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Braswell SPED staff work to create an inclusive environment for all
November 16, 2022
Braswell High School has been described as a melting pot. Our students and staff are made up of so many cultures and ethnicities, but what most don’t think about is Braswell’s Special Education Department. We as students are classified into two populations – General Education and Special Education.
“I feel like, this is my personal belief, that people have this stigma or this one mind of what a SPED student looks like,” Esperanza Trevino said. “Special education comes in all different shapes and sizes. It’s not one size fits all.”
The idea of masking is to try to hide something that one does not want the public to see.
“I think everyone has a disability, some are pretty good at masking it,” Ali Weaver said. “But at some level we all have struggled with disabilities that have impacted our learning and our functioning. It would be really nice if what we would consider the normal population could accept that and kind of acknowledge that everyone struggles.”
For a SPED student, everyday is a celebration. Throughout the school year, their class celebrates every accomplishment that each student has.
“We always set up activities for the kids to do,” Trevino said. “We had several students do special olympics bowling – they got first place! Also, one student got student of the month.”
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We don’t lie and tell them they aren’t SPED. They know they’re in the [special education department] and they know what their struggles are.
— Esperanza Trevino
At Braswell, our special education department spends time teaching students to advocate for themselves.
“We don’t lie and tell them they aren’t SPED,” Trevino said. “They know they’re in the [special education department] and they know what their struggles are. We tell them to advocate for themselves. They have to speak up because sometimes, since this is such a big school, you can’t tell that some of our kids are SPED. Like when they get picked up in the tardy tank so we teach them to advocate.”
Luckily, our school does a wonderful job helping our SPED students integrate with our general education students. General education students have multiple opportunities to meet our SPED students and learn with them.
“We have Partner Physical Education and Partner Dance,” Trevino said. “That’s where other students will come in and integrate with our kids and play with them.”
Partner PE has been offered since our school opened. The class operates as a PE credit.
SPED Prom, Partner PE and Partner Dance are just a few of the ways Braswell helps the students in our special education department feel at home and feel welcomed. Through the many opportunities that Braswell provides to both special and general ed students, we are able to create an inclusive culture throughout the school and our district.