I am a senior reporter for student health and wellbeing at EdSource, which covers education in California. I write about obesity, bullying, school health centers and anything else that involves the physical and emotional lives of kids at school. Our main audiences, at this point, are policy makers in state government and school administrators. I have been writing for newspapers and magazines for a long time, most extensively as staff reporter for the Boston Globe, but also for other publications including the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News and Health magazine. I also co-wrote a non-fiction book about the mental health system called The Last Time I Wore a Dress (Putnam/Riverhead). Before joining EdSource, I learned a lot about education by working for five years at a K-8 school in Oakland. I have an A.B. in government from Harvard University and an M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Writing from San Francisco State University.

Articles

Every day in special education classrooms across the state

Inconsistent training leaves special education staff struggling

Every day in special education classrooms, teachers and aides oversee students whose emotional and behavioral disabilities can trigger violent confrontations. In some cases, teachers and aides wrestle students to the floor, pin them against classroom walls, or drag them into seclusion rooms.

Michael Ashline, left, and his son Andrew, a special needs student in Orange, at their home in 2014.

Little oversight of restraint practices in special education

During a class excursion in 2013, a nonverbal 5th-grader with autism, epilepsy and an IQ of 47 was repeatedly told to stop touching the wheel of his special stroller, but he didn’t. His teacher responded by holding him facedown on the floor for 12 minutes, according to a lawsuit.