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Date published: 9/30/2006
By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER RICHMOND--Artina Brown said her daughter's chronic health problems have forced her to miss weeks of school each year and remain at home with no lessons or contact with any of her teachers. Her daughter, now a freshman at Petersburg High School, never got the word processor and software she needed to keep up with schoolwork while she was homebound because the school system couldn't afford it. In middle school, she and other special-needs students "sat in the back of the class doing puzzles and drawing pictures" while other students were taught by a regular teacher, Brown said. The Petersburg woman was one of hundreds of parents, guidance counselors, advocates and others who testified at hearings across Virginia this month or sent comments to the Department of Education about the state's Standards of Quality, minimum educational objectives mandated by the state constitution. Such measures include school staffing, accreditation and testing and graduation requirements and are up for revision every two years. The Board of Education will review the comments before proposing changes to the standards, which drive about 85 percent of the state's funding for public K-12 education, Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle said. The General Assembly then will act on the board's recommendations in its upcoming session. Brown, who says her child lacks basic educational skills, urged the state to raise the minimum educational standards "to ensure that all children with special needs get a high-quality education and that school staff get much needed support to do a better job on behalf of these children." In addition to enhanced services for students with disabilities, speakers have asked for school specialists to help students get up to speed on math and for more services for students who are non-native English speakers, a growing population in Virginia. Guidance counselors have asked the state to require schools to hire testing coordinators to alleviate the burden of administering standardized tests, which takes time away from advising students.
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