Hear All About It

Hi to all of you readers . My diary today is related to a post I have written about being involved in children and teens education .In My former post was to inform people of some of the issues I have encountered , at schools , and the last post I talked about only one school , and my opinion about the education at that school. I live in AR. , and in AR. , education is not equal for all students. I have worked in schools in many areas of the state . Not as a teacher , but as a mental health counselor . I don't know if other states have the program , but it is a much needed service in all schools as you will see. I was made aware of many things I didn't know about education in AR. , for most public schools , the school counselor has other duties , some don't actually counsel students at all. However, I want to say as well, there are school counselors who do counsel , and they want to counsel the students . There are some fine counselors in schools , and if they see a child that needs more long term help , and other complications , they will try to get the student's parents to give permission for the child to be assessed , and begin counseling with mental health counselor, at the school. In this program , the child will be seen by an M.D. On a regular bases. The parents are requested to participate in family counseling. Parenting classes are provided. This is all part of the community mental health center, Or in many parts of AR. , there are mental health facilities that provide these services , actually , now , I think the private counseling centers have the extended program , with providing mh. counselors for schools, and case managers as well. Which in my opinion, these people make an enormous difference in children's lives. The facilities are complicated through Medicaid ., I think some grant funds also. Our state also has a program entitled; Our kids first , which provides treatment for children , who's parents don't have insurance. So this is another part of the education program in AR. As I said in the beginning , education is not equal. We have poor schools , that just can't measure up to schools in better districts. I know there are 4th graders who can't read , and the students are at least average intelligence . I used to think about this alot , and would be angry , I would say, what happened to no child left behind?! for some children with special needs , lets just say , in some cases , I shook my head. Recently, (and this is all) , I learned from a high school student , ( I have long since left this work ) , that the no child left behind program, at his school , teaches these students low level work , and then the student passes and is put into regular classes and they are lost . Of course , like I said , this is something I was told ,but if true ?