Westlake School Board Candidates on Special Education

All seven school board candidates joined a forum hosted by West Life on Thursday evening at the Performing Arts Center. Here is each candidate's response to the question: How do you feel about the special education programs in Westlake and what is your five-year plan regarding special education programming?

"I don’t know a lot about special education programs in Westlake because I haven’t really investigated that part of the school system, but it is the responsibility of the school system to educate all the students in the community...

I will say however that I’m disappointed that so much of the educational standards and educational requirements that are imposed on local districts come from federal rules and regulations that are not adapted to our students. 

I think the school board should take a more active role in petitioning higher level government bodies to give the local districts more autonomy in order to respond to specialized, particular needs instead of taking a one-size-fits-all type of program."

"I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the quality of special education programs in Westlake so I really can’t really speak to that question. I would like to offer this— I do believe that we have a public responsibility to provide the best education possible for both ends of the spectrum: both the special needs children and also the advanced children. That can be done by good, concrete, solid programs and avoiding the esoteric, fancy named programs like the International Baccalaureate...

We should be looking at those known programs that meet the needs of the children best."

"I think it’s our shared responsibility as a community to make sure that we do educate those kids that have special needs...

What would be really helpful is if in a federal mandate or a state mandate, that they back that up with some funds for us. Because right now we get about probably under $500 per student from the state of Ohio but yet for a student who needs these services, it might cost quite, quite a bit more than that to fully meet the needs of their educational program."

"People with special needs children move into Westlake because of the services that Westlake City Schools provide. Obviously, there’s a cost to that, but you educate everyone the same...

It is very important that a child who isn't special needs understands how to relate to the child that is special needs because our children are going to go out into the community and they're going to be faced with this and they need to be able to get along together...

I believe that our school system does a fantastic job with its special needs program and I think that the teachers and staff do a wonderful job of making sure that every child learns."

"God bless the men and women that work with the special education children. I would like to point out though, that you hear a lot about how our budget has increased in years past... Well, this is one of those reasons.

And that's why families move to Westlake— that’s partially because of these great programs. It’s our obligation; it's our duty to educate these children."

"We do have excellent services. What I’ve learned about special needs students through my own, personal experience is that they’re actually quite intelligent, smart kids that have a lot to offer.

What we need to do is teach them how to integrate into the society that we know and we call normal. And I think that we’ve done a great job of that with the preschool program, and it continues with the education system here."

"I would like to see every child focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities. I think that’s very important."

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