December 2nd, 2024, is National Special Education Day

Dr. Kimberli Halliday, Director of Exceptional Student Education at Flagler Schools, read a resolution at the 11/19 School Board Meeting that will recognize December 2, 2024, as National Special Education Day. 

“This day celebrates the 49th anniversary of the nation’s first special education law as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that was signed on December 2nd, 1975,” Dr. Halliday read.

The IDEA law requires that a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) is made available to eligible students with disabilities. 

Additionally, IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to infants, toddlers, and youth with disabilities.

Dr. Halliday noted that Flagler Schools provided special education services to over 2,700 eligible individuals from three years old to 22 years old. 

“No system is perfect,” stated Dr. Halliday. “Many students are still in need of special interventions or supports. Special education in America is a work in progress. It has changed bit by bit through the hard work of students, families, educators, advocates, and lawmakers, as well as entire communities.”

Dr. Halliday is in her 20th year in special education at Flagler Schools, and her 30th year advocating for students with disabilities in the educational system. 

“I have witnessed students with disabilities learn to sign their name by working with an occupational therapist and an ESE teacher when there were doctors who said these children are not going to be able to write,” said Dr. Halliday.

“I’ve watched a physical therapist support a student in learning hopscotch so that she could play with her friends, even though she has vestibular difficulties. We’ve had students utter their very first words with our speech language therapists. 

“If it doesn’t shake you,” she said, “I don’t know what will.” 

Dr. Halliday credits her paraprofessionals, staffing specialists, school psychologists, mental health counselors, behavior specialists, and teachers who all perform as a team.

“They come together as a team, which really is the nature of what we do. It’s building community.

“Friends, there are a lot of things that make me proud,” Dr. Halliday noted.

“There are a lot of things that make our team proud. But there are also things that motivate my team to look for solutions, to overcome obstacles, and to grow.

"We are going to continue to evaluate the needs of our students and develop improved programs to ensure that Flagler County Schools’ ESE programs are premier, that we are not leaving any students behind, and we are servicing everyone. I assure you that we have the team who can do it.”