A Kid from the Bronx

by Stefan George & the Fellow Travelers

Overview

I grew up in the Bronx during turbulent times. I was in elementary school during the first desegregation of the public schools in the early 1960s. This and my idealism formation during the late 1960s had a big impact on my values and my career. I went to City College of New York, and one of my psychology professors was Dr. Kenneth Clark, who was the major witness during Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, leading to desegregation of the schools passed by the Supreme Court.
I have my doctorate in school psychology from the Pennsylvania State University and have worked with a multitude of special education and regular school programs as well as my work as a consultant for Child Protective Services in New Jersey. A private practice in Princeton allowed me to challenge school districts on behalf of my clients who are parents and their special needs children. The law allowing for due process and IEPs has never been fully funded, and the work of Dr. Kenneth Clark to offer services to the disenfranchised in Harlem had disappointing results due to political wrangling and turf wars.
There are many needs for students in the public schools and families in the inner city and elsewhere that cannot be met because of the poor funding offered for these services. I am recommending private funding to supplement or create new programming to meet these needs, which will never be met through the political wrangling of either party.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940157199920
Publisher:	Page Publishing, Inc.
Publication date:	06/13/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	124
Sales rank:	1,277,632
File size:	271 KB

About the Author

Dr. Norman Weistuch grew up in the Bronx in the 1950s to 1960s and was educated in the public schools during the first wave of desegregation in the city. Educated through his master’s degree in school psychology at the City College of New York, he was exposed to a professor while an undergraduate student Dr. Kenneth B. Clark, who was the prime witness in the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 that led to desegregation of the public schools. Dr. Clark was noteworthy in attempting to bring large amounts of money through his nonprofit Haryou to the Harlem community with disappointing results.
This thinking has had a profound effect on the author, who continued his education through his PhD in school psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. After working for a Head Start Program in Pennsylvania, Dr. Weistuch moved to New Jersey and has worked for numerous school districts and special school programs and developed a private practice in Princeton, New Jersey. In addition to advocating with families having issues with their local school districts about special education placements, Dr. Weistuch also spent several years consulting for Child Protective Services in that state. He has experienced great disillusionment about the process of providing sound clinical and school-related services in both the special education arena and the arena involving child protection, and he has interviewed parents and offered suggestions about how to make things better.