CHAPMAN: DIRECTOR SEES GROWTH IN SPECIAL SERVICES AREA

When Calvin Chapman took over as director of special services in 1970, special education in Cape Girardeau public schools included 10 teachers and one speech therapist.

The district received about $50,000 in exceptional student aid from the federal government.

Today, special educational services in Cape Girardeau include 62 teachers, 35 para-professionals or teacher aides, speech therapists in every building, gifted education for students kindergarten through graduation, a preschool program for handicapped children, Parents as Teachers and a residential treatment center at Cottonwood. And the district receives about $1 million in exceptional pupil aid.

Chapman said special education has been the growth area for public schools in the past two decades.

Chapman is retiring from the school district at the end of this academic year. A reception in his honor will be held June 9 at the Cape Girardeau Country Club from 3-6 p.m.

"In the early '70s, special education was a step-child," Chapman said. "We had hand-me-down textbooks and old workbooks."

The explosion in special education came when President Gerald Ford signed Public Law 94-142 in 1974. The law greatly expanded the definition of handicapped and also spelled out what services schools must provide.

The area of special education explores different ways children learn, Chapman said. Children in special education programs have individual educational program designed to meet their particular needs.

Chapman believes that regular classroom instruction will eventually learn a lesson from special education.

"What we need to do eventually is match up the learning styles of all students with teaching styles of teachers," he said. "I think eventually we will have a plan for every child which will say this is the way I learn, teach me that way."

Chapman said tests to assess learning styles are already on the market and admits that individual education plans for each child are a revolutionary idea.

But he said, "Revolutionary things are coming school choice, breakfast, after-school programs for latch key kids, pre-school programs for three and four year olds.

"We already have Parents as Teachers, which starts at birth," Chapman said. "I think schools will really become a hub of the community. We have moved toward being providers as well as educators."

In response to calls for early intervention for handicapped children, Cape Girardeau implemented a program three years ago for handicapped three- and four-year olds. Similar programs are now required by the state, and Cape Girardeau's program is a model for other districts.

Chapman said: "We've had kids enter the program at age three, be remediated and enter regular kindergarten. I'm a real advocate of early intervention. In the long run, it reduces the number of placements in special education programs."

Chapman also helped implement the district's gifted program.

In 1976, Chapman met Russell Johnson, a professor at Southeast Missouri State University whose area of expertise was gifted education.

"We visited for three or four hours, and he got me very excited about doing a program for our students," Chapman said.

A committee, including Chapman, visited a model gifted program in Kansas City. "Coming home, we began to write our program."

The gifted program kicked off in 1978 in grades three through six.

"Our gifted program has been in business as long as a lot of other districts. We are a rather old program in the state."

Chapman said the program has received some criticism from parents over the years. "We've had our ups and downs, but our latest evaluation by the state was outstanding."

The program expanded to seventh through ninth grades, then into the high school. Two years ago, the gifted program was expanded to include kindergarten through second grade. Now the district has a gifted program for students from kindergarten through graduation.

Chapman predicts that most areas of special education will continue to grow.

He said teachers and students deal with different problems today than they did 20 years ago, including substance abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.

"Behavior disorders, or emotionally disturbed, is the growth area," he said. "We have three classes in the elementary level and we are expanding to four next year."

In 1990, new federal legislation was approved called IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The law has again added to the list of special services schools must provide.

"They have added two new categories, autism and traumatic brain injury," Chapman said. "And they have also added rehabilitative counseling and social work services."

But he said, federal and state funding for these and other programs is not sufficient.

"Special education is very expensive," Chapman said. "When 94-142 was passed, we were to receive 40 percent funding within eight years. Federal funding is now at 6.2 percent, the lowest level since 1965," Chapman said.

"This comes at the same time that school districts are strapped for money."

Before becoming director of special services, Chapman was counselor at Central High School. A product of May Greene School, Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University, Chapman began his education career 33 years ago as a classroom teacher.

"I really enjoyed my association with the students," Chapman said. He added that working with students was the thing he missed most in his role as an administrator.

"I felt like a composer. I could write the programs to help students, but I wanted to sing."