Education Brain Trust

First Parent Training Sponsored by Polk County Decat Grant – A Partnership between Education Brain Trust & Ask Resource Center

The first Parent Empowerment Training was held at Carver Elementary School on Saturday May 17^th from 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. The highlights of the training included Parents sharing personal experiences of their academic careers. Of the twenty-five people in attendance everyone had been touched by special education in one form or another. As Parents shared we heard from one Mother whose son has been displaced from school since February of this year. The Mother stated all communication between her and the school personnel has shut down. She does not know what to do next, or who to turn to.  As we listened we “assumed” this was the Mother of a high school student who somewhere in the academic process had lost control.

Imagine our horror when the Mother stated her son was in kindergarten…..

Another Mother spoke of her daughter whose entire academic career had been spent in special education in the DMPS. The Mother was actively engaged in her daughter’s academic studies, IEP plan, and school activities. The Mother continued to urge and negotiate for her daughter to be mainstreamed into general education classes but to no avail. The daughter graduated from high school, but her Mother does not feel her daughter has the job skills to find permanent career placement; nor does she feel her daughter was given the skill sets to effectively work in larger social environments. This mother attended the trainings to help others, and to let Parents know “never give up, no matter how difficult it is.”

Then there is the Mother during introductions, who broke down in tears, and everyone cried with her. I cried, the School Board Member present (Janette Woods) cried, the men cried, we all cried, with her and for her. This Mother’s testimony is indicative of why Education Brain Trust was resurrected, and why it’s so needed.

The Mother told of how she went through special education her entire academic career. How she felt like an outcast, her self-esteem shattered, her potential not realized. Today her son in the 4^th grade is in special education......and she’s pregnant and does not want another child to endure the hardships and pain of special education…and she cried we all did…..

This is a few of the testimonials of Parents…

I can tell you about the young couple, husband and wife who are struggling ensuring their children are getting the best possible outcomes from special education. The father was placed and graduated from special education, he too wants better and more for his children. He and his wife are looking for support, information, and advocacy. They do not feel they are in a partnership with school personnel….

There were tears, there were Parents supporting Parents. Retired school personnel who are concerned about the children they spent their careers trying to educate. Parents who had raised children in the DMPS who wanted Parents to “stay strong, and know we’re here together.”

The tears come to me as I write these words. The love and encouragement from people who just a few hours ago were strangers and were now mentoring, and supporting each other, they all love their children…..they all want more for their children then they had for themselves…more opportunities, and more supports then they were given…

Questions received answers; the staff of Ask Resource Center told Parents the schools CAN NOT send your child home because you did not medicate your child. Parents asked what the long term effects on our children are if they are given behavior medications over long periods of time. We agreed to bring in medical and physiological experts to answer those questions. Questions received answers; questions we could not answer will have follow up at the subsequent meetings.

We talked, ate, laughed, learned, and cried….

The Parents are not the only people who learned a lot Saturday, I learned a lot too. The staff at Ask Resource Center learned a lot also. The training did not follow anywhere close to what we had planned on paper, and that was a great thing, it was much better! We followed the Parents where they led us….we will make changes based on what we heard and leaned Saturday….

We ended the day with an Education Brain Trust signature ending. At the kick off Brittney Cameron, and Napoleon Douglas sang to us “I Need You to Survive.”

Saturday’s event ended with a poem by a Black father who eloquently, with great passion, and commitment expressed a self authored poem of love for the “Black Man”, telling the audience if you see the Black Man, father, and husband tell him he is needed, tell him he is loved……

 The next training is scheduled for June 7^th……..

Contact Paulette or Nansi for more information @ 243-1713