 percent increase in ESE students entering Pre-K
The boardroom was packed with parents, many of them who are raising children with special needs and concerned over possible changes.
"We’re hoping that the school board becomes aware of these issues and that they start fighting for these kids, because they don’t have a voice, we need to speak for them," said John and Mary Shanks, who have a 5-year-old in the district.
Parents took turns voicing concerns to the board members that included a lack of resources, limited school choice, and confusion over the future of their students.
Staff made it clear that ESE students will be allowed to stay at the school they currently attend, but they have to address how to handle a growing population of students with special needs.
In fall of 2017, the district is seeing a 52.5 percent increase in ESE students entering Pre-K. In order to deal with the influx, they plan to add 11 additional classrooms with the proper staffing.
But the future of support programs for students of all grade levels is still a work a progress.
"These programs don’t need to be cut -- they need to be improved, they need to be changed and they need to be tweaked. We’ve had a huge influx of special needs kids coming into the county this year alone and next year it’s going to grow even further," said parent Cynthia Latham.
After the meeting concluded, some parents were still left with concerns about the future of their students in the school district. The board agreed to continue the conversation during a meeting set for May 9.