Comments for Gifted, Talented and Under Siege at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 11 out of 11 comments http://www.theind.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:03:10 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3641 Give me a break, I did not say that parochial schools had a gifted program. I don't believe that they do. The point is that a GT student will most likely not stay in the public education system if the program is removed. I know mine wouldn't. - Clint Reno Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:29:20 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3590 Back in July, I wrote a blog entry regarding this very issue. I was notified by a friend who still has one child in the school system there in Louisiana. I now live and teach gifted in TX. I can offer my experience as both a parent and an educator in the field. Please read my blog entry on the top at: http://teachagiftedkid.com/2009/07/02/louisiana-dont-squander-your-gifted-program-highlight-it/ - Angie Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:38:05 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3585 On the Agenda for Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Special Education and Section 504 issues 1. Consideration of revisions to Bulletin 1706, Subpart 2, The Regulations for the Gifted and Talented Students. (September 2009) (deferred until October) - Carrie Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:41:03 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3485 LOL Clint!!! call up a parochial school and tell them their child is gifted.they will tell you "you need to contact the public school system. we don't offer gifted classes." at least, that's what they told ME. - give me a break Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:17:21 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3463 I was one of those kids who was smart enough to be stupid as they say. I went to school before the idea of multiple intelligences was applied and constantly got detention for drawing in class by teachers that didnt realize that if I was drawing, I was listening. I aced everything because I was a latchkey kid who didnt have a home and spent most of my time in a library reading everything they had. In class, when I wasn't allowed to draw, I made trouble constantly. If there would have been a TAV program then, I would have finished school. I dropped out and got my GED; too many fights, too much trouble. Susan's reasoning is pedestrian, mentally flawed and transparent. I have a loved one who works in the TAV program and I can tell you that most if not all of these kids do not have 4.0s. We'd like them to and if they get there, its to the TAv program's credit, not to some rat like Susan. - uptown jaybird everybody knows Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:08:57 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3385 Louisiana has the best gifted/talented program in the United States. Why take the one area where we shine and do away with our one area where we can brag that LOUISIANA IS THE BEST! Leave the program alone. If it works, don't change it! I've had many students return to my classroom and tell me how much they learned as a result of the freedom and creativity allowed in the gifted class. It's a real pleasure to hear from these students whom I taught 20 or so years ago. I am never at a loss to say, "thank you" for being in my class. I learned a lot from each of you, and now you have growm. I still look forward to hearing from my students. Julia Elfman - Julia Elfman Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:58:11 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3384 Children with disabilities are protected by a federal mandate. The BESE board and our state legislature can not touch their funding or threaten to remove their services. That is the difference between them and the GT side of special education. GT is protected by a state mandate. I'm glad to see Mr. Bayard understands the importance of the state laws protecting the rights of GT students. We should be able to offer proper services to both the children with disabilities and those with exceptionalities. - Beau Dupont Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:20:52 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3370 It is finally time that smeone speak up for our G/T students. They have been neglected for so many years, yet persevered for so many more with the help of teachers who are creative enough to provide them with activities that develop critical thinking skills lacking in their regular classroom settings. I say this because I have been one of these teachers working with them for over 20 years. My students just today mentioned how boring it iis in their regular classes and how they hate to leave when I come to work with them. - Lorraine M. Thornton Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:28:21 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3361 Special education has always been disabled-centric. The brutal truth is that our gifted students need just as much in the way of programs and services but rarely get it. The notion that g/t kids can "get it by themselves" is outmoded and contradicted by both logic and data. Freed from the state mandate to provide services, many local systems will doubtless curtail or simply eliminate them. To often, in this state, smart folks are looked on as a liability. - cochon Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:42:03 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3360 So take away the GT program. I wonder where those students will go now? To private schools and/or home school. I can assure you very few if any would stay in public education. OK, now what about the "test scores?" When the drop occurrs, what will happen now? Less funding, fewer opportunity for pay raises, and lower school rankings? I believe that the only reason these students are in public education today IS the GT program. - Clint Reno Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:01:23 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/4994#comment-3348 This feud between LASEA and SPARK/G&T has been going on at least as long as I've been alive, and it's not about helping students with disabilities as much as it is the last round of budget cuts, which were being debated when Vaughn, wearing her lobbyist's hat, sent her letter. G&T has more friends in the Legislature than programs for learning and physical disabilities, and Vaughn believed threatening G&T was safer than threatening disability programs to goad more money from lawmakers for IEPs. As the article states, LASEA wants more money to help students with learning disabilities, and the opposition comes from rural schools and parishes because participation is G&T is usually limited to 2-3 kids per school, if there's any at all. I agree with Vaughn's point - that curricula should be shaped around the students and nothing else - but that's unrealistic in Louisiana and moreso under NCLB, and pinning G&T exclusively to education by insinuating that those students get nothing else from the program shows she has no idea what G&T programs are designed to do. Obviously G&T kids don't need any help in the classroom. They don't just get 4.0s, they sleep through class and get 4.0s. These are the kids who don't have to work hard to succeed, who get held up from skipping grades not because of academics but because of concerns over social development, and precious few classroom teachers are going to cater to the pace of the one student who can complete a year's coursework in a month at the expense of the other 29 kids in the class - parents would howl. Without G&T programs, most of them would underachieve through their entire educational career, doing the minimum required because they can get away with it, and get caught with their pants down once they get to college and have to finally learn how to study and socialize. There's nobody in LASEA looking out for students _without_ disabilities, which is wrong and a violation of their national organization's charter and mission. But in Louisiana it's understandable, because in maybe three-quarters of the state all these administrators see are the 20-30 children under their supervision who have learning and physical disabilities; they bus the school's two or three G&T kids to another program, where they assume they do nothing but goof off all day. This is the wrong fight to have. Both of these programs deserve funding. LASEA is going to waste resources as they run into some very powerful, connected, vocal opponents who have strong ties to G&T. G&T and non-rural schools are wasting resources and political capital by essentially fighting to keep money away from disabled children. All this when we should be asking how much money BOTH sides of the debate need to fully fund their programs, WHY they weren't given that money in the budget, and what STUPID CRAP did get funded instead of this. - elle peshoff Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:00:43 +0100