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FIRST TAKE


A Special Calling I WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY


recently came across a blog on edutopia.org posted more than four years ago, but that still rings true today, by education consultant Ben Johnson on the “special calling” of teachers. He wrote, in recalling his own career as a teacher and school administrator near San Antonio, how easy solutions to bad behavior, lack of motivation or a student’s


challenges often came to him “out of the blue” and that he could just “feel it” in his bones. Johnson, in fact, said he could not remember not wanting to go to work, which is testi-


mony to what makes the truly great teachers great. While that statement may be an over- simplification for the purpose of a powerful article, I’d venture a guess that most teachers, more often than not, feel the same. For some time, I’ve felt that if one group of teachers were more special than another, it would


have to be those who work in special education. An entirely higher level of patience and compas- sion is necessary to teach and to interact with this student population, which can run the gamut from mild learning challenges to ambulatory physical needs. Te same can be said about student transporters who choose to work with students with disabilities. After all, the best transporters also play the role of educators as well as confidants and mentors. However, I cannot attest to how easy the answers come to special needs teachers or trans-


porters when it comes to daily challenges. I am unqualified to even comment on how often easy answers come to the average general-ed teacher or transporter. With that said, the patience exhibited by all teachers astounds me, and the fact that they


are at school day in and day out speaks volumes. Whenever I meet someone whose career is special ed, I naturally look at the person in a different light. I feel it in my own bones that I’m in the presence of a truly special person. But, as we all know, no one is perfect. And, sometimes — often for me — the solutions to


today's challenges don’t come that quickly or easily. Tis month, we’ve attempted to provide some of those answers by shedding light on


issues ranging from special needs evacuations and homelessness to proper securement and the possible effects of the impending “sequestration” of education funds. We also preview our TSD Conference next month in Frisco, Texas. Additionally, we highlight feedback from our annual special needs survey (see the article


on page 14), while separately, I reviewed more than three-dozen, open-ended responses tied to the survey topics covered in the following pages. Tese responses don’t make for clean and easy charts or graphs, as they require a little more reading between the lines. Separate from students with disabilities, more than a few readers commented in the


survey on how challenging homeless transportation can be. Seemingly every transporter I talk to at conferences or on the phone, regardless if they hail from a large or small district, mention the increase in homeless students they transport compared to five years ago, 12 months ago or even just six weeks ago. Similarly, I hear time and again concerns about how to keep up with service demands while budgets continue to shrink. And things could only get worse if sequestration kicks in next month. See our Top Story on page 14 for more on this issue. We’ve posted these additional survey responses in our online Web Exclusives section, and


we’re positive quite a few will ring true to you and your operations. In the meantime, student transporters and educators continue to rise well before the sun


to go about their day passionately with purpose. Tis will be celebrated and built upon next month outside Dallas during the conference and the National Special Teams Safety Roadeo. I hope to see you there.


10 School Transportation News February 2013


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