My son is Autistic and has been lucky to be able to have had some wonderful teachers here in Janesville. Shame on you people who think that Special Ed shouldnt get some help.. Without these teachers, I dont know where my Son and us as parents would of been! The teachers have worked closely with the Doctors and us as parents to try and help our Son. They have went WAY beyond what is required of them to help my Son and many MANY kids. My Son went from needing Physical therapy and Occupational therapy and Speech therapy to NONE of these things.. he has a cognitive team that works with him and I LOVE them. I would love to put my hands together for Jackson, Monroe Elementary special needs teachers, You have changed many kids lives.. but more importantly.. you changed MY Sons life FOREVER.. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

olliebaba- The correct expression is "nit picking".

i quess whoanellie wants to return to the "GOOD OL'DAYS" of locking special needs folks in an institution and throwing away the key. yepperroo out of sight-out of mind. i have a 1st cousin who has a son with some challanges and he is the nicest kid. at all the family get togethers he has to hug everyone. he is as much family as anyone else.

AMEN PINK~

whoanellie-your ignorance and arrogance is overwhelming! This money is coming from a federal stimulus package on the basis that most but not all of the money goes towards special education-use the money or lose it. IDEA-Individuals with Disabilities Act-(Federal Law) states every student regardless of disability receive a Free and Appropriate Education. Our School District does a fine job following this law using strict by-the-book guidelines focusing on the educational aspect. Every child deserves an education. Having a nine-year-old with traumatic brain injury-had she not received the early intervention services of the school she would not be speaking or writing. Those services weren't handed on a platter, we had to advocate, it was work. Most insurance companies do not pay for therapy for children with disabilities-some pay for four visits a year, we pay thousands out of pocket yearly for therapy outside the school. The school's role in this is to provide the services needed to educate. Some of our Country's finest leaders and Presidents have had special needs. Your ignorance is harsh-I pray your grandchild is too young to read your words-but I guarantee they sense your hostility-special needs children are incredibly intuitive.

cesence you said it all!! Thank you! I'm out now. I can't sit here and read insensitive ignorant comments. Some people really need to get a life. Better yet I wish they could walk in the shoes of a “special needs” parent for just one day. Unless you are in those shoes you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. We speak about fact. We speak about the needs of our children. We put our children first and foremost in our lives, and we want all the resources available to help our children succeed. Many of you are so self absorbed that all you care about is your precious money. My child is more precious than any amount of money in the world and I will go to the ends of the earth to make sure she has all the necessary tools to succeed in life.

beeferer unless you have something logical to post regarding the topic find something near and dear to your heart to post about. We are not in English class and quite frankly don't care about your knit picking.

I see we have some “special needs” parents here too. Did you ever think that the board President wanted a clear spending plan from the Director to ensure that the money went to kids and not some crap program? How many times will the taxpayers be screwed by poorly planned stimulus grants? Kudos to DuWayne Severson for trying to be a good steward of MY MONEY!!!

Some clearly do not have a clue as to the value of therapies or how they are done outside of the classroom and/or integrated into the classroom routine. Therefore, your comments are really out of line. You shouldn't take such strong stands against something you really don't have an understanding of.

Another feel-good entitlement, and one of the biggest wastes of time and money the school systems ever were forced to perpetrate on taxpayers. "Music therapy"? -- come on, get real! We've dumbed down education so much and allowed distraction in the classroom environment to rise to such levels that we stand to lose the attention of the best and brightest, unless of course they play major sports!

I see there are a few special needs people posting- judging by your inabilities regarding basic grammar and spelling.

guess what whoanellie....your days are long gone!! I am sure that I am not the only mother with a special needs child who DOES pay for therapy OUTSIDE of the school system. However, there are certain ways that some children need to learn and that is something that takes place within the school system. Clearly you are not overly envolved in your grandchildrens lives otherwise you would know this. Next time you are going make a statement and you know ahead of time you will be attacked perhaps you should shut your mouth.

Whatever happened to paying for your own kids therapy?? I know I'm going to be attacked by some of you but really? When did your childs special needs become the schools systems problem? (ie:mine?) They are your children, not mine. Everyone should get an education but we shouldn't have to pay for your childs therapy or anything outside the education! I have a special needs grandchild, so don't think I'm heartless, i'm just tired of paying so much in taxes and the school system putting money into other things beside good old reading,writing and arithmetic. It's because most families have 2 incomes and can't stay home and care for their own child themselves. In my day they did.

You got it involvedpartent!! I have a special needs child myself and will not consider sending my child to janesville schools because of their lack of support in this area. Unless janesville schools step it up a bit I am sure I will not be the only parent seeking education for my child outside the district.

Having a special education child myself (thankfully his are not major issues), the school board had better stay hands off. There have been too many cuts in the special needs programs in Janesville. We NEED this money! We need music therapy, art therapy, physical therapy....

To me it sounds like the school board would like to get there hands on the special education money and use it to fix there own problems in the budget. This is special education money and not used to fix the school board.

that is why the stimulus money is soooooo slow. it's all backed up in the system by silly people