Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Today, Caleb was officially released from the Special Education Program.  He is age appropriate in all the standardized tests and ahead in some categories!  Early Intervention WORKS!!!  This is why I feel promoting early intervention and other resources is so critical.  GO here for early intervention resources in Utah.

This is wonderful, and it’s what we have been praying and working towards for years.  But it is TERRIFYING.  My little boy, who is age appropriate in testing, still has Autism.  We still have melt-downs and most certainly does not understand pragmatics (Social Interaction).  He’s told me that he’s worried that there will be big kids in Kindergarten who will be mean to him.  This next year I’m going to try and be in his class twice a week.

Hooray for Caleb and the progress he has made in the last 3 years!  He is going to do AMAZING things, I just know it.

Insert Post from Brian: And Caleb played NERF with the neighbor boys yesterday and didn’t come home crying!  I was so proud that I didn’t even mind having to go all the way around the block to all of our neighbor’s backyards to get the darts.

Here is an e-mail I received from the school I work at.  Please help us tell our legislators to not cut Carson Smith Funding.

Dear CHA Staff,

As many of you know, Clear Horizons Academy is a Carson Smith school. The funds that come from Carson Smith scholarships help to keep our tuition reasonable. This year, the funding is at risk of being eliminated or reduced due to state-wide budget cuts. When the scholarship was originally approved by legislators 5 years ago, it was added to the general fund so as not to take away from the education fund until the program had proven its effectiveness. Being a part of the general fund means that it is at risk of being cut or reduced every year. Last year, an independent audit was conducted to determine the scholarship’s effectiveness in helping kids with special needs progress in non-public school environments. The results were overwhelmingly positive. Last Friday, one of the parents and I spent the day up at the capitol talking to legislators about the Carson Smith funding. Many of the representatives and a number of senators are strong supporters of Carson Smith scholarships. However, when asked if they thought that the scholarship program would remain untouched by budget cuts, many of them expressed that the state is having to cut a lot of good programs and that Carson Smith is one that is definitely being considered as part of those cuts.  We are asking that all of you contact your legislators, asking them to keep Carson Smith Scholarship funding intact. Hillary Stirling, a member of our PTO presidency, composed a letter that you can send to your senators asking them to keep this valuable program and to consider moving it from the general fund over to a line item in the education fund (which makes it harder to eliminate in the future). We are asking that each one of you take a few short minutes to send it to the representative and senator assigned to your legislative district (contact information below). In addition, please send the letter to the following representatives and senators assigned to CHA’s legislative district and to the appropriations committee. Thank you in advance for your time and willingness to do this. We need all of the support we can get! Let’s help the legislators know how much of a positive impact this program has had on the lives of students here at CHA! If you feel that you can afford the time to draft your own letter as well, that would be fabulous. Please ask your friends and family to also contact their legislators.

You can find out who your legislators are by going here: http://www.le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp

You can read an article about Carson Smith Day on Capitol Hill here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700012462/Utah-Legislature-Parents-hope-special-needs-stipend-survives.html

Legislators in the school’s district:

• House District 62: Rep. Christopher N. Herrod, cherrod@utah.gov
• Senate District 16: Sen. Curtis S. Bramble, cbramble@utahsenate.org

Legislators on the appropriations committee:

• Rep. Ron Bigelow, ronbigelow@utah.gov
• Rep. David Clark, dclark@utah.gov
• Rep. Brad L. Dee, bdee@utah.gov
• Rep. Kevin S. Garn, kgarn@utah.gov
• Rep. James R. Gowans, jgowans@utah.gov
• Rep. Bradley G. Last, blast@utah.gov
• Rep. David Litvack, dlitvack@utah.gov
• Rep. Rebecca D. Lockhart, blockhart@utah.gov
• Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, csmoss@utah.gov
• Rep. Jennifer M. Seelig, jseelig@utah.gov
• Rep. Merlynn T. Newbold (in charge of public education appropriations committee), merlynnnewbold@utah.gov
• Sen. Lyle W. Hillyard, lhillyard@utahsenate.org
• Sen.Scott K. Jenkins, sjenkins@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Patricia W. Jones, pjones@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Peter C. Knudsen, pknudson@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Daniel R. Liljenquist, dliljenquist@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Karen Mayne, kmayne@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, wniederhauser@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Ross I. Romero, rromero@utahsenate.org
• Sen. Michael Waddoups, waddoups@utahsenate.org

Here is the letter. You can copy and paste it directly into an email to the legislators listed above. Thanks in advanced for being willing to do this:

As an educator who works with Carson Smith Scholarship recipients, I’m asking you to support continued funding for the program. My students have benefited greatly from it over the last several years, along with hundreds of other scholarship recipients.  Our school is the only one of its kind between Texas and Califoria, and without the Carson Smith Scholarship, it won’t be able to continue to expand enrollment to serve an ever-growing population of children with special needs.

More importantly than that, I’m writing to you as a taxpayer concerned with maximizing the effectiveness of our public monies.  Please keep the Carson Smith Scholarship fully funded.  The program saves the state millions of dollars since it cuts the cost of educating the scholarship recipients roughly in half, with parents and private donors making up the difference for private school tuition out of their own pockets.  (The average scholarship is $4138 per year, while Utah spends more than $8000 on typically-developing children.  In reality, children with special needs are even more expensive to educate, so the savings are even greater than this conservative estimate mentioned above).  Above and beyond the actual tuition savings, the Carson Smith Scholarship saves money and relieves pressure on school district facilities and services such as buses, text books, computer labs, libraries, reduced lunches, and more.

That’s right, this program actually saves Utah money by letting parents who are willing and able to shoulder more of the cost for education.  And even in this market downturn, many more families would take advantage of the opportunities the Carson Smith Scholarship provides (thus cutting in half the cost of educating their children) if only the scholarship funding was available.  In a time when everyone – governments and individuals – are reevaluating their spending priorities, it makes sense to not only continue the scholarship but also to increase the funding available.  It’s a way to preserve funding for public schools in the face of looming deficits without cutting the quality of education for children with special needs.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, and please vote in favor of full, continued funding for the Carson Smith Scholarship.

Early Intervention is key for children with special needs. This is a list of where to go for help for children under 3, in Utah. Find either the school district or county in which you reside.

Central Utah Health Dept. 435-896-5451
70 Westview Dr., Richfield UT 84701
(Juab, Millard, Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne Counties)

Davis Family Enrichment Center 801-402-0677
320 S 500 E, Kaysville, UT 84037
(Davis County)

DDI VANTAGE Early Intervention Program 801-266-3939
3950 S 700 E, Suite 101, SLC, UT 84107
(Salt Lake/Granite School Dist., Murray School Dist., Tooele, Duchesne Counties)

Jordan Child Development Center 801-412-2510
7501 S 1000 E, Midvale UT 84047
(Jordan School District)

Kids On The Move 801-221-9930
475 W 260 N, Orem UT 84057
(Alpine School District)

Kids Who Count 801-423-3000
PO Box 1039, Salem UT 84653
(Nebo School District)

Prime Time 4 Kids 435-789-5409
1360 W Hwy 40 Ste 1, Vernal UT 84078
(Uintah, Daggett Counties)

Provo Early Education Program 801-374-4965
100 N 600 E, Provo, UT 84606
(Provo School District)

San Juan School District E.I. 435-678-1222
200 N Main, Blanding UT 84511
(San Juan County)

Southeastern Utah Dist. Health Dept. 435-637-3671
25 W Main, PO Box 644, Castle Dale UT 84513
(Carbon, Emery, Grand Counties)

Summit County Health Dept. E.I. 435-615-3925
6505 Landmark Dr. Park City UT 84098
(Summit, Wasatch Counties)

Southern Utah University E.I. 435-586-6070
2390 W HWY 56 STE 1, Cedar City UT 84720
(Beaver, Iron, Garfield, Kane Counties)

The Learning Center for Families 435-673-5353
1192 W Sunset Blvd. #2, St George UT 84770
(Washington County)

Up To 3 435-797-3727
USU,UMC 6810, Logan UT 84322-6810
(Cache, Rich, Box Elder Counties)

Weber School District E.I. 801-476-5460
955 West 12th St., Ogden UT 84404
(Weber, Morgan Counties)

Statewide Services

Deaf/Blind Services 801-629-4732
742 Harrison Blvd., Ogden, UT 84404-5204

Parent Infant Program 801-629-4743
742 Harrison Blvd., Ogden, UT 84404-5204