The Delta Classroom

The intention of this blog is to create and maintain a place where I, the Delta classroom teacher at Skyview High School, can interact with parents and the community. I'd also like to see this as an opportunity for me to reach out to those who need help with their emotionally disturbed (E.D.) labeled children. Perhaps here we can find solutions, provide information and support, and help kids who are the least understood/appreciated in Special Education.

The Delta Program at Skyview is a highly interactive, interpersonal setting for kids who have been labeled E.D. The original "Delta Program" is a system of points, rewards, and punishments adopted from the penal system. I suppose the thinking was based on the assumption that if it can work for criminals and prisoners, maybe we can motivate high school-aged troublemakers to change their behaviors. And in all fairness to those who implement the tenets of the original Delta Program, it is my understanding that they do get positive results.

First and foremost, we (I am assisted by a wonderfully talented and beautiful woman, Mrs. Marie Moncure) create a safe place for our kids. It is understood by all who can participate that there is to be no victimization, no bullying, no disdainful hate that sometimes accompanies a kid when they walk through the doors of a high school/classroom.

Don't get me wrong. We deal with kids who have rather extreme behaviors that are often augmented by medication (or lack thereof), mental illness, or environmental conditions. Therefore, the occassional "F-bomb" might be dropped. But in forming an idea of how things function in my class, you should know that "shut up" is as intolerable as any four-letter word.

It's difficult to summarize what we do in Delta. More will be revealed; that's for sure.