School Principal for a Day

By George Miller

As a student or a parent, did you ever wish you could be Principal of the school, just for a day?  Well, I was recently, but it wasn’t quite what I imagined. I wasn’t able to make any major policy changes on the spot, but learned a lot. It all started when one of my associates, Peter Godinez, show host on KADYTV Good Morning Oxnard, which we do together, asked me if I was interested in participating. Peter is a marketing rep for Xerox and knows the county schools fairly well.

Moorpark Access School class for moderately impaired students, May 19, 2015. Photo: CitizensJournal.us

Above, teacher Carri Gault (standing, right), Moorpark ACCESS School class of 18-22 year old students. They spend about half of their time in class and half out in the world, either interning at local businesses, going on trips to the library, stores, supermarkets, etc., to bone up on basic practical living skills. Students kept coming and going with school staff escorts (Job Coach Leslie – also standing) while I was there, on May 19, so this wasn’t the whole class. (Principal Dr. Scott Barlow sitting in the corner).

The way I understood it, I’d be attending a luncheon in support of the program. An invitation from The Ventura County Office of Education soon followed. It turned out it wasn’t just for a luncheon, but to actually be Principal for a Day. It came with a list of preparation instructions. I was assigned to the Moorpark ACCESS School and part of Mariposa School in Camarillo. The Principal of those schools and 3 others is Dr Scott Barlow. He turned out, like almost all the other school staff I met that day, to be remarkable.

You see, these are not ordinary schools, they are special education institutions. Take whatever you know about the difficulty of running a public school and multiply it by ten- that’s roughly how much harder it looked to me to do.  Fortunately, people ten times better than in public schools are not needed, because a far higher staff to student ratio is utilized to help these kids. Most staff are specially trained for this work. Most I met seemed to have a “calling” for it- we’re talking major dedication. Doctorates and Masters abound. I heard titles like job coach, teacher, paraeducator, speech and language specialist, school nurse, psychologist, vision specialist, physical therapist, principal and office manager. But most evident is their special love for the work and the kids.

Dr. Scott Barlow, Triggs-Conejo Educational Center, who runs Moorpark ACCESS School, Mariposa Elementary Special Education section and three other schools. Photo: CitizensJournal.us

ACCESS School, Moorpark

I met Principal Dr, Scott Barlow at ACCESS School (Adult Community Center for Educational Support Services), in the old downtown of Moorpark, just off 118. It is a fairly Spartan building, but clean and well constructed. Furnishings are pretty basic, but it is decorated in a cheerful manner. ACCESS shares the building with Phoenix School, another special ed facility, for emotional/behavioral issues. ACCESS currently has 26 students in several small classes.

Dr. Barlow explained that we would restrict the day’s activities to just two of his five schools, due to lack of time (3 hours) to fully appreciate and absorb the key points of so wide a range of schools/classes/students. The wisdom of that was soon apparent. Barlow took me first to a class (see class photo near the beginning of this article) of only moderately impaired students.

They had been prepped before I even walked through the door- probably better than I was. They even knew about CitizensJournal.us. These kids- well not actually kids anymore- they are 18 to 22- have left high school and are now in what is a called a post-secondary school. This is the last public school education that they are legally entitled to, which goes to the age of 22 for special ed students.

I had the opportunity to hear and/or talk to every student there and to address the class and answer questions. Their questions were about who I was, where I was from and on CitizensJournal.us. They also talked about themselves, their activities and aspirations. Several are interested in writing and the performing arts. They seemed most enthusiastic about outside activities- work, seeing attractions and learning life skills. A couple are very interested in animals, from a trip to a zoo and helping out an an animal shelter, as interns. Vishal has worked at the latter and Banana Republic. He likes retail. Myles has worked at Me and Ed’s, Fresh ‘n Easy and Its a Grind (coffee). Erica has worked at El Pollo Loco, Its a Grind and also read to pre-school students.

The objective of the class seemed to be to mainstream the students and move them toward independent living to the greatest extent possible. They are taught social skills, responsibilities and the mechanics of negotiating modern life- going to businesses, stores, libraries, museums, farms, using public transit (something I haven’t figured out yet) and getting work experience as interns. Some of these lead to jobs. Also taught are learning how to handle money, shop in a supermarket, use computers, Internet, etc.

Some companies  participating in the internship program: Its a Grind (coffee), Me and Ed’s Pizza, Banana Republic, Animal Shelter (at Camarillo Airport), Fresh ‘n Easy and El Pollo Loco,

ACCESS School teacher Carri Gault. Photo: CitizensJournal.us

A note from ACCESS teacher Carri Gault:

Thought you’d love to know that Monica is writing a short story about a prince.

Shelby is writing her “fake Star Wars book”.

We look forward to reading the article in Citizens Journal. I shared your (video) segment with parents!

Thank you so much for your collaboration,

– Carri Gault

Other classes at ACCESS

When going between classes, I saw something surprising. A student being pushed in a wheelchair appeared to be severely disabled. He was in contorted stance, face looked frozen. But, while passing by, I noticed that he was manipulating an I-Pad type device rather adeptly, surfing the Internet.

From there, we encountered students working with more severe impairments than what I had begin to view as “The Advanced Class.” I walked into classes that appeared to my untrained eyes to be recreation-oriented, but at the same time were imparting skills. For example, in Aubrey Alexander’s class depicted above, each student as doing something different, while teacher/aides would provide guidance when it seemed warranted. I saw some instruction on painting.

ACCESS has a computer lab, but I saw tablet computers all over the building, being utilized in various ways. Photo: CitizensJournal.us.

Mariposa Elementary- special ed div.

Next stop was the Mariposa School, a beautiful complex right in the middle of a nice residential area.

Mariposa Elementary School teacher Sarah (standing), with two aides helping students, 5-19-15. Photo: CitizensJournal.us

The first class visited contained very young children needing constant supervision, There was a teacher, Sarah, supported by two aides (above) and two speech specialists, Carol Masson and assistant Brendan Carr (shown below, with an aide).  Sarah told me that much of the work involves one-on-one support, requiring a high staff-to-student ratio. Her class has 5 staff, with volunteers. She said that they also utilize outside expert assessments of students and receive recommendations.

Speech therapist Carol Masson and speech pathology assistant Brendan Carr. with aide, helping student at Mariposa Elementary School, 5-19-15. Photo: CitizensJournal.us

Dr. Barlow showed me a couple of different classes for younger autistic kids. When we walked into one where students were eating, I said too bad we came at lunchtime and won’t see the lessons. Dr. Barlow and the teacher quickly corrected me, pointing out that this WAS a lesson. I asked what was being taught. “Teaching them not to hit each other, sit still in the chair, eat neatly with a fork, open a bottle,” etc. In contrast, I was shown a newer student, who did none of the above, had scattered food all over the floor and seemed a bit frustrated and detached. I asked how long it took to get the other students to where they are now. “Two years,” I was told.

Autistic students’ math class at Mariposa School in Camarillo, 5-19-15. Photo: CitizensJournal.us

In Kam Kearns’ class of  nine  8 to 11 year old autistic students, it was strikingly different. I arrived during a math class. The teacher was supervising a video-based instruction session on a large, easy to read screen. It seems that autistic students often have attention span problems, but tend to love technology, love computers, love videos and are more engaged than when older tools were used, I was told. I watched students go up and touch the screen to bring down different selections of coins depicted and move them around to balance the amounts. Very useful skills for handling money.

Ms. Kerns said she searched around and experimented with various teaching aids until she found what works best, a recurring pattern at the schools. She said an occupational therapist had brought in one of the programs on a flash drive and that the “learn360” web site was very useful.

This class operated much like a conventional mainstream class when I was watching. I observed three students approach the board and interact with it, solving math problems, with some coaching from Ms. Kearns.  There were two aides in the class, as well. The students I saw were doing pretty well. The last one seemed emotionally overwrought by the experience and was agitated and in tears when he returned to his seat. With just a subtle gesture from Principal Dr. Barlow, he was instantly calmed. I wonder how he did that?

“Special Education?”

So, what is special education? It deals with helping students who have significant learning disadvantages which cannot be successfully addressed by conventional K-12 schools.  Most of  us have heard that many impaired kids are “mainstreamed”- put into regular schools, with some additional support provided. I’m told it’s a judgement call as to when to go to Special Ed. and it can be influenced, at least to some extent,  by parental and student feelings about it.  Once it is determined to go that route, it’s a whole different track- actually series of tracks. While sometimes students with very different disabilities are in the same classes, there are some major divisions. For instance, I observed classes which were entirely composed of students with autism- although even that has many different aspects/symptoms.

It’s harder for impaired kids and their teaching staff to make progress, but it CAN be done- and living proof was in evidence. The program is tremendously beneficial to both students and parents, most of whom would not be able to get an education for their kids otherwise. Look at it as an insurance policy should a child not be able to cope in regular schools. I was told that there are 800-900 students in the $100 million program, countywide. It’s administered by the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE), not the local school boards. Why? There are not sufficient economies of scale at the district level to do what they are doing. The districts pay a fee to have the county handle this. Additional grant money is available too. There are 22 special education schools in VCOE.

It seems that a relatively low percentage of students, upon leaving the school, can deal with the world independently, but some do. Some can hold jobs.  A larger number of students are able to just better navigate their way through life with help from relatives or other assistance. Dr. Barlow told me that nearly all students are able to deal with life much better as a result of their time and efforts in the schools. To some extent, the parents must also be educated to better understand and deal with their kids. Interestingly, at least two staff members I met were inspired to enter the field because their own relatives were cognitively impaired.

All this is in stark contrast with what I saw when first attending public schools in New York, roughly a thousand years ago. I remember that all Special Ed students were thrown into one room, with a single saint-like teacher to deal with all of them. The range of impairment-physical, psychological and mental, was so wide that I don’t know how he could possibly run the class. It must have been merely a coping strategy for the school district. Also, the students were stigmatized by many of the mainstream kids, who did not understand what they were seeing. I remember one student especially, Cynthia, who had physical disabilities, was much older than the rest of us, with a face and stance like a stroke victim’s. She couldn’t mouth words we could understand (but her teacher seemed to understand her). I heard that she was actually extraordinarily intelligent. It was evident to me that she was mocking herself, us and fellow students. I wonder what ever happened to her. She almost certainly would have fared far better with the VCOE of today.

The Luncheon

Afterward, Dr. Barlow and I headed over to the VCOE headquarters for a luncheon and discussion on what we saw. We got to meet the district executives, some Principals and other “Principals for a Day.”

VCOE executives, some principals and “Principals for a Day,” after luncheon at VCOE hedquarters in Camarillo, 5-19-15. Photo by VCOE

We were addressed by VCOE Superintendent Stanley Mantooth and some of his staff. Our impressions and input were also solicited and they asked for our future support for their programs. The purpose of this program is to build links to the community and solicit support for the schools.

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George Miller is Publisher of Citizensjournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant, active in civic affairs, living in Oxnard.

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