“When you cut, you cut to the bone,” said Naomi Counter-Ohiri. “And we are the bone.”
As reported by Juan Perez Jr. in the Aug. 19 Chicago Tribune in the article, “Please fill public CPS hearing,” CPS parent Naomi Counter-Ohiri, quoted above, appealed to CPS officials to reverse cuts which will devastate special education programs citywide. Jacqueline Vaughn Occupational High School, my 12th grader’s school, was targeted for a 46 percent cut in staff in the current budget. Vaughn lost 23 classroom aids and five teacher positions. To learn from Perez Jr.’s article that these cuts “…stem from a review by the Office of Diverse Learner Supports and Services…” is shocking. ODLSS is charged with insuring that special education students receive supports as mandated in their IEPs (Individual Education Plan). Clearly, ODLSS director Dr. Markay Winston is acting not as an advocate for the children she is responsible to serve, but as their most powerful and dangerous adversary.
—Laurie Hasbrook, Chicago
