OUR CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

[Guest guest]

OUR CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

OurChildrenLeftBehind/

** WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW **

AUGUST 9, 2004

WHAT NEXT

Here we are, already August. Some families are looking to start school in the

next two weeks. Some schools already have their teachers and administrators

reporting today. Congress remains on vacation, but even its members are

drifting back into DC on occasion to attend hearings into 9/11 Commission

recommendations. It seems like summer barely has started and already it is time

to get

back to work.

So work we shall. Over the next several weeks we are going to revisit and

dissect the Senate and House-passed versions of the Individuals with

Disabilities

Education Act [iDEA] reauthorization. We are breaking it down by topic,

[paperwork reduction; discipline; due process; attorney fees; etc.] so that

parents

and families have a ready source of information to use for the fall voting

season. We hope this educational activity will help us and you better understand

the specific changes made by the House and Senate. We also hope to strengthen

the parent and family policy and information base so that we all are better

prepared to work toward a better IDEA in the new Congress if the current IDEA

reauthorization does not clear Congress before the end of the year.

In the meantime, we still have from now to Labor Day for the parents and

families of the nation's 6.5 million children who receive IDEA services to visit

their federal legislators' offices to tell the story of the family. When the

Senate debated S.1248 in May, it became clear that many Senators really do not

understand how disability plays out in the family home. They - and their

staffers - really did not completely comprehend the interplay between IDEA '97

and

the delivery of special education services in the schools. We believe similar

information gaps exist in Congressional offices of other disability-related

issues including Medicaid waivers, access to community services, Olmstead

rights,

access to medical care, etc.

We parents and families are the best sources of information to correct that

gap in understanding. We live the lives that highlight the successes and

failures of the overall service delivery system for America's people with

disabilities. This is an election year. Interest in national politics appears to

be

increasing. This month and this fall offer prime opportunities for us to educate

those current and prospective elective policy makers, and to inform ourselves

of the candidates' positions on disability issues. Visiting the local offices

of federal legislators is a golden opportunity to achieve those objectives.

We wish you all an exciting and fulfilling summer conclusion and a slow but

effective transition back to the school mentality. We are going to try to do

the same ourselves. The first installment of our series on the proposed IDEA

changes will be circulated on Monday, August 16th. The remaining items will

follow in sequence.

Tricia & Calvin Luker, today's parentvolunteer@...

©2004 Our Children Left Behind.

Our Children Left Behind [OCLB] was created and is owned/operated by parent

volunteers (Shari Krishnan, Tricia & Calvin Luker, Sandy Alperstein, and Debi

). Permission to forward, copy, and/or post this article is granted

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