Accessibility to School Buildings

for the Disabled or Handicapped

 

Tyra Padgett

 tpadgett@nycboe.net

Mahalia Jackson Elementary

 School for Literacy and Arts

 

Introduction:

Although we do not have a child at our school that needs a wheelchair, we do have parents and guardians who cannot access their child’s school or classroom.  Many times parents or guardians come to the school for meetings with the teacher or for functions and events and cannot get in past the front door lobby.  There are stairs leading up to the main hall of the school and stairs leading down to the auditorium.  This is a problem for parents and guardians who are physically incapable of getting past the front door.

 

Task:

As a Public Policy Analyst, you will:

 

  • Investigate the policies associated with accessibility to public schools in New York City.
  • Study the effects of those policies on our schools.
  • Propose your own policies necessary to deal with the social problem of accessibility to schools.

 

 

                                               

 

Your teacher has asked you to prepare a presentation for your Councilman.  This presentation will take place in your classroom when the Councilman comes for the presentation visit.  You will have to write a letter to the Councilman to arrange the meeting.

 

You will create a presentation for their Councilman consisting of:

 

·         the background of the social problem, analysis of current policies and recommendations for a new public policy for accessibility to our school

·        presentation will include Role Playing

 

Process:

The class will be divided into teams.  One team is responsible for getting an appointment and writing a letter to their Councilman.  The second team will be responsible for writing the parts that will be role played.  The third team will help the teacher prepare the room for the visit from the Councilman 

 

Each team will first go to the PPA and work with the worksheets:

 

1.         Identify and define the problem of accessibility to schools in New York City as it exists today:

         https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet1.html

      

2.         Gather evidence of accessibility to schools in New York City and complete worksheet:

         https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet2.html

 

3.                Identify causes of lack of accessibility to schools in New York City using the worksheet found at the

website:

         https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet3.html.

 

4.                Create three of your own public policies that will address the social problem of accessibility to schools in New York City.  Use the worksheets found at:

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet4.html and https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html

 

5.                Finally, evaluate the effectiveness of your public policy solutions and select the best solution to

solve the problem of accessibility to schools in New York City today by using the worksheet found at the website:

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/worksheet6.html

 

Once all of the worksheets have been completed the groups will meet as a whole class to discuss their policy solutions and feasibility.  They will then start rehearsing for the role play.

 

The Councilman will come to the classroom for the role play presentation.

 

Internet Resources: 

 

Public Policy Analyst Website

 

            https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips.html

 

Search Engines

 

            www.google.com

            www.yahoo.com

            www.askjeeves.com

 

Websites

http://www.sustainableschools.dgs.ca.gov/SustainableSchools/sustainabledesign/community/accessibility.html

 

http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/accessibility.cfm

 

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/capitalplanning/access.pdf

 

 

EVALUATION:

 

Upon completion of your preparation for the presentation, each group will be graded based upon:

A)    The amount of information gathered

B)    The quality of the information gathered and

C)    How well the information was presented in the role play

 

Accessibility to Schools  - PPA PRESENTATION EVALUATION RUBRIC:

 

 

 

3

2

1

Content

Writing shows in depth understanding of the social problem

Shows understanding through explicit references to the social problem

Shows understanding through implicit references to the social problem

Organization

Clear, elaborate sentence structure; gives background, analysis, and persuasive evidence for new policy

Writing varies length of sentences; gives some background, analysis, and partly persuades with some evidence

Writing uses basic sentence structure; news story gives little or no background or analysis, and does not support new policy

 

 

 

 

Collaboration

There is strong evidence that all group members participated equally

There is some evidence that all group members participated equally

There is little or no evidence that all group members participated equally

Role Play

Role play is appealing; representative of the social problem

Role play captures the social issue but not well

Role play does not capture the social problem

 

STANDARDS:

 

English:

 

ES #1: Language for Information and Understanding

 

ES #2: Language for literary response and expression

 

ES #3: Language for Critical analysis and evaluation

 

ES #4: Language for Social Interaction

 

Social Studies

 

SS # 5: Civics, Citizenship and Government

 

 

Conclusion

 

Students should have discovered evidence of problems with accessibility to schools in New York City.  Students will also have explored the plight of parents and guardians not being able to access their child’s school. As Public Policy Analyst you will have identified the issues, researched the current policies, and created an alternative viable policy.  As a result of this project you will have learned to identify and improve public policies that affect you as a member of your school community.