Living on the edge of campus

Last week the town of Buda, Texas exposed on of the sad truths of the disability community.  During the chill of a February winter the local high school was informed that a bomb threat had been made against the high school.  History has now informed school personnel to take these threats very seriously.  So, as expected, the school administration evacuated all of the students outside in order to search and properly secure the building.  All students, that is, except for the eight students in the special day class setting on the edge of campus.  These students were not evacuated.  Rather, they were kept in the class as if nothing was going on.  Parents were outraged and the school made for talking points during a slow news day on CNN.

Why?  Why were students with disabilities kept from participating in what is presumed to be "life saving" preventative measures?  Principal Shirley Reich provided the following comment about her decision to keep the students in their classroom: ". . . if I erred, I erred on the side of compassion."  Really?  According to Reich, the classroom that the eight special education students were in was swept and deemed free of threat.  Of course, that standard wasn't applied to the rest of the school, so there has got to be something more.  And there is.  

The compassion the principal is referring to has to do with the fact that she believes the students were better off in a warm and cozy classroom than outside in winter temperatures with their peers.  Of course the class would have been a lot warmer had there actually been a bomb, but maybe Principal Reich believes that would have been compassionate as well.  I'm not suggesting that Principal Reich believed that it would have been compassionate to allow the eight students with severe disabilities to be blown away rather than be outside in cold temperatures, but she sure acted like it.  

Perhaps Principal Reich believed that students with cognitive and/or mobility limitations could not handle cold temperatures, as if their lack of certain cognitive skills made winter even colder.  This is shameful behavior from a person in authority with the power to provide equal treatment and protection.  She failed to do so.  

Yet, her greatest failing is that shared by many school administrators.  The eight students in questions were only tangentially attached to the main campus.  They were housed in what was referred to as "the barn," due to the shape and size of the structure, but I am sure in a high school campus that it took on another meaning all together. So, in many respects, these students in the "barn" were treated similar to many students in special day classes (SDC) across the country.  School administrators put them on the edge of campuses, in portables and other second-students contrivances while effectively excluding them from the campus community.  So, on one hand, the administrator can claim to be proud of their "special population" while at the other hand effectively ignoring anything beyond basic academic needs (if that is even addressed).

Furthermore, the issue related to the bomb scare is not unique to Buda, Texas.  There are many adult day programs, special education settings and residential placements that allow their clients/students/residents with disabilities to be let out of fire/earthquake drills.  If anything, the staff and students/clients/residents need more practice.  Too often staff/teachers in these settings do not know how to address the unique needs of their charges in the case of these emergencies.  The ability to provide comfort, direction and support are vital.  This doesn't mean that these individuals should be given a pass (disasters and crisis are no respecter of ability or disability), but rather should take an active part in their safety and the safety of their community.  This is the responsibility of all who live in community.

As members of local faith communities we must ask ourselves where we place those with disabilities. We must examine whether or not we are placing individuals with disabilities (or any differences) outside the body of the community. Are we placing them on the outskirts, on the margins or in the “barn?” If we are, then we must effectively do one of two things. We must either move them into the main body of the community as equal partners or must move ourselves to the “barn.” This is our call and our mandate as believers and shared recipients of God’s image imprinted on our lives.