I wouldn’t just rehire this Cobb special ed teacher; I would erect a statue in her honor.
This reader response to an AJC article on special education teachers in Cobb ended up on my desk where I read it in amazement. Teacher Shannon Bryant sounds extraordinary.
Read this letter from parent Jason Adams and you will understand why. After reading it, I am even more perplexed why a teacher of Shannon’s caliber was not rehired. I wouldn’t just rehire her after reading this; I would start collecting for a statue in her honor.
With the permission of the author:
I am writing in response to your recent article entitled “Cobb Rehires 130 Special Education Teachers.” My hope is to add to the sentiments expressed regarding special needs teacher Shannon Bryant. My son, Sully, is a former student of Ms. Shannon.
When Sully was diagnosed with a brain disorder, we searched for the best special needs program in the state. After speaking with both parents and teachers; and after visiting many schools, we were clear where we should be. We moved our family to the Nickajack district so that Sully could join Ms. Bryant’s class.
Sully could barely walk or talk when he began class. He was not potty trained, could not feed himself, and was troubled with intractable seizures. Mentally, he was already several years behind in his development. Shannon Bryant took him in and went to work. Finally, Sully had met a teacher who was more stubborn than he. Additionally, this teacher knew her business. Sully’s time in pre-k class immediately began to pay dividends. Shannon Bryant’s dedication did not end with the school year. She offered to teach summer school, and we made sure Sully was there.
As Sully grew, he went through dramatic change. His speech developed. He physically developed, and he even learned to feed himself. Then his medical problems worsened. In October of 2008, Sully had surgery to remove the entire left half of his brain. On the day of his surgery, we received a photo of Shannon, her class, and many other Nickajack teachers wearing T-shirts with SULLY printed across the chest. Shannon was responsible for this, and I believe it to be the kindest gesture I’ve personally ever witnessed.
While recovering in a therapy center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Sully had to re-learn nearly everything. He couldn’t walk. Shannon boarded an airplane and came directly to Sully’s aid. Within one day she had him walking. Sully was weak, as he once again refused to eat or drink. Shannon had him eating and drinking before she left. She has repeated this act every single time Sully has suffered a setback (he’s had a few surgeries over the past year).
You see, Shannon Bryant is more than a classroom teacher. She loves her students and is 100 percent dedicated to their success. I suspect this is why she was voted Teacher of the Year in 2009. In the history of the award, no teacher has deserved it more.
Fast forward to today. Sully is in kindergarten. He walks, talks, feeds himself, and is potty trained. Cognitively, he is making great strides to catch up. He is seizure free. He is a joyful child and is loved by anyone who knows him. As his father, I’d like to take credit for the person he has become. But that wouldn’t be fair. Sully has accomplished so much because of the hours upon hours of work put in by Shannon Bryant. She is a true professional, and my family is so thankful that she came into Sully’s life.
I do not understand how Cobb County chose to fire Ms. Bryant. Teachers like this don’t come along often. A mistake has been made here. A bad one. I am most concerned that Ms. Bryant’s current students are being deprived of her great talents. I hope and pray that Shannon Bryant is rehired by Nickajack Elementary.
Sincerely,
Jason Adams
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110 comments Add your comment
South-End Mom
June 19th, 2010
2:10 am
@ Milton Man..Why should we blame Obama when Bush orginally began the cuts in education. So if you must point the finger PLEASE research all the way back to the source that started the cesspool. I’m very sorry you don’t like your current leadership; however, take the blinders off and look at the bigger picture. Bush cut funding for education to fund a war that his father did not complete. So please Bush is the one ultimately you should be angry with.
Ole Guy
June 19th, 2010
2:33 am
I believe, back in the so-called “good days” (mid-late 70s/early 80s), Cali was offering FREE, not reduced…FREE coll educations to in-state residents. Additionaly, I remember hearing that the same student population could receive civilian flight training for either nothing or next-to-nothing.
Point being: Georgia, Cali, and, I’m sure, many if not all states and municipalities, during those “reckless years”, spent public funds with abandon.
Sure, in a roundabout sort of a way, we, in Ga, will soon be vexed with the fiscal problems of other states. The very same predicaments face “other states” in Washington’s fiscal largess toward the Peach State.
Don’t feel PG, Free Market (there goes my pc ribbon again). We’re (states) all like drunks in the bar…it’s up to whomever is least drunk to make sure everyone gets back to the barracks ok/gets back on firm financial footing.
But you know, it’s like those mornings after, in college, where, hugging the porcelaen god, you swear never to imbibe so recklessly ever again…12 hours later, it’s deja vu.
Someday, we (states) all will be back on a semblence of firm financial footing, and, as with the relative immaturity of the college kid who never quite learns the meaning of discretion, we’ll all go out and get fiscally drunk again.
Retired Educator
June 19th, 2010
8:38 am
Maureen, whatever happened with the research being done by Angela Tuck for the untenured teachers who received unsatisfactory evaluations by the school districts?
Is she still working on this? I continue to be concerned about this group as they do not have the recourse of tribunals as do the tenured teachers; yet, their careers have in effect been shut down because the districts needed to cut their budgets and USED this group to get rid of a bunch of people because it was easy to do. They, too, had invested in training for a career in education. Once they go to another school district for employment, the unsatisfactory evaluation automatically disqualifies them for consideration. Some of these are excellent teachers who have been dealt a raw deal.
Too funny
June 19th, 2010
11:21 am
Maureen, whatever happened with the research being done by Angela Tuck for the untenured teachers who received unsatisfactory evaluations by the school districts?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. This newspaper actually doing a story in support of teachers being mistreated? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.
Expect Tucks story to run in 2020. Not the television show 2020, the YEAR 2020.
concerned parent
June 22nd, 2010
4:09 pm
It is a shame that teachers like Shannon Bryant have lost their jobs. I, too, have a special needs child…and I can honestly say a huge hole has been created in the heart of Nickajack. I would do just about anything to see Ms. Bryant in the halls of Nickajack next year…so I will say that I wish that COBB BOE would reconsider whatever stipulations are standing between them and Ms. Bryant.
ATLLaw
June 23rd, 2010
8:03 am
First and foremost the folks who have responded to this thread who have belittled the plight of special needs children are ridiculously self-centered. Life has a way of straightening those attitudes out. It will happen– and you will encounter a pain like no other watching a child or grandchild struggle to walk or speak, be ostracized their entire life by their peers, suffer stares from adults and children alike, etc. You do not know pain until you live this life every single day and you will not feel the joy either. These kids do not know race, bigotry or financial class…they love everyone, are humorous, and are more than worthwhile. Being a proud parent of a special needs child and watching her accomplishments, despite the fact that it is 100% more difficult for her than a child without disabilities, is a joy that cannot be put into words. The thankfulness you feel towards a dedicated ESE teacher is unfathomable.
The federal government subsidizes ESE programs and our kids are worth a lot of money to a school. We have witnessed first hand victimization of special needs kids and their parents when greedy principles show some semblance of a program which, in actuality, is a shell using TAPP teachers who have no background with ESE kids much less a teaching degree. We want an education for our kids not a babysitter. As taxpayers who pay more than our fair share of taxes to support our state, country and every other special interest program under the sun- we have a right to expect our money to be used wisely. Good ESE teachers are not a dime a dozen..and those truly qualified are rare.
Know what pisses me off…. I mean really makes me foam at the mouth?? Mars Hill Road, County Line Road, Due West Road, Old Stilesboro Rd, Giles, etc being worked on, all at the same time, all with MILLIONS of federal dollars with signs boasting American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding… and why??? Use the money for teachers! Mars Hill does not need to be widened, nor does County Line, nor any of the other roads they are working on. I can concede Stilesboro needs the work because of the volume of traffic – but these other side roads are fine the way they are until the economic climate is better.
I’m a Republican but I am rapidly moving towards the Independent candidate who uses their brain and common sense and upholds the vision our forefathers had for this country. Education is just one aspect and everyone has an agenda but this nutty spending for the sake of creating jobs while other much more important jobs fall by the wayside is absurd. I don’t blame Obama – I blame every political figure who does nothing to advance our state. Vote them out.
education for the masses
June 23rd, 2010
8:44 am
well, i guess i should be concerned for both my immortal soul and karmatic well-being after reading the comments directed at me for noticing that our country is attempting to provide equal rather than appropriate public education. as far as tax funding goes, i pay federal taxes and i have a BIG problem with the federal gov’t funding state education; knowing that this money goes to paying for up to three certified babysitters in a class of 6 so-called “students” doesn’t make me feel any better about it. look, folks, i appreciate the differently-abled people and the extreme efforts made by them and caregivers to find meaning in their lives. whitewashing mental retardation by saying these children are free from prejudice and always happy is a laughable reason to continue exorbitant funding. why don’t we all just have the same education? gosh, all students should take part in a class that helps them learn to control their bowels/hold a fork n’ spoon/behave appropriately in public. in all seriousness, i will never believe that our society should turn its collective back on citizens with disabilities (if i have a stroke, though, i’m sure some of the readers/writers on this forum would want to have a hand on the “off” button if i’m on life support); i DO think we need to have a serious re-examining of educational priorities, including the areas of children with special needs and gifted education. for my part, i’d rather be funding the next Einstein (almost kicked out of school? please…) than worrying about whether or not a student can receive stars for not pottying in their pants on a given day.
Love my kids
June 24th, 2010
1:33 am
It is not just Cobb Co. but all the counties around that are letting wonderful teachers go. To Bill who thinks there is no place for Special Ed. students in our schools and black children as well. They are all living breathing humans that bleed the same color blood as their white all A counterparts. I have worked in education for 23 years in two counties (Cobb being one) and I can tell you the sweetest most trustworthy and hardest working students I have met have been Special Ed. Oh, some were even black. God help you. You are missing so much in this life. I thank God you don’t have a Special Ed. child only God knows what would happen to him/her.
ATLLaw
June 24th, 2010
8:31 am
To Education for the Masses: You need additional education and apparently were not part of the masses. 85%- 90% of ESE children have no problems with personal hygiene and the ones that do deserve everything they get. Mental retardation, autism, Down’s syndrome does not equal “so called students”…. they are students in every sense of the word and capable of learning and working when age appropriate…which is the goal. And yes – when Education for the Masses in old, gray, and in a hospital using Federally Funded Medicare and SS— which all PRODUCTIVE American citizens paid for (including the “slow individual working for a living) — it’s the same premise. I mean after all we all die so why bother? Why should my hard earned dollars go to help someone who is destined to the grave?? Your logic — not mine.
I have a problem with my Federal taxes (and my family pays a lot) going to inane projects, trips for political figures over seas guised as a “my state’s best interest” jaunt, people on Medicaid and SSD that should not be, digging people out of homes they never should have considered due to wage to cost, etc etc etc. You could certainly find a different and nobler beef with your federal dollar use than kids with disabilities. Karma is a bitch.
Lisa
June 24th, 2010
7:47 pm
I too have a daughter who has been in special ed in Cobb County for seven years now. This past school year we had an amazing special ed teacher who for the first time set the expectations high for my daughter and did not have a closed mind to what she could do if taught it. I was told a year ago by the assistant supervisor of special ed for Cobb County that she was one of their best and that they used her to train others and develop programs for the counties special ed department. She too was fired at the end of this school year. How can they do this to these teachers and especially the children they teach?