Love-Hate Mail
The other side
I am a special education consulting teacher for Metro Nashville public schools. That will already declare my bias. I am certain that your objective in writing “Not-So-Special Education” (Nov. 1) was to lambaste any and all efforts to serve special education students by the MNPS staff—teachers, administrators, aides and volunteers. That would therefore mean that you are in no mood to hear any additional information, some assuredly accurate and timely, and other merely opinion. You presented a tremendously biased, one-sided impression of all MNPS does for children, both special and regular. With literally thousands of students being served in special education, do you honestly think that your presentation gave a true representation of all MNPS is doing for kids? This kind of journalism does nothing but let three or so parents vent, address the worst situations (even for the kids involved) and add nothing to resolving any issue. Why not seriously investigate the issue from every angle, including the almost criminally wanting level of funding from both federal and state sources, and the overwhelming paperwork required that takes hours of time away from actual instructional opportunities? When you are ready to do so, please do not hesitate to contact me.
BRADFORD ROSENQUIST
bradford_rosenquist@yahoo.com (Nashville)
Cryptic
In reference to your article “Not So Special Education” (Nov. 1), I have learned two things in being a part of public education for 33 years. One, there are always two sides to every story. Two, you should always verify your story before you write.
TERESA DENNIS, PRINCIPAL
RUBY MAJOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
teresa.dennis@mnps.org (Nashville)
Thanks
Thanks to P.J. Tobia and the Scene for your coverage of some of the more sensational injustices perpetrated by Metro Nashville Public Schools upon special education students and their families (“Not So Special Education,” Nov. 1). What the public also needs to know is that seemingly less dramatic inequities such as violating federal laws governing educational rights of students with disabilities are visited daily upon an inordinate number of students and their families. Segregating children into special education classrooms in schools other than their neighborhood schools of zone is defying the spirit of the federal law and denying the rights of these children to be educated in real-world-preparing classrooms, thus creating greater burdens on their families to fight the system and forge ahead into independent, self-sustaining adulthood.
Perhaps MNPS is not hearing more of these complaints because so many of these families are impoverished, challenged minorities and/or beaten down from years of fighting systems that purport to serve their children. A basic marketing rule of thumb: For every complaint articulated, there are 100 more not voiced. There are more than a dozen unhappy campers receiving MNPS special education services.
LEISA A. HAMMETT
lahammett@comcast.net (Nashville)
The plus side
I will not question the stories in your “Not-So-Special Education” article (Nov. 1) because, as a special education parent, I know thousands of things can go wrong with our special needs children in any setting. But I do protest the one-sided, negative presentation of Metro’s Department of Special Education. My daughter was in special education for 11 years with total involvement of me as a parent at every single step, including much more than IEPs. Not once did she experience the violence you present.
My daughter was even at the mentioned Genesis Learning Center for two years, where I stayed involved as a parent just as with regular schools, and she never experienced any violence or personal harm but progressed well. And that is where they put some of the problem children.
Maybe to give a more balanced picture of special education in Nashville, you need to do another article on the positive effects of parental involvement and the special education teachers who go the second mile every single day, even on non-school days. A parent has to want to be involved.
CHARLIE DOGGETT
cdoggett@charliedoggett.net (Nashville)
Not all information is news
Eric Brown paid his debt to society and, through diligence and hard work, became a loving and generous role model to his family and community. His was a textbook success story. To insinuate that his past had anything to do with his senseless and brutally cold-blooded murder at his workplace in broad daylight is despicable (“Past Troubles,” Nov. 1).
Maybe you were absent the day journalism ethics were being taught in school, so remember this: Just because you access information that will smear the reputation of a dead man doesn’t mean you should use it; and shoving it in the face of a grieving loved one is nothing but a sleazy tabloid tactic. In this case, not only was your entire article irrelevant, it was also none of your business.
DENISE OVERTON
bratty10@comcast.net (Nashville)
On ‘dreck’
While P.J. Tobia’s essay—it certainly cannot be described as an article—on the murder of Eric Brown stopped short of slander, it was certainly malicious (“Past Troubles,” Nov. 1). Despite the fact that the police have stated robbery was the probable motive behind the shooting (a fact never mentioned in the piece), you allude to the possibility that his criminal past “caught up with him.” Is your theory that a disgruntled pothead or bootleg movie customer made an appearance in his life after six years to gun him down? Can you really believe—or do you just want your readers to believe—that this tragedy was somehow his fault?
Out of 13 paragraphs, two sentences were devoted to listing his accomplishments as the proprietor of Spudz and a “self-starter who put himself through TSU’s business school.” Fully eight were devoted to a past, which all evidence indicates he had left behind. As a longtime reader, I have become accustomed to the Scene’s occasional conflation of news and opinion. But dragging Brown’s name through the mud with a specious argument was a contemptible low. You should be embarrassed for printing such dreck and ashamed for adding to the grief of his family and loved ones.
SANDY MOSS
smossnashville@yahoo.com (Nashville)
Correction
Last week’s cover story, “Not-So-Special Education,” said that Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz has a son with autism. Trotz’s youngest son Nolan has Down syndrome. The Scene regrets the error.
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