Hypotheticals (as opposed to, say, detailed case studies) tend to be general, thus inviting participants in the discussion, on the one hand, to clarify overarching values that govern the situation, but on the other hand, to raise relevant issues that are not explicitly mentioned in the question.
As Steve and Barry noted, leaders of educational institutions must always keep the interests of the individual child paramount (I believe Beverly wanted that as well, but as I read her, she felt that accepting the student could/would help push the school to be more inclusive, which is an ideal and a worthy goal). Often, that focus will be in the best interests of the school as well, as the institution will earn the reputation of being in the student’s corner, something many parents today cherish, and will hopefully bring more people to trust the school and entrust it with their children’s education.
However, the notion of “the child’s best interest†begs the question – what is the child’s best interest? Yes, a school is an educational institution, but it is also a social institution, and in the case of day schools, a religious institution. Some parents may feel that their child having a hevreh of local friends (especially on Shabbat – special needs kids often have limited social opportunities outside of school) is too important a value to sacrifice; for others, placing a child in the company of religiously like-minded peers and their families might be a primary value to socialize them into tefillah, kashrut, Shabbat, etc. In many cases – both special needs and typical – these are in some conflict or competition, and finding the right balance is a challenge.
I would therefore advocate total transparency in the loosely outlined case presented. To me, the Head of School ought to assemble a team of educators and specialists (both from within the school and without, as appropriate) to look at how this individual child with his/her particular needs would fare if s/he came to the school, offering a “prognosis†as best as possible (that will even involve looking at the particular grades and their students who would be this child’s hevreh). After that initial discussion, the parents should be brought in with the benefits and downsides – both near- and far-term – clearly explicated. I would want to show the parents in this case that we’ve thought this through thoroughly, and there’s no clear right or wrong here, but a delicate and far-from scientific balancing of multiple values, that will need to be monitored (a system should be in place if regular assessment won’t do) and re-visited several times a year for adjustment. We would want to partner with the parents, realizing that there’s no ideal solution here. As I wrote earlier, I see this as an extension/elaboration on the helpful posts that have already appeared.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2016 09:10AM by mlb.
