For Better Schools: Special Education Forum

Later today, I will be at the Hopkins Special Education Advisory Committee candidate forum (see right for details). Here are the questions that will be asked:

What is your philosophy of the place of special education in the public schools?
Describe the challenges you see in delivering Special Services.
How do you plan to address the increasing diversity and needs of our student population?
The reauthorization of IDEA in 2004 was partially intended to align IDEA with NCLB. However, both of these laws enacted by the federal government do not fully fund the programs that they mandate. As a school board member, how would you work to advocate for that funding with the federal government?

Following these questions, there will be an open question and answer period and chance to visit one on one with all.

Wellik in the Sun-Sailor

Excerpts from a profile in the local paper

By way of his profession as an independent strategic-planning consultant, Jamie Wellik has had vast interaction with public schools all over the country. Those experiences, he said, have given him an insight as to what works and what doesn't, something he said would be beneficial to the Hopkins School Board. "I've been working with public schools and education for about 15 years," he said. "I have a unique set of business skills, analytical skills ... and a broad understanding of the issues that face schools."

"I feel that Hopkins really needs someone with that skill set to serve on the board ... I help schools for a living, I could really help Hopkins."

Wellik lists fiscal accountability, enrollment challenges and board governance as the top issues facing the district. "Transparency, communicating with the public, just really kind of going back to what school boards are supposed to do. ... I think we've kind of lost track of that."

However, he said, any trust breached between the community and the district over the closing can be renewed through positive performance. "If you do a good job on allocating the resources, it's going to show in the classroom, it's going to show with the families, it's going to certainly show in the students. ... The results speak for themselves."

"There's challenges ahead," he said. "I'm not a handwringer, I'm not a 'I wish things could be different,' I'm a 'This is what we have, this is where we're at, this is what works.'"

For Better Schools

Special Education Forum

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Wellik in the Sun-Sailor

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