The GLS Public Comment - the plea from parents, families, and community members

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

Wow! The words of parents, friends and family members tell the Gateway story. These statements are just a small excerpt of testimony - public comment - available for reading on the DOE website, http://www.doe.k12.de.us/Page/399, where approximate 70 statements have been submitted in support for GLS. The public comment period is still open, so I expect that testimony will continue to be submitted and posted.

I am appalled to hear that Gateway is in danger of having its charter revoked. Please consider the standards by which you analyze data for a school in which students are unable to thrive in a mainstream learning environment.
I am writing to let you know that I am disheartened to hear the news for this charter school. It has been literally a godsend for so many children with special needs. The focus on testing in our state...and in many cases across the country has gotten extremely out of control. The students at this school are coping with such a diverse population of special needs, that traditional testing shouldn't be a measure for charter renewal. This school has been an answer to many parents prayers...a place that their children can go to receive services that they need to learn, and to successfully get through the day. Success shows itself in many ways.
It is my opinion that putting standardized test scores above the needs of children with learning disabilities amounts to nothing less than DISCRIMINATION against children that desperately need the environment that Gateway provides.
This school is the only school in DE that caters to children who cannot thrive and perform well in a traditional school setting... To take my child out of his setting, in which she is excelling to put her back into the system where she was struggling is a grave mistake and disservice to not only my child, but all of the children of Gateway.
You do not realize what it is like to see someone who struggled throughout his young life, socially and at school, gain confidence and gain a certain level of success.
The Gateway Lab has helped so many students by giving them the necessary foundation to complete their educational goals over a long term period...The Gateway School builds confidence in so many. It gives them a sense of belonging to a group just like themselves.
As a grandparent of an eleven year old child who has multiple learning disablilities, I cannot understand how this decision was made. After spending three years in the pubic school system,and not thriving, our grandson went to a private school that could not meet his needs. Once the Gateway Lab School had been established for two years my daughter decided to send him there. Not only was he provided with quality teachers and aides, he also qualified for a 1 on 1 aide, who helped him stay on track every day/ At an IEP meeting, my daughter was told that there was significant improvement in his scores. I do not see how the panel, or the State, for that matter, can use test scores as the only means of progress for children such as my grandson.
I feel that if gateway is closed,students like my son will have no other option but to move out of state to receive public education that accommodates their needs.
My autistic son attends Gateway and LOVES school again. Finally!!! He improved in the Delaware Autism Program, but that caused him to be dropped from services here are precious few places for these kids. He rarely passes the state test and that has always been true. All you are going to do is move him to school with kids who can pass the test thereby masking his poor performance. Good news for DOE, but that leaves my son exactly where he currently is educationally, but where he is miserable, lost in a sea of kids that live in a different world from him. His autism will prevent him from having academic success as easily as his neuro-typical peers; closing Gateway won't change that. What it *WILL* do is rob him of his day-to-day happiness, his ability to takepride in his accomplishments as compared with his differently-abled peers, and friendships that are hard for him to form.
Gateway has been a warm and encouraging environment for kids who have not and cannot thrive in standard schools. The smaller classes are just right.. The point of the school is not to produce academic stars but to enable kids who fall below standard to still be valued and given hope and skills to reach self-sustaining competences. Delaware benefits as happy learners grow up to be responsible and productive citizens.
This is ridiculous - closing a great resource like this where special challenged kids can focus on improving in a supportive environment without the social pressures of being 'wierd' in the eyes of other children