Page 66 - Issue4-November2017_online_opt
P. 66
Special Education continued from page 55
ested, and Mrs. Zaslow agreed to call the families. After the third
parent who burst into tears of joy, they said, ‘You guys are onto
something.’”
The class took off, with boys from TI joining in the after-
noons after a morning across town. “The project kept expand-
ing,” Ms. Shulbank continues. “Dr. Grasmick kept saying, ‘What
else do you need?’ and I’d try to identify the next most pressing
issue facing the community.”
#1 PEST CONTROL SERVICE A Special Approach
From that point on, events snowballed. “We now have pro-
410-764-7500E2x5peYreieanrsce• Squirrels grams in elementary, middle, and high school at TA, we have
• Ticks an inclusion facilitator at TI, we have a teacher at JEWELS,” Ms.
Shulbank reels off proudly. “About three years ago, we realized
• Waterbugs • Termites that there were several girls, all about the same age, who were
• Bed Bugs • Mice receiving services in a variety of settings. Two were in a public
• Bees school together, one was at Bais Yaakov, and the others were
isolated in separate public schools. I met with Mrs. Itzkowitz of
• Roaches • Rats • Ants Bnos Yisroel and Rabbi Freedman of Bais Yaakov and said, ‘The
time has come. We have to have these girls at a frum school.’
• Fleas • Bats • Spiders
“Within three weeks Rabbi Freedman identified a space, we
Fast Professional Exterminating Specialist called the families, and it became a self-contained class in Bais
Lowest Rates • Satisfaction Guaranteed Yaakov. The class has been successful beyond belief. One of the
girls did so well that she’s now completely mainstreamed, and
the others are in Bais Yaakov Middle School today.”
Because Maryland’s laws differ from those of New York and
New Jersey, things moved more slowly in Baltimore than they
did in other communities. “One of the things that bothered me
all these decades was that families had to leave Baltimore be-
cause they couldn’t get services for their kids, or they had to
send their kids to facilities outside of the Orthodox community,”
says Ms. Shulbank. “Now things have changed to the point that
I heard of a family that moved from New York for services for
their child.”
P’TACH had long existed in Baltimore, doing pioneering
work for special needs children, with both resource rooms and
self-contained classes at the schools. However, it eventually be-
came “noninclusive” – meaning that children attended a sepa-
rate school, the Weinberg Academy, rather than the mainstream
Orthodox institutions. Today, with the existence of SHEMESH
(a community-wide program providing educational support for
children with learning differences within the Orthodox schools)
and the PEN Project, a wide spectrum of frum children can
access the government services they need through their local
schools. All this is thanks to Marjorie Shulbank.
“The number-one thing that Marjorie did was that she put
the issue on the agenda,” comments Dr. Aviva Weisbord, exec-
utive director of SHEMESH since its inception in 2009. “She
pushed that it should be done. She’d say, ‘Let’s do it,’ and many
times it got done. She also created a program where the Mary-
land State Department of Education could send speech and
occupational therapists to the frum schools at no charge. It’s
58 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
ested, and Mrs. Zaslow agreed to call the families. After the third
parent who burst into tears of joy, they said, ‘You guys are onto
something.’”
The class took off, with boys from TI joining in the after-
noons after a morning across town. “The project kept expand-
ing,” Ms. Shulbank continues. “Dr. Grasmick kept saying, ‘What
else do you need?’ and I’d try to identify the next most pressing
issue facing the community.”
#1 PEST CONTROL SERVICE A Special Approach
From that point on, events snowballed. “We now have pro-
410-764-7500E2x5peYreieanrsce• Squirrels grams in elementary, middle, and high school at TA, we have
• Ticks an inclusion facilitator at TI, we have a teacher at JEWELS,” Ms.
Shulbank reels off proudly. “About three years ago, we realized
• Waterbugs • Termites that there were several girls, all about the same age, who were
• Bed Bugs • Mice receiving services in a variety of settings. Two were in a public
• Bees school together, one was at Bais Yaakov, and the others were
isolated in separate public schools. I met with Mrs. Itzkowitz of
• Roaches • Rats • Ants Bnos Yisroel and Rabbi Freedman of Bais Yaakov and said, ‘The
time has come. We have to have these girls at a frum school.’
• Fleas • Bats • Spiders
“Within three weeks Rabbi Freedman identified a space, we
Fast Professional Exterminating Specialist called the families, and it became a self-contained class in Bais
Lowest Rates • Satisfaction Guaranteed Yaakov. The class has been successful beyond belief. One of the
girls did so well that she’s now completely mainstreamed, and
the others are in Bais Yaakov Middle School today.”
Because Maryland’s laws differ from those of New York and
New Jersey, things moved more slowly in Baltimore than they
did in other communities. “One of the things that bothered me
all these decades was that families had to leave Baltimore be-
cause they couldn’t get services for their kids, or they had to
send their kids to facilities outside of the Orthodox community,”
says Ms. Shulbank. “Now things have changed to the point that
I heard of a family that moved from New York for services for
their child.”
P’TACH had long existed in Baltimore, doing pioneering
work for special needs children, with both resource rooms and
self-contained classes at the schools. However, it eventually be-
came “noninclusive” – meaning that children attended a sepa-
rate school, the Weinberg Academy, rather than the mainstream
Orthodox institutions. Today, with the existence of SHEMESH
(a community-wide program providing educational support for
children with learning differences within the Orthodox schools)
and the PEN Project, a wide spectrum of frum children can
access the government services they need through their local
schools. All this is thanks to Marjorie Shulbank.
“The number-one thing that Marjorie did was that she put
the issue on the agenda,” comments Dr. Aviva Weisbord, exec-
utive director of SHEMESH since its inception in 2009. “She
pushed that it should be done. She’d say, ‘Let’s do it,’ and many
times it got done. She also created a program where the Mary-
land State Department of Education could send speech and
occupational therapists to the frum schools at no charge. It’s
58 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
