European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 10, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday october 10, 1988 the stabs and stripes Page 9 education news dread of aids children still problem for schools by the associated pros it s been three years since Ryan while s highly publicised Legal Battle to stay in school in Indiana an three years since another child with aids quietly entered schools in , while the Massachusetts child remains in class White has left school in the face of massive protests. And although some children infected with acquired immune deficiency syndrome have started classes with Little or no fuss this year Ryan while s experience is still typical for children across the country with aids. In the most prominent Case this year a Federal judge in Florida ordered that a mentally retarded 6-year-Otd girl be admitted to a special education program but Only if she is confined in a plexiglas Box. The judge said the child who has an advanced Cas of aids acquired through a blood transfusion in puerto Rico should be isolated until she becomes toilet trained and learns to Slop sucking her thumb and fore fingers. The girl is being educated at Home while her Case is courts have generally supported the right of such children to attend school. We be won All the cases said William Rubenstein staff counsel for the aids and civil liberties project of the american civil liberties Case Law is pretty dear that there is no reason to exclude such winning the Case in t always enough. Ryan White won his Legal fight to attend school in Russiaville ind.,but gave up in the face of protests. Jason Robertson won a court order last school year to join classes in Granite City iu., but his family also decided to kills said one sign carried by protesters against Jason s presence in the school. Help keep aids out of our schools said another. Jason s parents gave up. We Don t want to be in the spotlight. I Don t want to be a civil rights activist says Tammi Robertson whose 8-year-old son Hopes to enter school in nearby South Roxana i. Much of the Effort for those involved with aids children has been spent in convincing parents that their healthy children Are not endangered by the pres ence of an aids infected centers for disease control issued guidelines three years ago saying there was apparently no risk within a classroom of contracting aids which is transmitted bisexual Contact sharing infected hypodermic Needles or Rocc Ivainga transfusion of contaminated blood. Of the More than 72,000 aids cases confirmed tines june 1981, the cd says not one was transmitted within a school. President Reagan s commission on aids also affirmed earlier this year that there is no need to treat those infected with his in a manner different from aids the next five years Hub la us Ion a cumulate ii ill Kivitoo aids lilt United san by 195. Welkin of. Ari. 20% to 30 d 1�" of Iti a kit pots in Thi . Hdm braids. ,3a Man will Del Dpi on aids put Uez 1683 Hux us ptn1 itts those not infected in such settings As the work place housing and the schools.1 the National association of boards of education is close to completing work on Model guidelines which would permit hrs Fec cd students those exposed to the virus but not necessarily suffering from aids to be admitted As any other student would be said Catherine Fraser co director of the association s aids education project an important component of those guidelines is guaranteeing confidentiality for the student. The Jefferson county school District in Colorado disagreed. Kay Pride spokeswoman for Jefferson county schools said state Law requires school officials to keep the child s identity confidential. However she said it is school policy to notify parents whose Chil Dren attend the same school As a child who has been exposed to the aids Sims. And there were some protests in Jefferson county when parents Learned that an 8-year-old who had tested positive for the aids antibody was attending classes. In nearby Lakewood colo., however and in stalsans w.va., 5-year-Olds with aids entered Kinder Garten classes with no fuss. John Mccarthy superintendent of schools in Swan sea mass., presided Over the peaceful admission of an aids victim in 1985. Teachers Point to morale woes Washington apr a Survey of Educa tors in Urban schools indicates that a Lack of resources and staff can lower teacher effective Ness a report says. Our study shows what other studies have no looked at thai working conditions do make a difference said Tom Corcoran a researcher with he Institute Tor educational leadership. They affect people s willingness to commit Lothe school perform heir jobs and How much work they arc willing to give their Corcoran said the Institute s study tilled working in Urban schools validates what teachers surveys had been saying for it s a practical matter to the extent that if you provide better working conditions you get better work out of people and kids he said. The non profit Washington based Institute interviewed More than 400 teachers principals and administrators at 31 schools in Detroit Denver Indianapolis new Orleans and Roches Ter . The findings in the 161-Page report were endorsed by the nation s main teacher unions the american federation of teachers and the National education association. Of the educators interviewed 75 percent said such resources As teaching material and equip ment were inadequate and More than 85 per cent said insufficient staff was a problem. Thirty four percent said poor working conditions including rundown school buildings and heavy workloads for teachers were hurting teacher performance. More than 40 percent said these conditions were undermining teacher mor ale. We can t allow snort term needs supplies physical Plant Etc. To denigrate teachers morale to the Point that Long term goals and objectives Are put off or forgotten Institute president Michael Usdan said in a statement. Corcoran added there was Little Dis agreement among respondents not just disgruntled teachers crying for More dollars. Princi pals and school administrators echoed these Rachel Hodding a member of the Rochester n.y., school Board said the study tells you specifically what things will make it belter for adults and therefore Lor More than half of the school staff members surveyed reported problems with inadequate working space which they attributed to excessive enrolment reductions in classroom sizes and space requirements Tor special programs. Fear blamed for Lack of science teaching by Dave Walczak education Wilder a leading science educator with the department of defense dependents schools says children in the military s overseas school system often Lack science skills because Many elementary teachers spend too lilt a time teaching the subject. Earl Morse science coordinator for Germany Region schools said the prob Lem can be traced to some elementary teachers fear uial they Lack the knowl Edge to Leach science. See rented Story of opine 8. We re talking about people who have Little Success in taking science courses being asked to teach science Morse said. You have to sympathize with thai. It s an area of great ear for them Many of the teachers think they have to master the Content before they can teach science. But you Don t have to know the order of the elements to pro vide chemistry experiments. All you need is an inquisitive mind and the ability to manage resources for the Morse pointed to a number of North Central accreditation reports to Back his Contention that science often is put aside in favor of other subjects in Many Dodds elementary classrooms. About half the accreditation teams cited schools for a Lack of hands on Sci ence education. But teachers said that hey needed More training in the area of science and we dont have the funds to in service train All the teachers he said. Not All Dodds elementary teachers arc reluctant to introduce science to Chil Dren. Debbie Bennett a fifth Grade teacher at Aschaffenbur elementary said children Are naturally curious about the world around them. They love doing things. They like dinosaurs. They like space. But sometimes they re not getting to do the experiments and those arc Villa Bennett has the children use a hands on approach in dealing with subjects such As electricity. Using batteries a Cou ple of wires and Small Light bulbs she has the children work together in seeing Bow the materials work. After a while one of the children will say if i put this wire Here and this wire Here the Light comes on " Phyllis Eaglin also of Aschaffenbur endorses the hands on approach when Deal ing with the first Grade science curriculum. One Day i just had them look at their fingerprints through a hand held Lens she said. When we were talking about the senses i brought in things for them to smell like onions perfume Pepper mint and Fingernail Eaglin suggested that some elementary teachers Are not creative enough in Sci ence education. If you Slick with the science Book teachers won t like the subject and the kids won t Dodds officials have come up Short in trying to evaluate student science skills. They administer the comprehensive tests of Basic skills for science loony seventh through ill grades. Dodds students traditionally score in the 67lh to 73rd Perce Lilc. Dodds discontinued testing of the elementary grades More than five Yean ago in part because school system science coordinators convinced the Dodds leadership that the children s Beiler Ian average scares in science were giving a false picture . Morse puts Little Faith in such tests. They Don t measure science or Sci ence process skills. They re just using Sci ence vocabulary. You could substitute a non scientific word and still have the same question Dodds official in Washington d.c., Are working on a test aimed at evaluating science processing skills but a school official said such a lest was Al least a year away. School system guidelines Call for at least 60 minutes of science instruction a week for first graders and 120 min utes for sixth graders. Germany Region officials hold Sci ence curriculum workshops for elementary teachers during the school year but Morse said that the one Day sessions were insufficient to help teachers overcome their fear of the subject. A two week summer session usually attracts about 40 teachers most of whom Nave attended before. In some respects it s a perpetuating system Morse said. Many of our teachers Are afraid of science to it s not being taught. And so the kids won t learn it or feel comfortable with it i
