Down Syndrome student graduates with his class

I don't often get tears in my eyes, when I read the Chicago Tribune, but it happened this morning.

Ryan Burke, 19, graduates from Notre Dame College Prep School in Niles (Ill.) today. What prompts the tears?

Ryan is a young man with Down Syndrome, and his parents fought the school system for inclusion of Ryan and won. Their early efforts included a successful lawsuit against La Grange Public School District 5.

Read this article in today's Chicago Tribune.

What causes my tears today?

First, I'm happy for Ryan and his family, whom I don't know.

Second, I'm aware of how Woodstock District 200 has dealt with many Special Education students and their parents.

"Inclusion" is a word in foreign language to Woodstock D-200, or at least it was in many recent years. "Inclusion" means that a special-ed student is included in classroom work, in sports, in extra activities. In other words, he has a full school experience. He is not kept separate from regular-education students or placed in different schools.

Special Education students are often bullied, and not just by other students. I have personally witnessed bullying by a principal and special ed director of a small, therapeutic day school near Elgin. And I still have a copy of an email that a teacher thought she was sending internally but which, thanks to a glitch in the D-200 school email system, came to me. It was an accusatory, emotional reaction by a teacher who was in over her head and not receiving sufficient support from the school system.

Worse, D-200 isolates parents of special ed students, making it hard for them to band together for mutual support and influence. This meant that every set of parents fought their battles alone, and parents of younger students could not benefit from any successes of parents of older students.

It takes years to force school districts to change. As soon as the pressure is off, they revert to old ways. Teachers who try to help special-ed students and their parents to know their rights quickly find themselves in hot water and often either get the boot or bail out on their own.

Today I congratulate Ryan and his parents. You won. Ryan got his good education . Bravo!