We hear it all the time.

The system doesn’t work right.

The system’s broken.

The system failed.

Those are comforting words.

Words designed to instill belief that something is in place.

That if we just tweak it enough, it will save us.

The problem is that systems don’t break.

They don’t fail.

They work right.

All the time.

Because systems are designed, as it's been explained to me, "to depress, oppress, and repress".

And they do that very, very well.

Brendan Depa is a “hulking” Florida boy who “viciously beat” teacher’s aide Joan Naydich last year after she took his Nintendo Switch away.

Brendan’s also an autistic high schooler with an Independent Education Plan and whatever else Naydich learned in 20 years in the school cafeteria, it didn’t cover what to do when a kid like Brendan has a meltdown.

And Brendan’s also a kid who got his GED while in jail with the help of a retired special education teacher who found him “engaging, funny, smart, sensitive, and inquisitive” as well as “impulsive, naive, and a bit defensive”.

The system didn’t fail Brendan or Naydich.

It didn’t fail them when the school hired Naydich on a provisional basis before completing required special education certifications because they were short handed.

It didn’t fail them when Brendan’s IEP was ignored by other teachers at the school, leading to the events culminating in what happened to Naydich.

It didn’t fail them because the system did what systems do: benefit those most likely to contribute to the future of that system.

Brendan and Naydich don’t qualify.

That system makes decisions about who it will help.

Those it will move forward.

And those it will spit out, left to their own devices.

Naydich’s injuries led to her losing her job, her life forever changed by what happened last year.

Pleading no contest to the charges against him, Brendan’s facing 3 to 30 years if the judge decides to sentence him as an adult.

The system works, and that’s its problem.

Sources