Special Education Law Blog

How to Make Your IEP Easier to Swallow by Lori Miller Fox

There is definitely a season for IEPs. A time of year when stress is in the air, and feelings of panic and antagonism abound. Parents scurry busily about, preparing for the big day circled on their calendars. And let's not forget, that list of school people who are naughty and nice. 

And like so many other longstanding, if you can remain standing, traditions; year after year you reunite with many of the same familiar faces, catching up on the events of the year.  Some will even tell you how adorable your child is, and how much he or she has grown. There are a lot of people sitting around a large table who would rather not be there, initially forcing themselves to exchange “pleasantries” until someone says something totally ignorant or offensive and the shouting begins. Just like any other typical American holiday dinner; only here we're not all related by blood or marriage.

So I’d like to propose a new Hallmark holiday for the IEP season. The biggest problem, as I see it though, is that unfortunately, there is no cook book for this time of year. If only Julia Child were here.  Lucky for us though, her lesser-known fictional sister, Julia Specialneedschild offers a long list of IEP “party” recipes.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

NYC Whisteblower Law Passed Will Face Veto

New York City passed an ordinance that would offer legal protections to school staff if they whistle blow on illegal practices in schools. However, Mayor Bloomberg has indicated that he will veto this law claiming that it would give teachers and other staff a tool to hold over administrative staff.

It would seem a simple matter of legislative draftsmenship to either not allow any protections if the charges have no reasonable basis, or to build in other legal penalties if the law was abused. There are other whistle blower acts that could be used as a model. 

Under the mayor's analysis, the best way to improve schools would be to keep everything in-house not subject to legal outside scrutiny. So much for transparency in governance and Justice Brandeis' dicta that "Sunshine is the best disinfectant." Perhaps as one reader who commented on a earlier post on this topic, whistleblowing protection will become a matter of Federal law; it certainly is needed.

New York City Law Would Protect Whistleblowers

The City Council of New York is considering an ordinance which would protect teachers and other personnel from firing or harassment if they blow the whistle on illegal activities in school. The fact that such legal protections are needed is a sad comment in itself. The reality is that I have seen directly or indirectly school staff who were punished or fired for doing that which is right for a child but against the system. The legal protections for school staff can be very lacking so laws like this are in fact quite necessary. Maybe after this ordinance takes effect and other cities follow suit, it will be ok to "take a position against the family."

Early Diagnostic Test for Autism

Researchers at the University of California Davis have reported on a new study for very early prediction for children to later be diagnosed with autism. The researchers studied young children 12-18 months old. They called out the child's name to see if the child  responded. In 70% of the cases where the child did not respond, later testing revealed that the child had autism.  This study is only one such study and  there could other factors to explain these findings. Given the simplicity of the test, however, parents and their doctors could use this diagnostic to gather data which could lead to very early intervention to treat children with autism in the hopes of better long-terms outcomes.

Administration Proposals For NCLB Would Leave Many More Children Behind

The U.S. Department of Education has proposed revisions to NCLB which would permit as many as 30% of all children with special needs to meet standards at a substandard level.  In effect this proposal permanently leaves behind many students with special needs especially those with learning disabilities. {This news story came to my attention from a reader, Karen Purcell]

Child Missing from School for Hours and No Call to Parents

School personnel always say to parents "why don't you trust us !" Well a prime example of why parents do not trust schools occurred in Baltimore, when a child with special needs eloped from school and went missing for days.  The school did not even have the sense or the decency to call the parents. The parents had requested an aide to be with child because of prior elopement episodes, but were refused.

Will the school personnel be brought up on charges of child endangerment ? Not likely in my direct experience with a case I handled several years ago, where a client-child eloped from school and nearly died in a nearby river. The local State's attorney and Attorney General did not have the backbone to take a stand against school personnel. Until school personnel are made to understand that they have real and meaningful responsibility for student's safety, not to mention an appropriate education, callous and even cruel disregard of parents and students will continue without any real consequence.

On a Personal Note

Until this week, I once again had an interruption in posting to the blog. I am in the process of moving my office out of downtown Chicago to location in the suburbs closer to home. This move will allow my clients greater access and will give me the flexibility to do more things to support my children. When it is all final I will post an announcement and the new address. I expect to be in the new space on June 1, 2007.

Baltimore School Children Still Missing Services

Last year there were a number of articles about the possibility of Baltimore school officials going to jail for failing to provide needed services to students with IEPs under the terms of a 2005 "emergency order". Well of course no one went to jail and now another year has gone by and students are still being short- changed on their IEPs. The excuse is that their are not enough service providers; the same underwhelming excuse that they used last year.

Fighting Propaganda Over Tom F. With Facts

The U.S. Supreme Court latest case to be reviewed is a New York case referred to as Tom F. over parental rights to receive reimbursement for private school placements. As with many public discussions the media coverage in this case is one-sided, biased against parents, and based upon false perceptions rather than fact. It is up to all of us to take a public stand and to slam back whenever false impressions of students with special needs are portrayed publicly or for that matter in schools or at meetings.

The following post is from Selene Almazan who is has been on the front lines for years fighting for inclusion in Maryland as part of her job at the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education (MCIE) and as an officer of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA). Her post is a reprint of a letter that she sent to the New York Times rebutting incorrect and misleading statements that have been published regarding parents and the need for private placements. Unlike this typical news story, her rebuttal is based on fact and data, not perception and innuendo.