Dr. Lynn Rauch
Superintendent
Schaumburg School District #54
Schaumburg, Illinois
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Text Transcript
Rauch: Anytime that you have money going to a particular group of students, there are always, there are always challenges in the respect—Are you meeting the needs of every other child, also? And so many times, if one does not really communicate and really promote and really explain exactly where those dollars are going, people will feel disenfranchised. In other words, my child is in a general education class, and he didn't get the benefit of having that piece of equipment. He didn't really get to use the laptop computer because that went to a child of special needs, or that went to a child who has not yet mastered English. So I think the greatest challenge that we face today is giving explanation as to why when one child's needs are met, that takes nothing away from another child. We have to look at the big picture. The more needs we meet of, of every child, then the better educated they will be, and, and what is the result of that? Then the better our society is, the better opportunities we all have. You must always be careful that you give a lot of explanation to that and—I might add—that you allow everyone to touch, to feel, to understand. For example, if you have an assistive tech lab in your school where there's a myriad of different pieces of equipment—you know, in our district we allow every child to come in. You know, there are times when the special needs child isn't using it. What's the difference? You allow every child to use it, and that way you get tremendous support for the program.