Violin Saturday Mornings with Tarra Guerra SUZUKI Music
-
Saturday mornings with our Suzuki class by Tarra Guerra is part of our
weekend learning and FUN! Yes I said, FUN! Group lessons are FUN, being
with others...
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
PARENTS MUST HAVE THEIR SAY IN SPECIAL-NEEDS KIDS' EDUCATION ~ Orlando Sentinel by Natalie Gozer / Guest Colunist
PARENTS MUST HAVE THEIR SAY IN SPECIAL-NEEDS KIDS' EDUCATION
Thursday, April 25, 2013
View Source Article - Orlando Sentinel
Parents must have their say in special-needs kids' education
Orlando Sentinel
By Natalie Gozar | Guest columnist
April 25, 2013
"As the law stands, if parents disagree with their child's IEP team's decision, their only recourse is to take the school district to court. In my case, court was not an option due to financial restrictions.
New legislation is working to change this. Among the provisions in House Bill 465 and Senate Bill 1108, moms and dads would be involved in crucial decisions affecting their son or daughter with a disability, including helping to decide whether their special-needs student will be placed on an alternative curriculum track or a special diploma track.
This legislation, which counts among its sponsors Rep. Jason Brodeur and Sen. Andy Gardiner, would ensure parents are involved in deciding whether their child will be placed in an exceptional student education center. It would also ensure every Florida teacher is trained and prepared to help every student — especially those with disabilities — learn to their full capability.
I am excited to see Florida on the verge of becoming the first state in the nation to ensure parents are informed and empowered to play their critical role in developing their child's Individual Educational Plan.
And I applaud Florida lawmakers for bringing this issue forward this legislative session."
Natalie Gozar lives in Casselberry.
Copyright © 2013, Orlando Sentinel
Opinion: Parents must have their say in special-needs kids' education
http://www.afloridapromise.org/News/2013/Opinion_Parents_must_have_their_say_in_special_needs_kids_education.aspx
Empowering Parents
Each mom and dad deserves the right to be informed and engaged in important decisions regarding their child’s education. Parents must be equipped with the necessary tools to make informed choices.
Parents’ Rights:
Exceptional Student Education
The Foundation for Florida’s Future supports policy that:
- Ensures parents are involved in crucial decisions affecting their son or daughter with a disability.
- Ensures all teachers have the proper training to meet the unique needs of all of their students – especially those with disabilities.
- Ensures school districts strategically involve parents.
http://www.afloridapromise.org/Pages/Agenda_2013/Empowering_Parents.aspx
To read the entire article from A Florida Promise website click link below:
http://www.afloridapromise.org/News/2013/Opinion_Parents_must_have_their_say_in_special_needs_kids_education.aspx
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Nancy speaking before Broward School Board 4/23/13 pleading for help a month before withdrawing her from Public Education in Broward!
This is me speaking for the first time publically to Broward County School Board a month before I completely WITHDREW Mariah from Broward Public Education! In my speach you can see I was PLEADING for help to look into what was happening to me at Parkway Middle School via the IEP "PROCESS" here in Broward County! I also explain how Mariah wasn't even allowed to take the FCAT anymore and wasn't ever told by the schools ESE Specialist, Ms. Chiante Roundtree-Jones as to exactly when the ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT would be going on. (*the Special Needs FCAT testing) The schools ESE Specialist said, that Mariah wasn't in school on the day that the 'letter' was sent home. Instead weeks later, Mariah did bring home a letter informing us when the "regular" FCAT testing times would be going on.
In Elementary school, Mariah had always taken the "regular" FCAT since the 3rd grade and twice in 5th grade, because I thought it would be good for Mariah to have a second year of 5th grade with the same wonderful teacher, Mr. Allagood. Mariah had always been taking the "regular" FCAT, a total of 4 times she took the FCAT before going off to 6th grade at Parkway Middle School. So this year in 6th grade, Mariah wasn't even allowed or was I ever informed when the Alternate Assessment testing dates would be given. I found out later that the Alternate to the FCAT is given to the ESE Students over a 3 week time period, whereas the regular FCAT is given over a shorter time period of just 2 weeks. Not once during the time for testing the Alternate Assessment was our family notified of this testing and it was going on for 3 whole weeks?! That in itself shows the lack of care to test and/or educate a wonderful student like Mariah!
Mariah loves school and is a wonderful student any good teacher would be thrilled for the challenge of teaching her in a diversified classroom as they all should be today! Not all her teachers should have been chosen for her as there have been some really GREAT TEACHERS over the years and certainly Mariah has has some really lousy/rotten teachers too! More good teachers though, but the bad ones can really make life miserable for both student and parent! Her intensive reading teacher in 6th grade at Parkway Middle had no desire to really help Mariah continue with increasing her reading skills. An intensive reading teacher that only gives "F's" to a student with an IEP should be fired! Upsetting to say the least, because READING is one of the most important academic skills a student needs to learn to get an education! That reading teacher's only goal for Mariah was to show she wasn't making progress to push her into a NON-PHONICS BASED reading program the ESE Department was pushing on many of the Middle School Students, that I wanted no part of for my girl. This "curriculum" was not something I agreed to, if SB 1108 had been in place, I would have had to 'sign-off' yes or no to that curriculum. As of July 1st, 2013 that Senate Bill will be law!
So this year, not only did my daugher, Mariah not get to take the "regular" FCAT, she also wasn't allowed to be tested the one given to Special Needs students, the Alternate Assessment to the regular FCAT. Why was this allowed to even happen to Mariah? Is it because both Mariah and I went up to testify before the Florida Senate in March on SB 1108? Is it because she has Down syndrome, is it because her mom is an outspoken Advocate for students with Down syndrome and other unique learning challenges? I would like to know how our public school district can get away with such nonsense!
Ultimately....one month later I decided to completely WITHDRAW my daughter from PUBLIC EDUCATION because I have experienced such a total lack of care to ACADEMICALLY EDUCATE my daughter as she gets older. Being in Middle School and being included in regular general education classes is NOT WHAT THIS DISTRICT WANTS FOR STUDENTS WITH DOWN SYNDROME and certainly they don't care to work collaboratively with their parents.
The new Senate Bill 1108 if it had been in place before this school year or before, I never would have had to go through the nonsense I was being forced to endure at the many (too many) IEP meetings Parkway Middle School put me through.
Mariah and I going to the Florida Capitol a month previously on March 18th, 2013 to testify before the Florida Senate on why we thought this Bill is an absolute must to have in place to protect parents rights to help our children receive a "world class education"? That is what is advertised throughout our public school district, on their phone lines when we are put on hold and on the District website. A world class education is for those without disabilities I think is what they really mean.
In this video, Mariah had just spoken before me, the same exact speech she read to the Florida Senate Education Committee a month before on March 18th, 2013. I will post her first school board speech when I have a copy of it. This was Mariah's second time public speaking and she did fabulous job! She has told me she loves speaking in front of a people! So through it all, we both have become Public Speakers. Mariah and I both have now had parts of our Senate Education Committee testimony from the the Florida Capitol speech aired on National Public Radion-NPR. Mariah telling the Florida Senate that she wants a REAL HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA and that she wants to one day go to College. Her cute voice and her very first public speech has been aired and heard across the Country. I believe she speaks for many with Down syndrome and special needs education in general.
Mariah you are on your way to becoming a National Speaker, getting on NPR is a start! I am so proud of my daughter for rising to the challenge of getting up and speaking before the public and having your voice heard! You speak for many like you!
Please comment if things like this are or have been happening to your child's education, I would love to hear from my readers. Share my story too!
Monday, April 22, 2013
Mariah Harris is on NPR 91.3FM TALK RADIO today!
Mariah Harris 3/18/13 Senate testimony speech is on NPR Talk
Radio 91.3 FM today! It aired twice this morning and will air again at 5:30PM
if it doesn't get bumped for breaking news today on Monday April 22nd, 2013.
Read the full article by Gina Jordan by clicking on this
link: http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/why-parents-could-get-more-control-over-their-child-s-special-education-plan
Below is taken from State Impact.npr.org website.
Why Parents Could Get More Control Over Their Child’s
Special Education
APRIL 22, 2013 | 10:32 AM
BY GINA JORDAN
Right now, schools determine whether to move a student into
special education classes.
But a proposed bill in Tallahassee would give parents of
children with special needs more power over their education.
Fort Lauderdale 6th grader Mariah Harris has Down syndrome,
and she wants to be a veterinary technician.
“My dream is to go to college with my friends one day,” she
told a panel of lawmakers.
She was accepted into a middle school magnet program that caters to her love of science and math. But before the school year started, her
mother says the Broward County school district drastically changed the plan for
Mariah’s education.
“I feel the school is now providing my daughter with very
expensive babysitting service,” said Nancy Linley-Harris.
Linley-Harris said Mariah is getting simple worksheets that
are far below her ability.
She told a Florida Senate Committee that Mariah was taken
off a regular education track when she started at the magnet school. “Because she was going into middle school, it seems as if
there was a strategic plan to remove her from being able to get a real high
school diploma,” Harris said.
Education for kids with special needs is spelled out in a
plan tailored for each student known as an Individual Education Plan, or IEP.
“The IEP team, with the blessings from the district,
purposefully dumbed down all of my daughter’s quality educational IEP goals,”
Linley-Harris said.
Harris said her daughter can handle a general education
program. A proposed law moving quickly through the Legislature would give
parents of special needs kids the final say about their child’s education.
If a school district wants to override a parent’s decision,
it would have to convince a judge.
Denise Rusnak oversees special education for Broward County
Public Schools. She said schools must have the ability to do what’s best for
each student.
“There’s medical malpractice,” Rusnak said. “To me, it’s
educational malpractice to make a decision that’s not in the best interest of
the child.”
Supporters of the change say schools are more apt to take
special needs kids out of general education so they won’t have to take
standardized tests like the FCAT. Starting next year, those test scores factor
in to teacher salaries.
But Rusnak said the state only allows a small percentage of
kids to be exempt from the FCAT.
“So, if a school is doing that, we’re going to see and were
going to go in and investigate it,” Rusnak said, “and we’re going to make sure
they’re making the right decisions for kids.”
In the event of a dispute between parents and the district,
the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act requires a due process
hearing.
But supporters of the bill want to give Florida parents more
control than federal law offers.
Ann Siegel with the advocacy group Disability Rights Florida
says these kids are more capable than people think. “I think they’re kind of forgetting what the special part in
special education was,” Siegel said, “and that is to provide that specially
designed instruction to meet the unique needs of the students so the students
can achieve to the same extent as their non-disabled peers.”
Siegel’s group has represented many students who she says
were inappropriately moved to a special diploma track.
“They can’t recoup those credits that they’re missing,”
Siegel said, “and the special diploma is going to not allow them some options
such as colleges and universities and some vocational schools and military.”
Besides giving parents more power, the proposed law calls
for more special needs training for teachers.
It also allows parents to hire
private help to assist their children in the classroom.
The proposal is getting strong bipartisan support and is
ready for a full vote by the House and the Senate.
View the entire NPR News Article by Gina Jordan clicking on
this link:
Friday, April 19, 2013
Broward ESE "Education" is anything but about EDUCATION!!!
IS THIS LEGAL?
How can a CLOSE-OUT of IEP GOALS be listed as a FINAL Doc. on Virtual Counselor without holding an IEP Meeting, not even a DATE & TIME is set for the next IEP meeting no less!!?
IS THIS LEGAL TO DO??
Should there be DATA on those goals being deleted, revised, removed??
Broward Public Schools ESE Specialist is ALLOWED to place blame on many things that have all but been removed....on "GLITCHES" to the EasyIEP Program!!
Stop it!!!
What BROWARD ESE Department is allowed to continue to do ESE Student after ESE Student after ESE Student.... this school district is DISGUSTING!!!
Monday, April 8, 2013
"Be The One" ~ It Starts with A Voice ~ Starring Lauren Potter
"Be The One" {Music Video} from Life Stage Films on Vimeo.
from It Starts with A Voice - www.itstartswithavoice.com
"Be the One" Written, Recorded, & Produced by Amy & Ben Wright
Starring Lauren Potter
Directed by Matt Davis of Life Stage Films - www.lifestagefilms.com
Purchase the song on iTunes to benefit Best Buddies International
"Like" us on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/ItStartsWithAVoice?ref=hl
Step off of the sidelines and be the one who makes a difference in someone's life. www.BestBuddies.org
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
