The inception of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has raised debates on the right method to provide quality, reliable, and talent nurturing/growth education. The United States of America has enacted free basic education to children with special needs; however, some parents have opted to have their children in private schools.
Private schools are managed as individual or corporation businesses with the motive of earning profits; their motive discriminates against children with special needs as they need much attention that might be costly to the institution.
The low enrollment of children with special needs the United States private schools have created a deficit in the facilities required (Hines, 2008). This report details a policy to compel private schools to have facilities that can accommodate children with autism, the policy will be called “Compulsory Enrollment Policy 2011”.
Rationale for the policy identifying interests
Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) or Pervasive Developmental Disorders or just Autism is the umbrella name given to range of neurodevelopment disorders; the condition affects children and can hardly be cured or reversed.
According to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) autism can affects people of different races, social class, nationalities, and ethnicity however girls are at a higher risk to contract the disease than boys.
Although the children might have some mental retardation, they have been blessed with some talents; skills, intellectual capacity, and intelligence that can be natured for to assist them earn a living.
Although it is the decision of the parent to enroll his/her child in a private school, since the government has committed to look into the interests of the children, it should enact a policy that will facilitate reimbursement of tuition and special handling fees paid by the parent.
When private schools have been compelled to have modification and accommodation programs for children with autism, then the access to education will be improved. High enrollment of the child means that it can be accommodated in the community with ease can get quality education like any other child, and the rights of the child have been respected.
Although the act will be compelling private schools to be offering the service, it will be sensitive in that a minimum number. The policy recommends that every facility should have facilities that can accommodate at-least five children with autism in every stage.
When intellectually upright children interact with children with autism, they learn to accommodate them and understand their way of living; with the boosted understanding, the society becomes well integrated with mutual understandings among people. Students with disability have a low self esteem and believe that they are less important to their peers.
When they are segregated, they are likely to hate themselves more and even blame their condition on situations. The increased/ enhanced self esteem will assist the child in later developments in life as well as to realize its potential and talents.
On the part of ordinary students they will understand the condition of the disabled and change their perception towards them this is when they interact freely and won’t find them as societal outskirts.
What the policy addresses
The policy aims at increasing enrollment rate of children with autism in private schools it offers some guidelines on how the schools should handle children with autism. The following are the main areas will be addressed by the policy:
Prohibited
Private schools will be prohibited from ignoring the needs of children suffering from autism; they will be compelled by the act to have facilities that can accommodate at least five children with autism in every grade. To enforce the action, when registering a facility, the register of private schools in a district will visit the facility and ensure the facilities are intact.
Discouraged
The law/policy will discourage private school owners to take advantage of parents of children with autism by charging them high fees. The government will put a cap to the highest amount that can be charged as fees to a parent. With Supreme Court ruling in the Forest Grove School District v. T.A. case June 2009, parents will be able to get reimbursement from the government of private and special needs fees paid to private schools.
Required
The policy will make it a legal requirement that before licensing a private school, it has fulfilled the requirements under the law which will among other involve having facilities that can accommodate autism children.
Encouraged
To handle children with autism, private schools will be encouraged to liaise with their district education coordinators where they can get qualified teachers. In the event they get the teachers from the ministry, the teachers will be paid by the government if they are providing services solely to children with autism.
Range of implications
When the facility policy has been enacted, the government through the ministry of education will have the responsibility of ensuring that all private schools currently registered have the facilities. For newly registered schools, it will become a law that they need to have the facilities before getting the operating license.
The policy will increase the accessibility of education to children with disability; they will be accommodated by the education system prevailing in the county/district. Social interaction and breeding together of autism children and intellectually upright children boosts understanding and social interaction among them. The end is a society well blend and integrated.
The United States government has the yearly license renewal of private schools as the weapon to enforce compliance with the policy. In the event that a certain private school has been found not to be complying with the policy, its operating license will not be renewed.
Renewal will only be affected when the school has complied and a fine equal to the amount used on compliance charged as fine of non compliance. The ministry of education will have the responsibility of enforcing, evaluating, and revising the policy as required by the law.
How the policy will meet the needs of your constituencies
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) require that children with disability be accommodated in normal education system, the act makes to a right that the children should be educated and assisted to develop their intellectualism. With the new policy, there will be an increased access to education facilities to autism children; with high access, children will more likely get quality education.
Other than the students, parent will have peace of mind as their children can be educated at the nearest school whether public or private; with the ruling of Supreme Court ruling in the Forest Grove School District v. T.A. case in June 2009, parents will have the chance to be reimbursed the expenses they incur with their autism children in private schools, this will boost their economic situation.
Another group that is likely to benefit are intellectually up-right children, they will get a chance to interact and learn way of life of autism children. The learning is important for bonding and forming a well integrated community (Brownell, Sindelar, Kiely & Danielson, 2010).
Risk level of adopting and implementing your policy
When enacting a new policy in any field, there are hick-ups and challenges that need to be addressed. The policy is likely to get high resistance from private schools operators who are likely to feel that their right to capitalism and free business has been interfered with by the government.
The private schools association body is likely to offer counter statement and rules in the efforts to ensure the policy fails to be implemented. The costs that will be borne by the government are likely to affect the development in the country. There is the risk of shifting focus from intellectually up-right children who are likely to have more capacity than the autistic ones (Brownell, Sindelar, Kiely & Danielson, 2010).
How adopting this Policy will affect your leadership responsibilities
When the policy has been adopted, it will call for the co-operation of the government, parents, and private schools administrations.
School head when making decisions and strategies for their schools will consider the presence of autism children in their facilities; this will affect decisions like human resources planning and facility developments. Schools heads will need to have effective school-system accommodation and modification procedures to facilitate smooth learning of children with autism.
References
Brownell, M., Sindelar, P., Kiely, M., & Danielson, L. (2010). Special Education Teacher Quality and Preparation: Exposing Foundations, Constructing a New Model. Exceptional Children, 76(3), 357.
Hines, T. (2008). Making Collaboration Work in Inclusive High School Classrooms Recommendations for Principals. Intervention in School and Clinic 43 (5): 277–282.