“It is the glory and the burden of public schools that they cater to all of our children, whether delinquent or obedient, drug-damaged or clean, brilliant or handicapped, privileged or scarred.”
– Benjamin R. Barber
Three years ago, my wife (Salomé) was accepted into NYC’s Teaching Fellows Program, and left the corporate world to become a special education teacher in Hunts Point, one of the worst neighborhoods in the Bronx. Unlike many who enter the program as an escape from corporate life, with fantasies of early dismissal and summer vacations, she was primarily inspired by the ups and downs we lived through while trying to find appropriate services for our daughter after she was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, a “mild” form of autism, back in 2003.
In her first three years as a teacher, she’s accomplished some amazing things, including being tapped to train other teachers in the TEACCH method in the middle of her second year; and last year, being hired mid-year to launch, develop and teach a new class in our new neighborhood’s elementary school for emotionally disabled children.
In reference to the “glory” and “burden” quote above, she notes:
“Anyone who has ever spent time in a classroom with what people consider to be difficult children, can understand why the use of those two words is so powerful.“
This September, her program will expand to include a second class, which she’ll be teaching, and as is typical of special ed programs in most places, it’s grossly underfunded. This happens every year, and every year she’s spent well over $2,000 of her own money to get the basic supplies, books, manipulatives, etc. that the school doesn’t supply and her students’ parents can’t afford.
To offset the personal expense, every year we’ve reached out to friends and family for help, to chip in whatever they could, and last year raised nearly $1800 in cash, gift cards and donations of materials!
This year, with a new class effectively starting from scratch, we’re asking for your help again.
Check out Salomé’s Chip-In page for more information, and/or to donate safely online via PayPal. Or, if you know everything you need to know, and would like to donate gift certificates to Staples, Target, Kmart, Dollar Tree, etc., please email her at salomebg [at] gmail [dot] com for our mailing address.
My sincerest thanks for reading this far and any help you might be able to offer, and a special shout-out to Patrick Boegel, someone I know only via Twitter, who made a donation (the first one!) after my first call for help there, and even retweeted the call.
NOTE: Salomé doesn’t have a public blog, but I’ll post a response from her thanking everyone once our Beg-a-Thon is complete. Thanks!
PS: This was originally posted over at Storytlr, but I’m reposting it here.
