Kim Knox's Response to the CAC Questionnaire
Questions from SFUSD Community Advisory Committee for Special Education
1. Do you believe that children with disabilities have a right to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment?
Yes!!
2. Are you close to anyone who has a child with disabilities?
Yes. I have many friends who are/were students with disabilities as well as parents with children with disabilities.
3. How familiar are you with the basics of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act?
I have reviewed the legislation. But I am also eager to learn more about how we can best implement the act as a community and school district to ensure that children with disabilities have the most appropriate educatioin in the least restrictive environment.
4. What steps will you take to see that the federal government fully funds IDEA and that the State of California directs all of the money to school districts for special education purposes?
I would work to create a coalition with like-minded school districts to create a greater voice in Washington to get the federal government to fully fund IDEA-as they promised with the legislation. I would also work with our local state legislators to ensure that the IDEA money is fully directed to schools districts for special education purposes. If we work together with other districts as well as statewide associations, our voice will be better heard.
5. How will you ensure that appropriate services are provided for our children, particularly our most vulnerable children, in the reality of meeting budgetary demands?
I would make sure that we don't keep making budget cuts to our special education budget. Special education is an investment and not an encroachment, and the School District should treat special education expenditures in that light. I would also like to work with the Citizens Advisory Committee on Special Education to ensure that parents can more easily get the services that their children need to succeed.
I am concerned that we limited choices to students with special needs to a small number of schools. For example, several programs are >located in the Western Addition/Haight Ashbury. Students (and their parents) in the Bayview, Visitacion Valley and other southeast neighborhoods have a long way to travel-and their parents have to go out of the way to participate in their child's education. If elected, I would work with the CAC to look at enlarging the number of schools that offer programs that meet the special needs of our students.
Parents with special needs students are a great resource on teaching SFUSD on how we can work together to create a school district that better meets the needs of all of our students.
I am concerned that we limited choices to students with special needs to a small number of schools. For example, several programs are >located in the Western Addition/Haight Ashbury. Students (and their parents) in the Bayview, Visitacion Valley and other southeast neighborhoods have a long way to travel-and their parents have to go out of the way to participate in their child's education. If elected, I would work with the CAC to look at enlarging the number of schools that offer programs that meet the special needs of our students.
Parents with special needs students are a great resource on teaching SFUSD on how we can work together to create a school district that better meets the needs of all of our students.
6. What qualifications and experience are you bringing to the board that will help enhance new vision and positive academic achievements for all students despite a continuing lack of necessary funding sources?
I have attended over 100 school board and poured over SFUSD's last three budgets. So I have identified where the District's budget has grown-without benefiting the classroom.
I mentored 84 SFUSD high school studentsand several of my interns were student with special needs. I learned a great deal from my students and I learned how to better listen to the students in creating a work environment that helped them learned new skills-and accomplish the work that needed to be done.
I am the author/editor of five science related books for K-5 students. I have presented the material to special education teachers-and I've learned a great deal from these teachers on how students learn and how to capture students' imagination. I have also worked with Special Olympics athletes with field and track events.
I mentored 84 SFUSD high school studentsand several of my interns were student with special needs. I learned a great deal from my students and I learned how to better listen to the students in creating a work environment that helped them learned new skills-and accomplish the work that needed to be done.
I am the author/editor of five science related books for K-5 students. I have presented the material to special education teachers-and I've learned a great deal from these teachers on how students learn and how to capture students' imagination. I have also worked with Special Olympics athletes with field and track events.
7. What is your experience with Special Education?
In college, I worked with Special Olympic athletes at various track and field events. I have mentored several students with special needs as part of the Mayor's Youth Education and Employment Program. I have worked with special education teachers in presenting curriculum about water resources.
A highlight of my life was during one of my Environment Summits for high school students. The Summit gave grants to high school classes to explore a project related to water conservation, energy efficiency or water pollution. The students got together to present their project in a presentation and as an exhibit. Two awards are given-one for the best exhibit and the other which is chosen by all of the students for the best presentation. One year, a special education class from Galileo did a wonderful presentation on a (water-conserving) garden that they created with their grant from my program. The 200 kids from other public schools' general education classes voted their presentation as the best. The students from Galileo were walking on air-and I was awed at the great presentation (and the support that the other students gave the students from Galileo).
A highlight of my life was during one of my Environment Summits for high school students. The Summit gave grants to high school classes to explore a project related to water conservation, energy efficiency or water pollution. The students got together to present their project in a presentation and as an exhibit. Two awards are given-one for the best exhibit and the other which is chosen by all of the students for the best presentation. One year, a special education class from Galileo did a wonderful presentation on a (water-conserving) garden that they created with their grant from my program. The 200 kids from other public schools' general education classes voted their presentation as the best. The students from Galileo were walking on air-and I was awed at the great presentation (and the support that the other students gave the students from Galileo).
8. Please tell us what you think about the full inclusion of children with disabilities in general education classrooms. Do you think that all schools in SFUSD should allow children with disabilities to be educated in classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers?
Yes, I believe in full inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. I think that all schools in SFUSD should allow children with disabilities to be education in the classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers-and that SFUSD should provide the accomodations and programs to help the students to succeed. I would want to work with CAC and other parents to work towards ensuring that every school in SFUSD allows full inclusion for students with disabilities in their general education classroms.
9. What are you willing to do and how far are you willing to go to ensure every child in this district, with or without an IEP, learns to read, write, problem solve, and use math to a level where they will pass the graduation requirements and help them have a successful life?
I support using General Funds to meet the needs of special needs student. In 2006-07, the District's Central Offices got an increase of 18% over their 2005-06 budgets, while schools got a decrease of 2-40% from their 2005-06 budget. We need to ensure that we are spending dollars in the classroom to ensure that every student gets a quality education and the tools that they need to have a successful life.
If elected, I work to have more dollars spent on one-to-one tutoring for struggling students, more quality after school programs, preminums for experienced teachers to teach at struggling schools and more professional development funds invested in our educators and workers. I wouuld also create a pilot program to have a voluntary summer school at our struggling elementary students.
I would also work to create a coalition of other school districts to begin demanding from the federal government to deliver their promised dollars for Special Education and to ensure that the state send those dollars to the school districts.
We need to make sure that every child at SFUSD succeeds. This includes providing individual educatioin planning for all students, one-to-one tutoring, special accommodations and the necessary resources to make that all of our students have a quality education.
If elected, I work to have more dollars spent on one-to-one tutoring for struggling students, more quality after school programs, preminums for experienced teachers to teach at struggling schools and more professional development funds invested in our educators and workers. I wouuld also create a pilot program to have a voluntary summer school at our struggling elementary students.
I would also work to create a coalition of other school districts to begin demanding from the federal government to deliver their promised dollars for Special Education and to ensure that the state send those dollars to the school districts.
We need to make sure that every child at SFUSD succeeds. This includes providing individual educatioin planning for all students, one-to-one tutoring, special accommodations and the necessary resources to make that all of our students have a quality education.
10. How will you deal with entrenched bureaucracy if it interferes with service delivery to students?
The key is to find out how we can reduce the bureaucracy that creates barriers to delivery services to our students. This is complicated since most of the District's special education funding comes from federal sources which come with a variety of bureaucracy demands of their own.
The first step is to reframe the District's view of special education. Special education is an investment. The second step is to identify with parents the barriers that make it difficult for parents to ensure that their chilidren have the services that they need to succeed. The third step is to eliminate those barriers to create a more parent-friendly, student-friendly school district.
The first step is to reframe the District's view of special education. Special education is an investment. The second step is to identify with parents the barriers that make it difficult for parents to ensure that their chilidren have the services that they need to succeed. The third step is to eliminate those barriers to create a more parent-friendly, student-friendly school district.
