Free-Speech...just not for teachers?!

Most of us have completed our American Heritage requirement and perhaps still remember a few things, if nothing else, some of our "Constitutional rights and freedoms" in being American citizens. The First Amendment is supposed to protect the freedom of religion, speech, and the press, as well as the right to assemble and petition the government. However, in a recent court case, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a Michigan special education teacher who argued she was fired for her complaints that the size of her teaching caseload kept her from providing the proper amount of instruction to each of her students. The teacher was suing that she couldn't be fired for such complaints, on First Amendment free-speech grounds, however the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against her (following a previous court decision that ruled on-the-job speech by public employees is not protected by the First Amendment.) (See: Article 1) Where does that leave us, as potential special educators, knowing that we are limited in what we are allowed to voice our opinion or raise concern for? In this case, the teacher was taking issue with her class size and her ability to meet the needs of her students. Did voicing such concerns warrant her termination? Are we not supposed to be advocates for our students? Can we successfully do so if we have to "clear" our arguments before voicing them? On the other hand, in another recent court case (this time parents of special education students in Stamford schools) are threatening to file a civil rights complaint against the district if the proposed cuts to program funding are passed. It was proposed to cut more than a dozen special services providers (teachers, speech therapists, social workers), which in turn, would increase the class sizes for the remaining teachers.(The exact same argument that got the teacher fired!) The argument was made that "every student with a disability gets an IEP. They get what they need, not what happens to be available," which is what angers parents. (See: Article 2) It is necessary for parents to have an active role in planning the IEP, however, if their constitutional rights allow them to fight against certain conditions (such as class sizes and proper funding), and yet teachers have limitations in what they can "fight" for, how will the student's needs be met? By limiting teachers' free-speech rights, are teachers limited in what they can actually advocate for a student? Should teachers have the same rights as parents? How do you feel knowing that there are potential limitations in what you (as a future educator) are allowed to say in promoting student's rights and needs? What can and should be done about this?

Testing for Disabilities

With today's technology, the option is available for women to have their fetus tested for different disabilities during the early stages of pregnancy. As discussed in Article 1, testing can be done on the mother's blood or on cells from the placenta to detect a variety of different disabilities. Many women choose to have this testing done and, as the article states, logically decide to have an abortion if the child has a disability. The article raises the issue that there can be false positives to a test or false negatives, meaning that some children aborted would have otherwise been healthy and some children born will be born with a disability. Some women refused to have an abortion and continued to receive pressure from their doctors to abort the baby. Article 2 discusses one man's perspective on testing for disabilities. He states that testing is not always accurate, especially people who test for autism. Testing does not account for disabilities that are not proven to be genetic such as Autism. He argues that tests should not be done because not all disabilities will show through the tests. I doubt that anyone in this class would choose to have the testing to decide whether an abortion is appropriate or not. The question we pose is this: would you consider having the tests done to see if your child has a disability? Is it important to know whether or not the child will have a disability before the child is born? What is your opinion of testing for disabilities in a fetus during the first few months of pregnancy?