- April 25, 2024
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Durand Brown is a favorite among his ESE parents. Here he clowns around in front of an ITMS banner. Photo by Jacque Estes
Angel wears her backpack, ready to go out in the car. Angel was a student in Durand Brown's ITMS ESE class last year. Photo by Jacque Estes
Kim Novak combs her daughter, Angel's, hair. Photo by Jacque Estes
Kim Novak wants everyone to know exactly what she thinks of Durand Brown, her daughter Angellayla's (Angel) teacher. She thinks he's great.
Fourteen-year-old, Angel, was in Brown's ESE class at Indian Trails last year.
“She was diagnosed with severe autism, pica (eating non food items), intermittent explosive disorder, and a chromosome translocation,” Novak said.
Novak said when she would praise him, Brown would credit Angel with her own success this past school year.
“Angel was in the right environment, surrounded by the right people,” Novak said. “He was the only one who treated her like a kid.”
During his interview, Brown, once again, played down the role he had in Angela's, and his other students' development. This time, his principal, Paul Peacock, who attended the interview via conference call, interjected.
“Mr. Brown is being very humble,” Peacock said. “It is atypical for a teacher to be as open and communicate as much as he does. It should be the norm.”
Brown, who has a degree in psychology, taught in the city of Baltimore and liked working with the more challenging students.
“I care about my kids, and they know I care about them,” Brown said. “But we were a team, a family with four adults and six kids. We all worked the whole classroom, and they really helped me a lot.”
In Angel's case, Brown realized that she had academic potential that had been masked by behavioral issues.
“I asked if she watched TV with the closed captioning on,” Brown said. “Angel has an extensive vocabulary, and can read.”
Brown's method of keeping in touch with the parents is a bit different. Using an app on his phone, he can update parents on what worked and what didn't on any day. He has found that by being able to text, he and the parents can communicate in a timely manner that doesn't require special school meetings, or class disruption.
“I need to know if they didn't have a good morning, or maybe their medication was given late the night before,” Brown said. “I want to be able to reassure the parents that their kids are safe. That's a big deal to me, especially when dealing with special kids.”
Novak remembers the years when she would receive a call before 8 a.m. to pick her daughter up because she couldn't be accommodated. This year, with a paraprofessional of her own, and Brown's oversight – those calls ceased.
Paraprofessionals are assigned to students, after an extensive team discussion and review of the child's IEP (Individualized Education Program) determines the need.
“A team meets to completely discuss the factors,” Peacock said. “It's a conglomerate of people making sure that the needs are met, and accommodations they need are in place. At Indian Trails, we put the individual into the IEP, and it's tailored to each student, and not based on the programs offered. We have to adjust our programs to meet the needs of the students.”
Brown said he uses positive behavior, and gives parents the ability to institute some of what is done in class in the home.
As Angel heads off to Matanzas High School in a few weeks, Novak, like many parents, is a little apprehensive about the change. Things went so well this year she hated to see it end.
“I want my kids to go as far as they can go,” Brown said, “There are changes in everyone's lives.”
Meetings have already been conducted with the schools and teachers as the students move up. Brown said he has shared what worked well with each child with the new teachers.
Flagler County offers a summer program for eligible students to help keep them on a schedule of consistency and routine.
“Not every student has extended school year. That’s up to the team,” Peacock said. “These students can be served until they are 22 years old, in the public school system, so they can continue to grow and develop as a student, and a person, while they are taught additional life skills.”
The only chance Novak has to shop for groceries or clean, is when her daughter is at school.
“Something as simple as getting through a school day, and knowing she was cared for, and treated like a person – you can't put a price on that,” Novak said.
