Reminder: Cameras in the Classroom Story on KRIV-Fox 26 tonight at 9pm

[Guest guest]

My friends, as many of you know, I have been deeply involved with stories

relating to special ed for the last 6 years with KRIV-Channel 26 in Houston.

Tonight (Monday)August 20th on the 9 pm newscast and tomorrow (Tuesday) morning

newscast August 21st an extended version of a story will be aired that has vital

importance to many families that participate on this list serve. Greg Groogan

will be reporting on the recent rash of abuse cases in the Houston area

involving students in self-contained special ed classrooms in the greater

Houston area. One of the most distasteful things that I do in my special

education advocacy practice is to assist families in filing grievances and work

with legal teams in developing cases for court involving child abuse in the

public schools. I have worked with several of the families featured in Greg's

story. Most all of the abuse cases that I work on involve non verbal and or

intellectually disabled students in self- contained special ed classrooms.

Things have gotten worse in my view due to the fact that school district's are

frequently placing untrained new teachers in classrooms with students with

severe behavior issues. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that

there will be dire consequences when you put a new teacher in that situation.

The focus of the story will be to highlight the importance of placing video

cameras in these classrooms to insure the safety of these children.

We are very fortunate that Greg and the management of Channel 26 have taken

risks to air stories important to our population, that no other station in the

country have taken. The media business is driven by ratings, so we need to let

them know that we watched the story and appreciate their efforts. Emails, faxes

and letters are the best way to let them know, as it quantifies the number of

folks that actually viewed the story. Phone calls are ok, but written

communication is the best.

Greg Groogan's email- greg.groogan@...

Station address:

KRIV FOX 26

4261 Southwest Freeway

Houston, TX 77027

Main switchboard:

News Room

Phone:

Fax:

After the story airs on Tuesday morning, it will be available for viewing on the

Channel 26 web site at http://myfoxhouston.com Forward the link to the story to

your friends in Houston, in other parts of Texas and the rest of the country.

Ask that they also let the station know how much they appreciate the story.

Finally, and equally as important, forward the link to your state representative

and state senator. As this is an election year, send it to both candidates for

the general election. We do this in the hopes that someone will sponsor

legislation in the upcoming session in January of the Texas Legislature to put

cameras in the classroom.

We have a real opportunity to create a dramatic difference to protect our most

precious commodity and our future, our children. Stand up and let your voice

be heard.

Louis H. Geigerman, President

National ARD/IEP Advocates

http://narda.org

louis@...

[Guest guest]

Great story! But I hate seeing these things now. We decided to put my son

back in school this year after homeschooling last year, and he will be in a

self-contained special ed class. Makes me anxious.

Marilyn