special ed in chicago

amother

Wed, Apr 18 2012, 10:34 pm

we are thinking of moving to chicago and I need to find out job opps for me there. my husband would be in kollel. I'm certified in special ed in ny. would there be early intervention/ the equivalent of seit(preschool special ed)/ or resource room type jobs available? what's the salary range?
thanks!

Starhavah

Thu, Apr 19 2012, 5:59 am

I do not know about available jobs, but I would check out the following places.

KESHET - Special Ed org. places teachers in camps and schools

GESHER HaTorah - Special Ed school (but I do not think they have a pre-school)

Elan - Special Ed program in some of the frum schools, again I do not know if they have pre-school.

JCFS - Jewish Children and Family Services - run lots of special ed programing.

I am sure there are more, but this should give you a start on leads.

Welcome to Chicago!

Star Havah

OOTBubby

Thu, Apr 19 2012, 7:53 am

Starhavah wrote:

I do not know about available jobs, but I would check out the following places.
KESHET - Special Ed org. places teachers in camps and schools
GESHER HaTorah - Special Ed school (but I do not think they have a pre-school)
Elan - Special Ed program in some of the frum schools, again I do not know if they have pre-school.
JCFS - Jewish Children and Family Services - run lots of special ed programing.

To clarify some of the above (I don't available jobs either, sorry):
Keshet -- has it's own school as well as classrooms or units in many other schools at all age levels
Gesher HaTorah -- is a special ed school primarily for learning disabilities and does not have preschool
Elan -- works within the existing schools and classrooms (don't think on preschool level)
JCFS -- has it's own school and many programs, but I don't know what age level it starts at

I'll add:
Virginia Frank Center (in the Bernard Horwich JCC) is some kind of preschool developmental program.
P'tach -- works within some existing schools within classrooms and has it's own classrooms in one school and various age levels, but I don't know if preschool is included

If you need phone numbers/contact names for any of the above, PM me.

Starhavah

Thu, Apr 19 2012, 8:03 am

OOTBubby wrote:

JCFS - Jewish Children and Family Services - run lots of special ed programing.

To clarify some of the above (I don't available jobs either, sorry):
Keshet -- has it's own school as well as classrooms or units in many other schools at all age levels
Gesher HaTorah -- is a special ed school primarily for learning disabilities and does not have preschool
Elan -- works within the existing schools and classrooms (don't think on preschool level)
JCFS -- has it's own school and many programs, but I don't know what age level it starts at

I'll add:
Virginia Frank Center (in the Bernard Horwich JCC) is some kind of preschool developmental program.
P'tach -- works within some existing schools within classrooms and has it's own classrooms in one school and various age levels, but I don't know if preschool is included

OOTBubby thanks for the clarification.

JCFS - also does the testing joint with Bryna Taub (Towb?), so I know they run more programs than just their own school.

Gesher's school includes many children with more than just learning disabilities. They take kids with Down's and children who cannot (or would not benefit from) mainstreaming.

busydev

Thu, Apr 19 2012, 2:25 pm

Also Gesher is potentially opening a kindergarten next year- they have a couple children interested. They just need a couple more students.

It cant hurt to send a resume to them.

Also most of the other day schools have resource rooms and may have something for you- its worth it to make contact. ask for the preschool director and go from there.

I dont know job availability or salarys tho- sorry.

cbsmommy

Thu, Apr 19 2012, 2:51 pm

Do you have a bachelor's or master's in special ed? People have been posting about the from schools, but are you interested in either public schools (remember, we're the home of CPS, a district in such trouble that we are exempt from certain turnaround policies while Springfield dithers about the current status of our education system) or home-visit jobs within early intervention? If you are interested in traditional Early Intervention/ Headstart/pre-school for all, feel free to PM me...

cbsmommy

Sat, Apr 21 2012, 11:59 pm

Chicago is having some growing pains with regards to our public schools.

Our mayor has been hashing it out with the teacher's unions for awhile now regarding creating an extended school day.

Chicago (like many other metropolitans) has extreme amounts of debt, schools with beyond capacity class sizes, outdated textbooks, teachers who lack an education that prepares them for the reality of the classroom, and where the children attending the schools are primarily bilingual children (which is a problem in the sense that many teachers are not taught the skills required to help these children achieve their full incredible potential.)

Meanwhile, Chicago has numerous schools that are "underperforming" (based on current test results and NCLB standards, which is common across the US, but still never a good sign).

CPS has been using education allocated money to pay off debts and has been spending billions on standardized testing.

Teacher's pension = a current huge, hot mess.