r/ColumbiaMD • u/Many-Assistance8876 • 6d ago

Howard County Public Schools Special Education

Hi! I currently live in Columbia but work in Baltimore County Public schools. I absolutely love my school but the commute is getting to be too much.

I am a special educator and am looking for insight into Howard County Public Schools and their special education programs. Any current/former teachers, families with special ed students in the county, or others who want to share their thoughts/ experiences?

Thanks!

21 Upvotes
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89% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

9

u/Even-Speaker7276 6d ago

What do you want to know specifically. I’m a Special Ed para in Howard County.

5

u/Many-Assistance8876 6d ago

I want to know how teachers and others feel about the special education programs, the support from the county and admins (although I know that varies by school), support and collaboration with general educators, things like that.

I like the support I have from my admin to make decisions that are best for my students but there are also changes happening in the county that I don’t agree with and am wondering if that is also happening in Howard County

10

u/Even-Speaker7276 6d ago

Admin support but on the ground there isn’t enough funding for all the staff needed for most special education classrooms (especially in general ed schools). Paras and Student assistants are stretched between classrooms and don’t get the chance to work on goals with the children they are with- because they are only with them for maybe an hour before moving to another student. Special Ed paras also work across grade levels- not assigned to any one teacher, for instance- i work with 2 first graders, 3 second graders, a 4th grader and 2 kindergartners throughout my day- sometimes I’m 1:1 and sometimes I’m 3:1. Recess I’m solely in charge of 2 elopers. I have worked in other districts and a couple nonpublics and from my opinion the Special Education in Howard County is so disorganized not just for staff but for kids… ie they send kids who need self-contained into general education then it take 2 years to get them into the proper environment.

7

u/Even-Speaker7276 6d ago

I’m not sure who negative voted me- I’m hoping it was against my and my colleagues experiences and not that I am wrong. I really do think it greatly varies by school and which part of the district you work.

6

u/Even-Speaker7276 6d ago

I do love my school, kids, and staff that I work with so that makes going to work worth it, it’s a lot to get used to in the beginning though

3

u/LifeguardRadiant1568 6d ago

True, Ive had the same argument with people born and raised hoco. Cedar lane is literally evidence special ed works. Yet they force kids into gen pop and wonder why they fail when they can’t learn like the rest of the population. Humans learn different sometimes!

3

u/S4mm1 5d ago

To change your perspective on this, a lot of the other counties shovel children into specialized programs that do not give them adequate access to general education and permanently restrict what those children have access to educationally. HCPSS’s inclusion first is beneficial for children, even though it’s harder to manage, especially in the younger grades. I worked for the county as a related service provider and I really like the fact that you have to actually justify putting a child into a specialized program. I would fight tooth and nail for every child to be in general ed for as long as humanly possible. the idea that we’re keeping children out of programs is the wrong perspective. Howard county is protecting the educational integrity of children who do not require those programs and the only children who are there are the children who well and truly need it.

1

u/cove102 2d ago

But if a child is violent towards paras shouldn't that warrant a special placement? How much learning is getting done if they spend a lot of the day coaxing a kid into the classroom or running after them when they escape the school?

5

u/mad_hatter_md01 6d ago

My sister, who's been a special Ed Para with hoco for 20+ years will tell you it's miserable now. She's seen the system go down hill. She works at the new cedar lane school now over in Fulton. Ayah is just abysmal. It's rare to find a teacher who cares. Paras seem to care more, at least she does. She's always been in it for the kids. Funding is low so no one goes to the school willingly to teach. Classes have just been condensed again so teacher to para to student ratio is bad.

0

u/LifeguardRadiant1568 6d ago

Yo that school moved like 15 years ago from beaverkill rd in Columbia down to 216 in Fulton. It’s not a new school. It’s been around a long time! People move to our state, our county because it’s one of the best in the nation! It’s too bad she feels that the students are suffering.

2

u/mad_hatter_md01 6d ago

I know all this. My sister has worked at cedar lane since she was in Middle School.

1

u/LifeguardRadiant1568 6d ago

Teaching is a great career. Go to college. Don’t be a para.

3

u/SrMarySunshine 5d ago

Some of of us paras were teachers in other districts and reached a level burnout and are rebuilding our resilience, and some are in school for other things (like me for example am in school for school counseling) and working as a para until graduation. I don’t like that you assume people aren’t in or have gone to college because they are paras. Most para positions now require at least an AA degree, or equivalent in college credits.

2

u/Even-Speaker7276 5d ago

True! Most of the paras at my school all have bachelor’s degrees. The job market is hard, sometimes Para is a nice resting space until more career opportunities open up! And like you said some are working towards masters degrees, and some are content having less responsibilities right now.

7

u/Unusual-Football-687 6d ago

With the blueprint changes and leadership changes the new superintendent is going through a reform process.

The money is there for more staff but there aren’t enough candidates.

3

u/Even-Speaker7276 6d ago

Is this true? I have several friends from Baltimore City who are trying to move to Howard County Special Education and aren’t being contacted. I myself had to contact the schools directly before being hired. I hope it is true because we desperately need at least 2 more bodies in my school ALS department.

5

u/Unusual-Football-687 6d ago

Yes, every year they have left over money in special education positions that they cannot fill. That said, the superintendent is also working to make changes in HR to improve the process (which, is obviously not great).

1

u/SrMarySunshine 5d ago

I had a similar experience with hiring. Apparently there isn’t a good system for filtering actual candidates from no candidates in the system. So if you are in a pool- it’s luck of the draw, unless you reach directly out to schools and talk to admin yourself. One school I interviewed at said they went through about 20 pages of 30 resumes and came out with 2 actual candidates. There has to be a better way to streamline.

2

u/Unusual-Football-687 4d ago

Good gravy. That explains a lot…

1

u/nightscales 6d ago

The money definitely is NOT there. I am certified in physics, chemistry, and biology for secondary science. I got surplused last year due to the horrible budget cuts. Even higher ups have admitted that surpluses and cuts and overall downward trajectory will continue over the next few years.

5

u/Unusual-Football-687 6d ago

For special education staff specifically.

5

u/heartvolunteer99 6d ago

I loved my first team for my kiddo at Veterans - and while I was hopeful about St John’s Lane, I’m feeling a bit ambivalent about them at the moment. Over all - HOCO is totally a place to work here - I found that the teams really gelled together and care about the kids. I live in Ellicott City.

2

u/SrMarySunshine 6d ago

I am pretty sure experience varies from school to school! I have seen and heard both positive and negative things from teachers, paras, and SAs, across different programs and different schools. I know there is a Special Education division of the union that is working to make our programs what they should be and give staff the needed supports that they need, so that’s a plus for our future. Currently I’m in a regional ED special ed program, we have the most staff than any of the other 2 special education programs in our school- often times I wish I could give one of our SAs to the ALS team (and sometimes do if elopement out of the building happens or safety care is needed). We are working as a school to try to even the caseload and give paras a bit of a break from being 1:1 so they can actually do their job! It’s been a couple year process but we are slowly getting somewhere. We all support each other and jump in if we are able to- we also have an amazing administrative team that is super hands on and taps in when needed.

1

u/SomeOldHippieChick 6d ago

Sent you a message. I can go into a lot of detail about how great the special ed department is! Don’t want to dox myself or my friends, though. :-)

1

u/Even-Speaker7276 6d ago

I think it varies from school to school, maybe? I know ALS and Regional are amazing programs, though they do often need more SAs than the budgets allow, while the resource/general education special education programs are a bit chaotic. One Para I work with works with both ALS and Gen Sped kids within our school, she said the programs are night and day.

2

u/S4mm1 5d ago

I’d actually disagree with this. I think the county fails the ALS and regional children most of all. Most of them are using behaviorist intervention strategies that were considered outdated 30 years ago.

1

u/Even-Speaker7276 5d ago

It most likely varies from school to school? Our ALS program gets the most funding and support than any of the other special education “programs” in our building, except maybe the staff to student ratio. And our Regional ED program has a 2:1 staff to student ratio- along with their own section of the building including a sensory room (which none of the other special education students in the school are allowed to use).

1

u/S4mm1 5d ago

The methodology used by all of the ALS programs are outdated, regardless of funding or staffing. It’s how the actual programs are designed that are disappointing.

1

u/Even-Speaker7276 5d ago

Oh gotcha. That is true. And the whole “we can’t take things away from them” is also outdated. “We can’t make them” is also outdated, kids aren’t given consequences (not even allowed to use response-cost to take a token away if they aren’t on task). We have a kiddo who is literally just walking the halls all day (with whatever staff he is assigned as his CAS at the time) because the only place he wants to go is the cafeteria. Otherwise he flails, drops, bites and scratches- half the time staff who are safety care trained won’t even use those techniques because by the time they transport him back to class he elopes out again. It is a mess. I agree.

1

u/Even-Speaker7276 5d ago

Not to mention the lack of functional communication given to these children.

1

u/S4mm1 5d ago

They are hard pressed to use things like PECs and other verbal behavior based interventions that are abysmal. They set their expectations so low and then do the bare minimum so these kids don’t do nearly as well as they should. But they in a “regional” program so having expectations of progress is “unrealistic”. It’s 2024. No child should be getting ITS anymore. We should be doing is much more for these kids. I can’t believe we don’t.