Unfair Press Once Again

Last year, one of my favorite clients was St. Louis Community College at Meremac. The Meremac campus was five minutes from my front door(that beats flying cross country), but the folks who hosted me in the Disability Support Services Office are just steller individuals. I was keynoting at Meramec in recognition of their achievement day for students with disabilities. These students have overcame some great challenges to not only complete their education, but thrive with great grades and school involvement. If every school put this much of an investment into their students with disabilities, the awareness portion of my keynote could be eliminated entirely!

St. Louis Community College at Meramec is a sister institution with the other St. Louis Community Colleges, around half a dozen other campuses. They all act under the same leadership but, as my clients explained, are more like family.

Today on the STL NBC affiliate, there was a news story about the St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley not accomodating students with learning disabilities. The report was done just like all other investigative reports; with an agenda to make someone look bad. I've not been to Flo Valley to speak, have never had their DSS office as a client. I do know, however, that this isn't par for the course through the STLCCs I've worked with in the past. After all, one member of their family brought me in(and that ain't cheap) to show their students how appreciated they are. Does Mike Owens and the Channel 5 news crew have a point? Maybe, but to really learn the facts, I'd have to do some investigations of my own.

In the meantime, if you're considering one of the SLCCs, keep considering it. With media bias and a slanted viewpoint, you shouldn't believe everything that comes across the tube. Those haven't been my experiences at all. Just a little good publicity for an institution that's getting hammered by the media right now.


http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=59365&bw