Fw: [special_education_battlefield] FW: Disability Deception

[Guest guest]

-- [special_education_battlefield] FW: Disability Deception

Way to go, Dee Alpert … you hit the big time and were mentioned by one of my favorite authors and advocates, JoAnn , author of Disability Deception !

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*Why do the schools work so hard at providing substandard special services or try to get out of their responsibility all together? Is this due to money?

Answer: The reason that schools are not following the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is because there is little to no enforcement! The Department of Education is responsible for enforcing the federal law IDEA with the states; which they just simply do not do (even if they do it is weak and ineffective). They have the ability to withdraw funds from states that are not in compliance with IDEA; but they refuse to do so. The state department of education’s are responsible for enforcing IDEA in the school districts; which they rarely do (again even if they do it is weak and ineffective). So my answer is: Who is going to stop them from giving children substandard special education services—the parent!! Which makes it extremely difficult to bring about positive long term changes from state to state—because parent participation can be sketchy.

Effective enforcement in my opinion is the single most important issue that parents and advocates need to address in the next reauthorization of IDEA.

Money is a scapegoat issue! Schools want everyone to believe that if they had more money, they would give children an appropriate education; which few people in the field believe. A wonderful lady by the name of Dee Alpert of Muckrakers wrote President Obama a letter asking him to only give schools stimulus special education money if they were held accountable for how they spent the money. She wanted specific outcomes to be built into the stimulus funds; which Obama did not do. There are some specific things in the bill, but not enough to hold schools accountable for outcomes for children with disabilities.

Extra money will not change many school districts tactics of denying children special education services—that would require a change in attitude and heart—which I believe will not happen without some major enforcement!

SmartQuote ______________

Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success!

~Henry Ford