School Board Of South Lyon Community Schools example essay topic

Mainstreaming is a concept that isn't extremely well known concept that is currently being instituted in a lot of public education institutions. Currently, across the United States, mainstreaming is being added to schools. This has allowed for students to gain a successful start in the world today. My initial audience was that of an entry-level Honors level Public Speaking course with members of the audience consisting of fellow students and peers. For my current audience, I will be addressing the members of the South Lyon Community School Board. The current issue that is being dealt with is that of the proposal to cut inclusion programs from South Lyon's School District due to the recent budgets cuts.

President Cindy Orendach wishes to cut this program because it is not in the budget to supply the schools with extra teachers, who require extra pay, and for extra materials that are used for Special Education students. It is my goal to persuade the school board that the inclusion program should not be cut from the schools, and that less funding be given to the Athletic Department which just received a budget increase of $300,000 to buy new equipment, which will replace equipment which is only 2 years old and doesn't include the new Nex Turf (R) that the school recently purchased. I will provide information on the cost of inclusion programs and how they compare to the current budget. I will also provide information on the documented benefits for students.

I will also discuss why it is ridiculous to spend so much money on something that is not going to help students who do not participate in athletics, which is a vast majority of the population of the school. This paper is to show how the audience that I gave the speech to initially is vastly different from the audience that I will be presenting to for the current speech. My audience is the school board of South Lyon Community Schools. There are 8 members currently sitting on the school board. The members are Cindy Orendach, President, George Ehlers, Vice President, Peggy Connelly, Secretary, David Taulbee, Treasurer, Don Beagle, Trustee, Doug Curry, Trustee, Dan Renders, Trustee and Dr. William Pearson, Superintendent of Schools. The date of the presentation will be May 5th at 7: 15 pm at 345 S. Warren, South Lyon MI 48178 in the School Administration Building in room 200.

The room is a conference room with a long table where the school board members sit at, and there are rows of benches facing the table for the public to sit on. The reason for the meeting is to discuss the necessity of the continuation of inclusion in South Lyon Area Schools and to prove that education budget cuts should not automatically point to inclusion programs as being the first thing to cut. This topic will be 1st on the agenda under New Business. My audience is made up of 100% Caucasians, 2 female, 6 male, all between the ages of 35-50 years of age. All currently have children in South Lyon Community Schools. All live in the city limits of South Lyon.

Five out of eight of the members graduated from South Lyon Community Schools. They are all of Middle-class status, and the average income is of $55,000 a year. All the members come from predominately white neighborhoods, and all the members are of Roman Catholic. Two of the school board members are currently executive board members of the South Lyon Athletic Department; two members are executive board members of the South Lyon High School Band Boosters Association. Two are former teachers of South Lyon Schools, and one is a real estate agent. They are all parents of student's in South Lyon's public school system.

One particular member has a student who is in the Special Education program so I will make a conscious effort to talk about how it is a benefit to students and how in order for students to be successful, it is imperative that this program is continued and to keep this program going, would not cost as much as one would think. I am going to stress the fact that while my age might be a reason for the school board to not believe what I'm saying, I have done extensive research on this subject and have spent a lot of time going over the possibilities and alternative methods for saving money due to the budget crisis. I want to be able to see people benefit from this program, not be harmed because it is cut from the school district. In my earlier speech introduction, I gave my audience a personal story in which I enforced the belief that many times we can't physically determine the difference between a Special Education student and a Regular Education student, and why shouldn't we allow students to be mixed together in a classroom since it provided a learning environment and initiative to the students to equal their peers. For my new audience, I don't feel that it would be appropriate to being my speech this way. Therefore, I'm going to begin with a statement that grabs the audience's attention such as "How would you feel if your child's future was tampered with due to 'budget cuts?' " I feel that this would be a more important way to introduce my topic.

My audience needs to listen because of the simple fact that this proposal to shut down inclusion affects so many people such as: teachers, principals, students, parents, etc. The school board's very own children could have the potential of being affected. Also, if the school board starts with the inclusion program, who's to say that they won't cut other academic programs that would affect the students. Where and when is it ok for us to stand up and put an end to it? Throughout my extensive research, I have obtained MEAP results, testing results of inclusion students before and after they have been exposed to the regular classroom environment, personal testimony of the students involved in the program and the teachers as well. Also I have come across the school district's mission statement, which directly conflicts with the cutting of this program.

My main points of my speech will consist of the benefits of inclusion to the students, the point that this is not a costly program and helps by providing job opportunities, and lastly, how can we spend money on athletic equipment and cut an academic program? I will make it a point to focus on how this can affect the school board's children as well as other students involved in the program. Also, I will speak about how this proposal can affect their lives, as parents and citizens of the city should it be voted into power. My evidence comes from the Michigan Educational Funding Report (ME FR), interviews done with special education teachers and parents of Special Education students involved in the program. In my former conclusion, I reinforced again how inclusion is a benefit and gives students the opportunity to compete against their classmates, to try to overcome the obstacles they are faced with.

My conclusion this time, will be somewhat similar but will also comment on the importance of the school board funding academic programs as opposed to athletic programs. Also, I will reiterate the fact that the inclusion program does not cost nearly as much as the school board thinks, and that by cutting the program, the school districts looks to not gain anything, financially speaking. For this new speech, I will be using a PowerPoint presentation in order to reinforce key ideas, along with including information that will be available for everyone to read and to see. I intend to dress in a business suit because I believe that this is a serious matter that needs to be taken seriously, and due to my age and my rank as a college student, I need to impress my audience in whatever way possible, in addition to my speech. This presentation isn't only the speech; it is how I conduct myself. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the differences of my audience and how I will tailor my speech to my current audience as opposed to my former audience.

I have found that much of my former speech must either be added to or cut out altogether due to the fact that it is a completely different situation. I am going against adults who have many judgments about me the minute I step foot into the door. I am hoping to appeal to the school board's emotions about their children, their common sense with statistics, and their personal opinion about what would be beneficial for the school district in the long run. With my documented evidence, visual aids, and public speaking abilities, I believe I will be successful.