On September 14, 2010 a state-appointed Board of Managers for Benji’s Special Education Academy, Inc. in Houston on Monday determined that the school is no longer financially viable and voted to close it at the end of the school day. I know that our country is in a recession and capital is hard to come by for certain special schools such as Benji's Special Education Academy, Inc. Though this article did not go into great detail of why the financial funds were pulled for this establishment but our countries recession has to play a big part in the closing of this school. Whether the cause of the closure was entirely due to the state not seeing fit to continue to provide financial funds to the academy, I believe that these types of schools are a vital part to providing education to the individuals who need the necessary attention from qualified teachers.
I currently work for the YMCA After school program and have personally come into contact with such children who need the one on one attention from a certified teacher. After viewing the Benji's Special Academy website and reading about the types of individuals who are accepted to attend their school, it's a shame to see this type of school is being closed due to the state claiming the school is no longer financially viable. The school has an enrollment of approximately 550 students and not but 2-3 weeks at the beginning the school year the state decides to have the school shutdown. At the school I work at I know of two teachers who are certified to take care and educate mentally challenged children. I am not a certified teacher but just being a counselor for four hours of these kids lives a day, I can say for certain theses kids needs more schools like Benji to be able to get the necessary attention and quality education they deserve.
