Dear Administrator:

It is such a wonderful time to be learning at Washington School in Point
Richmond when you are a Regular Student. There are so many modern computers
in the Regular Education classes, usually six to eight in each class. Even
the kindergarten classes have big fast modern pentium computers with large
screens, lots of memory, and nice soundcards, speakers , quality headphones;
and the Windows 95 operating system which (although somewhat dated now,
being 7 years old) is still able to run all of the great modern software
built for the Windows 95,98 ME platform. All the necessary elements for up
to date learning for the Regular Education students. It is so great to be
normal.

But when you are a child with special needs you are REALLY in need at
Washington School, because you have to work with broken equipment which is
not maintained, disk drives which are internally damaged and which operate
at 45% of their capacity, None of your computers have enough memory to run
Windows 95 so you have to slowly plod along with Windows 3.1 which was state
of the art in 1990. A majority of the approved programs which are available
for the use of all students will not run on a Special Education computer.
And when that Special Education computer has a damaged disk drive which in
one case was issued that way to the classroom there is no way that you can
load many of the programs. And since you are a Special Education Classroom
you only get one or two damaged computers anyway. Don't throw it out, give
it to Special Ed.

Because, as a Special Education Student at Washington School you only get
the leftovers when it comes essential computing equipment. You are told
that the grants which provide the money for the resources were not for you
but rather only for the Regular Education students. As a Special Education
student you are told that even as the entire campus is wired for direct
internet access you will have to wait five years until your class is
connected to the existing wiring! Some Special Ed classes are still not
connected to
the internet. They have been put off by over six years! Still nothing. No
amount of explanations regarding a lack of funds to accomplish these simple
tasks will wash.

As a Special Education student at Washington School you are continually
shoved aside as the group which brings down the curve for everybody else.
It is time to stop the proliferation of 19th century attitudes which prevail
in the class structure at Washington School. Special Education children at
Washington School and elsewhere throughout the district are SPECIAL. They
have the right to the same tools that the regular children do and in the
same quantities. Many of these special children will grow to become
leaders of their community if they are not forcefully and intentionally
discouraged by inequitably distributed educational resources.

Let's end the discrimination at Washington School and accomplish inclusion
instead of just talking it to death.

Sincerely,

Michael Jordan

astro@lmi.net