2008 Woodie Awards
"Student Life" feature - Challenged Students' Club Makes Inroads
Richard Henerlau
Issue date: 11/2/04 Section: Letters to the Editor
- Page 1 of 1
Thank you for doing an article on the Challenged Students' Club. I was pleased to see an article on the diversity of the COM student body.
There are some inaccuracies in your report, however. "The challenged students are not enrolled as college students" according to the article. This is true of some, but not all of the students in the Challenged Students' Club, which is a separate entity from the Marin County Office of Education Post Secondary Special Day Class for the Moderately to Severely Handicapped located at Grant Grover School, next to the gym on the Kentfield Campus of the College of Marin.
I, for one, as the President of the Challenged Students' Club, am enrolled in Economics, Political Science, and Leadership courses on the main COM campus, and am not enrolled in any courses at Grant Grover. There are several other club members who are not affiliated in any way with the Grant Grover program. In addition, the advisor to the club is a counselor with the main campus DSPS department.
Many of the Grant Grover students have classes on the main campus as well. There is one teacher, who it appears that you interviewed, who has several of the Grant Grover students in her music class. By law, these students are required to be on the main campus, interacting with their non-challenged peers, for the most time possible each day. The legislation that requires this include the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (1975) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1997), which require that students with challenges be taught in the "Least restrictive environment". This means that they have the minimum possible "shelter" from the outside world in their academic days, including minimum shelter from other academic programs. Both of these are Federal laws. It was great to get some publicity for the Club.
Again, thank you.
Richard Henerlau, President, Challenged Students' Club
There are some inaccuracies in your report, however. "The challenged students are not enrolled as college students" according to the article. This is true of some, but not all of the students in the Challenged Students' Club, which is a separate entity from the Marin County Office of Education Post Secondary Special Day Class for the Moderately to Severely Handicapped located at Grant Grover School, next to the gym on the Kentfield Campus of the College of Marin.
I, for one, as the President of the Challenged Students' Club, am enrolled in Economics, Political Science, and Leadership courses on the main COM campus, and am not enrolled in any courses at Grant Grover. There are several other club members who are not affiliated in any way with the Grant Grover program. In addition, the advisor to the club is a counselor with the main campus DSPS department.
Many of the Grant Grover students have classes on the main campus as well. There is one teacher, who it appears that you interviewed, who has several of the Grant Grover students in her music class. By law, these students are required to be on the main campus, interacting with their non-challenged peers, for the most time possible each day. The legislation that requires this include the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (1975) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1997), which require that students with challenges be taught in the "Least restrictive environment". This means that they have the minimum possible "shelter" from the outside world in their academic days, including minimum shelter from other academic programs. Both of these are Federal laws. It was great to get some publicity for the Club.
Again, thank you.
Richard Henerlau, President, Challenged Students' Club