Separate and Unequal

It all begins at the beginning. The success or failure of any child comes down to learning opportunities that children have had, or have not had, at an early age, according to many education experts. Such as whether they were able to attend preschool, or whether their parents read to them.

Students from different neighborhoods and socioeconomic backgrounds are starting out on wildly uneven playing fields.

"Some affluent parents are paying $25,000 a year for preschool," says Hoover Liddell, an activist and educator who worked for the district for 30 years.

Yet there are also family situations where education isn't high on the list of priorities. Eating is important, finding a place to sleep tonight is important. "Some of those things are just natural realities, that's how it goes," Liddell says.

Liddell, a former principal in Bayview-Hunters Point, worked as a consultant to the city during the consent decree, monitoring race and achievement in schools. He believes that the disparities in early education are a disgrace. "Special ed kids are pushed aside; we don't have the same vision for them or give them the same education as other kids and expect them to go to college. You can't have second-class citizens."

Unfortunately, teachers lack the resources to effectively deal with the disparities in early education, and too few teachers have been taught to recognize the cultural, class, and socioeconomic differences in their schools. This makes the situation desperately hard on everyone, particularly teachers.

"It's hard to keep one [a special ed teacher] because they don't have the services, and schools are putting the wrong kids in the classes," says Principal Dierke.

Special ed teachers have the highest turnover rate in the teaching profession and tend to leave within five years, according to the National Information Center for Children and Youth With Disabilities. Overwhelmed, they move on to general education. The brand-new teachers, the idealistic ones, the ones with energy, the ones like Dyer, get the most challenging classes. Kids need such energy and attention. But Dyer admits she hasn't developed the skills to cope with outbursts and emotional behavior in the classroom.

"I'm already being advised to get my general ed degree, in addition to the special ed degree I'm getting now, because of that burnout rate," says Dyer. She is attending a master's program at the University of San Francisco and has noticed that quite a few special ed teachers in her school have changed to general ed.

Dyer had never taught a class before this past summer. After two months of training she was given one of the toughest classrooms in the district. Dyer says it's what she wanted; she's learning quickly and she can handle it, but at first, it was a rude awakening. "To be completely honest, I don't think it was fair to my students at the beginning," says Dyer. "I look back and don't even feel I was the same teacher I am today, I'm so much more competent and capable."

Principal Leslie Trook, who administrates AP Giannini, says she chooses teachers based on their ability to connect with all students, not necessarily on their experience or inexperience. "New teachers who are self-reflective and open to continual modifications of instruction and teaching practices are excellent candidates for special ed," says Trook, who says her biggest challenge as principal is viewing special ed students as individuals without the labels that hold them to lower expectations.

Yet while the blame often falls on teachers and principals, maybe it's the parents who should be looked at. Jackie Fox, who has a child in special ed, insists that it falls back to the family. "Some parents think, 'Well, my kid's in school now, I don't have to be as involved.' We're letting behavioral issues go out the window," says Fox, who is active in a public school advocacy group called Parents for Public Schools. "I feel sorry for these teachers, they're stuck in the middle and dealing with these issues that they shouldn't have to. This child is being so horrible that he's disrupting the class for the other 15 kids. Does sticking him in a special day class solve my issue? I don't know."

Principal Trook at AP Giannini says that although it is possible that students are placed in special ed partly due to behavioral issues in addition to other needs they have, the district does not place them in those classes solely for behavioral reasons.

Most educators and advocates agree that identifying and addressing the diverse needs of every student, and every teacher, is a massive challenge, particularly at a time when the district is struggling with dwindling funds and is forced to shut down entire schools across the city. Amid the emotional toils of being a teenager, there are also socioeconomic issues and problems at home and in tough neighborhoods.

Principal Dierke, of Visitacion Valley, says the success and failure of education comes down to support. Do these special day class teachers have the kind of environment to feel safe and to be creative?

Dierke is one of those principals who really gets it. He had the unique experience of working as a special ed teacher for 15 years before he became a principal. He is not about to shun problem kids away to other schools. He says you just have to work with your people and know what you're doing.