On the day that we recorded our Candidate Forum “Special Education”, Carlos Garcia, Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified District School, a man I respect, made a speech before the San Francisco EdFund. In that speech he made a statement that I don’t respect which was, “the city's African American students post lower test scores than special-education students.”  While we need to have our African American students perform better, the statement is divisive and furthers the incorrect premise that a student classified as ‘special ed’ carries with it a diminished expectation for the child.  Being classified as special ed does not mean that a child is cognitively impaired, it means we need to place more teaching effort to assist that child in learning.  I can quickly list a few special ed kids who would not fit the diminished expectations mold, Stephen Hawking, Sir Ken Robinson, Charles Schwab, and Carlos Garcia.  It is into this charged atmosphere that our panel, including Marigrace Cohen, Omar Khalif, and Rachel Norton discuss special education.