Public Education Matters

Various student voices 0:08
Public education matters. Public education matters. Public education matters.

Jeff Wensing 0:15
This is Public Education Matters brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Katie Olmsted 0:26
Thanks for joining us for this edition of Public Education Matters. I'm Katie Olmsted, and I'm part of the communications team for the Ohio Education Association and the nearly 120,000 public school educators. OEA represents across the state just about every public educator right now works with students with special needs, not just intervention specialists and paraprofessionals. We're talking about nearly every person in public schools interacts with and supports students of all abilities every day. That's why the Ohio Association of Special Needs Professionals makes it a point to encourage all educators to attend their annual conference. This year, the OASNP conference is going to be April 24 and 25th at the Mohican State Park Lodge and Resort. But this year, it's also a time for all of us to remember that not that long ago, students with special needs had no right to an education at all. That changed on November 29th, 1975 when President Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, later, known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. 50 years later, IDEA is still the law of the land, and we are celebrating the tremendous difference that law has made in the lives of people with disabilities and in all of our lives across our country. Jene Wilson has seen that difference firsthand over her 50 year plus career in education. She retired from the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities and continues to work as a student teacher supervisor for Cleveland State. She's also past chairperson and Business Manager for OASNP. She's joined on this episode by Nikki Nadasky, the current chair of OASNP. Nikki is a service and support administrator, case manager for the Portage County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Take a listen to our conversation from November 2025 as we were marking the anniversary of IDEA becoming federal law.

Katie Olmsted 2:36
Nikki and Jene. Thank you so much for sitting down with us to talk about IDEA at 50 for those who are unfamiliar with it, what is IDEA?

Jené Wilson 2:46
This is Jene. It's the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it was originally passed in 1975 as education for children with handicapped act. But then, you know, those aren't good words to use anymore, and so so it sort of grew and became more inclusionary, and it ended up meaning that kids with disabilities had a right to FAPE, to Free Appropriate Public Education. And in Ohio, that sort of translated into separate schools initially, and a separate school board initially, but eventually, which was the County Board of Developmental Disability system, but eventually grew so that kids were included in their local public schools.

Katie Olmsted 3:39
Before this Act went into effect. What did education look like for students with needs?

Jené Wilson 3:46
Well, it wasn't, there wasn't my first class of I started working in 73 and I know I'm very old. It's been a long time.

Katie Olmsted 3:58
How is that possible when you're only 29 years old?

Jené Wilson 4:01
Thank you. But what happened my first class of students in 1973 was a group of 18 to 21 year olds who had never, never, never been to school, who had been home with their families that whole entire time. So you can imagine that they really had no skills. It was I loved them to pieces, but they really had never had any kind of formal training, and families were just at a loss of what to do with with those students. So they came to us at the County Board of DD, and, you know, we did our best, we also started taking in much younger kids. So, you know, obviously they had more opportunities. But at the time, those kids had nowhere to be. They had nothing.

Katie Olmsted 5:02
What was your reaction to hearing the news that IDEA was was going to be the law of the land in 1975?

Jené Wilson 5:11
Well, we were all actually pretty excited at the time. You know, recall that we were all pretty young, and this is so cool. We're starting this program. You know, we're the first ones to do this so and we, you know, we were really passionate about our kids, and so it was pretty exciting to think that that it was going to be even better for them, even better than when the 169 boards came to be in 1969 when kids with this with severe disabilities, were allowed to get some programming. But now we knew that there was an additional help going to happen, and some of the kids that we saw who didn't need to be with the County Board of DD, we realized that, yeah, they were going to have some place to go.

Katie Olmsted 6:03
So what was the significance in those early years of having IDEA in place? Did it open doors and and set policies in a way that was helpful?

Jené Wilson 6:15
This is Jene again. I think yes, that it did that, even though we really felt like the programming that we were doing at the county boards of DD was really good and helpful, and what the kids that we were working with needed, we also knew that there were some students who didn't need to be in that restrictive of an environment, and particularly when I stopped working with the older kids and started working with preschools, I was working with the preschool kids with disabilities, we could definitely see that after preschool, after a couple of years with us with intensive services, that they definitely could go to their public schools with their siblings, and that was such an important thing for the students that we were working with, but also for the whole families. I mean, parents were so grateful for the fact that their students with disabilities could start to go with their siblings to the local public school. So it was, it was a big step, for sure.

Katie Olmsted 7:25
So you mentioned earlier that initially the focus was on the County Boards of Developmental Disabilities providing that separate programming, but over the years, really it's been an emphasis on inclusionary practices in our schools. From that big picture perspective, how has special education changed since IDEA went into effect?

Jené Wilson 7:49
This is Jene again, because I was working in the schools, and I know Nikki wasn't. I think that it's it's been pretty dramatic and and again, I feel like that. What we were doing at the county board was oftentimes very forward looking. We got to try a lot of different things because money was pouring in, because it was a new program, it was a new federal funding, all of that. But there we knew there were students that didn't need to be in that separate facility. It was absolutely separate facilities. And so it eventually started opening up, and we were putting classrooms into public schools so that the students who were with us at the county board could we would take our classes literally and have them in a public school so they could be with other kids, you know, go to gym and music and playground and all of that stuff. And I think it just opened up a world of possibilities for students and families. And I think, again, not, you know, we were doing great things at the county board, but when they're in public school, they get to be with their siblings, with their neighborhood kids, they get to be where their families want them to be. They get to be part of a wider community. So I think it did really open up a lot for kids with disabilities.

Katie Olmsted 9:18
It also means, though, that we have, you know, regular gen ed classroom teachers who have kids with disabilities in their classes. And you know, the Ohio Association of Special Needs Professionals points out that just about every educator works with somebody with special needs, Nikki as the chair of OASNP, how can educators be supported in that work now, and how has that changed?

Nikki Nadasky 9:51
And it's a big key, and I have seen through the last few years that, especially in our local county board, we have really worked alongside school districts and a link and a resource to them, and helping to coordinate services for children with developmental disabilities and offering experiences for them, along with the education piece as well. So I think that's been really beneficial. I think that's bridging the gap, so to speak, and making sure that we're there as a resource as well, and actually seeing the children flourish in their local school districts because of being around everyone during the day, having those experiences, working with their teachers, doing those kinds of activities that engage them, I think is crucial, and I think, you know, I've seen that over the last few years, and I've seen that aspect grow so much in the local school districts and families being so pleased and so happy with the services that they get there. And I think that's just a testament to everyone working together to make it a smooth transition.

Katie Olmsted 11:34
You know, we talk a lot about the benefits for students with special needs of being in inclusionary spaces are there benefits for the other students who are around those students too?

Nikki Nadasky 11:49
This is Nikki and absolutely I've seen personally, my nephew went to an all inclusive preschool, and I saw the benefits in his eyes, that he is so compassionate, so understanding, just had the different perspective on life, and sees people in a totally different way. And I think being around the group and the class that he was in have has taught him that tremendously. So on a personal note, I've seen that. I've also seen, you know, through interacting and going into the schools and seeing students interact with the individuals that we serve and just seeing them engage and be supportive. And I also see how excited the people that we serve are to be there and engaging and talking with other classmates, and, you know, just enjoying their time and learning in their school districts.

Jené Wilson 13:06
This is Jene. I would want to reiterate what Nikki was saying. I think for the kids who are typical that having the kids who are more struggling be in the same spaces that they are has, I've seen a lot of really, really positive things. I haven't seen a lot of bullying or being mean or anything like that. And I'm like I said, I'm still in the schools. And my last 10 years of what the county board, I was in the schools almost every day as a behavior specialist, and I didn't see a lot of that. What I saw instead was for those kids with disabilities who had high needs, other kids were willing to help and even sometimes be friends with them. I think back to one little girl, middle school age, actually, and she was included in everything. She was invited to birthday parties and to sleep overs. And this was a kid with high needs with, you know, fit. She had some mobility issues, she had some speech issues, and she was invited everywhere. She was really, truly part of the school community. And I see that a lot that I was in a classroom yesterday where it was a an inclusive homeroom, and I had no idea who the kids with disabilities were, who the kids who were on IEPs were. Everybody was just a kid, just a middle schooler. So I do think there's some benefits in kids learning to enjoy and embrace diversity and to be nice and to be nice to everybody.

Katie Olmsted 14:49
I think we could really do with a lot more people being nice to everybody, just throwing that out there. But it also it strikes me that these experiences you're talking about do. Would not be possible without idea saying these kids have a right to an education. Part of that means meeting their needs in the schools, means having IEPs. How has that changed over I can't say over the last 50 years, but in your experience, how has the IEP process and the role of an IEP changed for students?

Jené Wilson 15:29
This is Jene. I think in my experience, it's gone from being just the responsibility of the special ed person to including the gen ed people. I mean, the law says they're supposed to be included, but I think a lot of times, initially, that wasn't taken seriously, and nobody expected that. But now I see that gen ed people do have an interest, because they have the kids in their class, and so they need to understand, plus the, a lot of times, the assistants, the paraprofessionals, they're not necessarily in the meetings, but they need to know what the expectations are when they go with kids to the gen ed classes, or if kids are included all the time in gen ed classes, I think, and certainly the related services staff, you know, music and gym and OT and PT, they are part of it. Also, I just think that the cooperation for the most part, I mean, there are places, you know, there are people who are like, yeah, those aren't my kids. But for the most part, I think people are like, yeah, you know, we're all working together, and I think that's been a good thing.

Katie Olmsted 16:47
I think that's also reflected in what OASNP does by making sure that it's not just the intervention specialists who are coming to the annual conference, making sure that it's everyone knows they are welcome. Nikki, can you speak a little bit to that emphasis?

Nikki Nadasky 17:02
I think that we really try to be a resource for everyone who works with students with special needs. I think that hopefully with the especially talking about our conference, hoping that we offer those sessions that are beneficial for everyone in in the DD world.

Katie Olmsted 17:36
Also, another way OEA is is working to make sure that all students needs are met is with that special education work group. Jene, I know you're part of that. Can you talk to me a little bit about what that is and what you've been doing?

Jené Wilson 17:51
Sure. Yes, I am on the special education work group that OEA has been supporting. It came about in response to a new business item at rep assembly. Let me think a year and a half ago, I think now, and the charge from the new business item was to review the resolutions, the legislative policy and collective bargaining that's available, and see where special ed is represented and where it needs to be highlighted more or represented more, or where the needs of special ed staff and students needs to be more emphasized. And so we have completed the going through all the resolutions and the suggestions that we made to rep assembly were accepted and passed, and then we worked on the legislative policy this last semester, and we're going to be working on collective bargaining issues in December, so our the charge for the Special Ed Committee will be up come spring, when we present the whole the whole report will be in spring, but I think it's been a really amazingly hard working group. People really take it very seriously, and we've gone through everything with a fine tooth comb to try to make I think OEA has always been pretty supportive of special ed since back in 69, 72 whenever our access was the first OEA Special Ed local. And I think OEA has really tried very hard to accommodate and to understand and I think this sort of brings it all together.

Katie Olmsted 19:42
Well thank you both for bringing this together for us, 50 years after the IDEA law went into effect, still a lot of work going on to make sure students' needs are met. And I thank you both for the work that you do with that.

Katie Olmsted 19:56
Thank you.

Nikki Nadasky 19:56
Thank you.

Katie Olmsted 20:02
All OEA members are invited to join Nikki and Jene at the Ohio Association of Special Needs Professionals annual conference. Again, that's April 24th and 25th at the Mohican State Park Lodge and Resort. You can learn more about OASNP and the conference in the show notes for this episode, you can also find my email address there educationmatters@oea.org. Please send me a message with your feedback on the podcast and any ideas you have for future episodes. New episodes drop every Thursday this season, as we continue to dive into the issues affecting our public school students and educators every day. Because in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai