There are many teachings and expectations in education that I struggle to fully wrap my head around. Education is supposed to be a systematic, regulated structure formats, frameworks, and standards we are expected to follow. Yet the reality is, not everything fits neatly into those boxes, and not every student does either.

I am a special education teacher in an alternative education school. Our school serves students from ten surrounding districts within our county. We work with students in grades 7 through 12, and the classified disabilities we support include emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, other health impairments (OHI), Tourette’s syndrome, and others.

Our special education classrooms are structured as 8:1:1, while our general education classes can include up to twelve students. We serve students with high-incidence disabilities in one program and students with low-incidence or more severe disabilities in another, based on instructional and support needs. These decisions are not arbitrary they are intentional, because the needs are real and complex.

Every facet of education matters. Curriculum matters. Standards matter. Data matters. But what matters just as much are the students sitting in those classrooms students who come in carrying trauma, instability, frustration, and often a long history of feeling misunderstood or dismissed.

And this is the part that weighs heavy.

If we, as educators, do not do a thorough job if we allow these students to slip through the cracks of the education system the impact does not end at graduation or aging out. These are the same students who are eventually sent out into the real world without the tools, coping skills, or supports they needed all along. The struggle doesn’t disappear; it just shifts. And when it does, it affects all of society.

Education is not just about passing classes or checking off requirements. For many of these students, school is the last structured support system they will have. It is where they learn how to regulate emotions, resolve conflict, communicate, and survive in a world that often isn’t built for them.