WE WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL! Universal Public Education in Our Country

 

Albert Whitman & Company, 2021

The blurb on the back cover says it all:

"There once was a time when millions of kids weren't allowed to go to school. Here's the true story of how children with disabilities fought for their rights, and won!"

WE WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL! The Fight for Disability Rights, by Maryann Cocca-Leffler and Janine Leffler, is informative, appealing, and celebratory. Janine, one of the co-authors, introduces the main text with a personal message to readers, explaining that her public school education was welcoming, included necessary services, and accommodated her special needs. She wrote this to documents what other disabled kids dealt with during the reality before the laws finally changed to protect her education and the public education of all children.

With colorful illustrations in familiar settings, Janine's story explains that her birth condition, cerebral palsy (CP), presented mobility and independence challenges. Even though walking and talking were delayed (muscle-based activities), she learned early to read and think (brain-based activities). When she eventually realized that luntil aws were changed, countless children with specific needs had NEVER BEEN ALLOWED to attend public schools. She recognized a need for this book.  Her account reveals ways young people were isolated or made to pass tests, meet specific demands, or otherwise demonstrate that  they could "get by" without extra help or disruption to the ways schools had always been. 

Children were often kept home, unschooled, or even placed in residences where they were "tended to" but not educated. Wealthier parents might pay for private services at home or in special schools. In a limited number of public schools, separate (often inferior) locations, staff,  and curriculum might be provided. 

Year after year, at any given time, MILLIONS of kids were being denied their rights to a free and equal public education. In 1971, seven disabled children (named and drawn with class-picture appeal) challenged these restrictions in court. 

It was in those years that I began my own long career as a special education teacher, with the full understanding that I'd likely work in one of those separate, private institutions. Public schools were not yet required to offer education of any kind to children with special needs, and certainly not with teachers who could provide high levels of expertise. Through those early years of challenge (and several pages of well-drawn and clearly explained text), the course of their legal challenge and eventual success is shown through the lives of kids. 

The kid-figures on the page are diverse in apparent ethnic identity, needs, and appeal, leading to a double-page spread that portrays the faces of "about 1,000 kids", with the text encouraging readers to image EIGHTEEN PAGES with a thousand faces on each. That is a superb way to indicate the representation of 18.000 kids in the Washington D.C. area who were NOT receiving public education at that time. Then the point is made that, across the USA, more than EIGHT MILLION kids were being denied services due to disabilities. 

The celebratory ending follows pages depicting the tension of court arguments, a long and stressful wait for a decision, and then, finally, the news that THEY WON! Back matter follows with informative and accessible text describing the central rights of the court case and new law, a note from Janine, another from her mother Maryann (the co-author), a timeline, and a note from the attorney who led the court arguments that gained disability education rights. 

To make the law a reality was a bumpy road that is not part of the story here, but kids, their families, and teachers like me persisted at making public schools accessible, equitable, and a welcoming home for every kid with every kind of need.  

Maryann Cocca Leffler has a long and successful career as author/illustrator of children's books. Her adult daughter, Janine, has a degree in communications and works for an organization that assists adults with disabilities. She also hosts a website, JANINE'S PARTY, HERE, which offers a welcome and resources for ALL visitors to join in community with each other and celebrate the ways we are more alike than different.

 

If you haven't figured out by now that I am a fan of this book and feel personally invested in making it well known, I must not be a very effective writer. I devoted my life to delivering high quality education to EVERY child, and would have loved to have this available in the past. 

I follow many blogs, news releases, and other information sources for Chidlren's books, but was not aware of this title until it was nominated in the Elementary Nonfiction category for Cybils Awards. I'm very happy to know about it now, and hope readers here will take a close look and share it widely with families, teachers, and librarians.

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