Every day I feel lucky that my son William goes to Parkside. William is a funny, smart, loving, happy and in many ways a complicated little boy. He needs to be at a school where the directors, teachers, therapists, and staff not only recognize, but understand his strengths and challenges, are attuned to his feelings and appreciate him for his unique self. A place where he can feel part of a community and develop an identity. Parkside gives him all of these things and more.
We are very fortunate at Parkside to benefit from a caring educational environment with an amazing student/staff ratio addressing the needs of our children. This has made for many smiles and sunny days at Parkside. In the distance, however, there are ominous storm clouds brewing. The current political environment may lead to an uncertain future for specialized programs like Parkside’s. There are proposals out there that threaten funding from the federal Department of Education. There are proposals to eliminate federal laws which guarantee IDEA funding for learning environments like the one we have at Parkside. In New York, the push towards Charter Schools has come at the expense of public programs, and support for tuition reimbursement at special education schools. Future funding levels for our school are not guaranteed.
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