Advocates for students with special needs say one of the biggest obstacles those students face is the indifference of their parents. A meeting held Wednesday evening to discuss ways to help such youngsters appeared to support the viewpoint.
Members of the group V.I. Find held the meeting at Mongoose Junction Restaurant to provide information about the Individual Education Plan, a customized program within the Special Education offerings in public and private schools. Less than a handful of people showed up.
The V.I. Find representatives were prepared to show parents how to utilize the IEP to maximize their children's success in school. After the all-but-no-show, information specialist Edward Bruce said he would have to try other ways to get the word out.
"I'll take some [informational material] to the schools and give it to the teachers to send home with their students," he said. He noted that "we may not know who their students are," because disability designation "is confidential information that teachers may not tell you."
Bruce estimated that there are about 60 students in school on St. John who would qualify for IEP services. With a total student population of less than 600 for the island's two public and two private schools, that would be about one out of every 10 students.
For the few adults who did appear at Mongoose Junction Restaurant for the meeting, the presentation on what the IEP is and how parents can participate held some clues to what parents face when they do get involved. "It's a team effort; no one person is in control," high school teacher Lisa Etre said. "There's a hell of a lot of paperwork," she added, but "it doesn't go on forever."
The one parent who did appear, Pat Harley, is among those who are satisfied with the efforts they already see in the schools. Harley is a teacher, herself, at Guy Benjamin Elementary School. Her son, Jamien, attends classes at Julius E. Sprauve School.
"I know the primary students in K through 4 are at Guy Benjamin because they have a very good teacher," she said.
V.I. Find is an advocacy group that assists disabled people who want to lead independent lives. Catherine Glenn, the director, says it's been about a year and a half since her team presented the last IEP meeting on St. John. Another is already scheduled for April 12.
Part of the challenge in seeking to engage parents of special needs children, Glenn said, is drawing their attention away from work and other family commitments. For immigrant parents coming from other Eastern Caribbean countries or elsewhere, she said, special education may be an entirely new idea.
Glenn said she wasn't discouraged by the lack of attendees Wednesday. "I feel any number I get is more than no number at all," she said. "If they won't come out, we will try to do a mailing. I will even pay transportation; I will even pay for a baby-sitter. The challenge is for parents to take a few minutes after work to come and find out about something they don't know about." Something that could make a big difference in their lives of their special needs children and of their families overall.
