OCR~Office of Civil Rights Assistant Secretary ~ Catherine Ihamon

OCR~Office of Civil Rights 
Assistant Secretary ~ Catherine Ihamon


http://www.ed.gov/blog/2014/02/getting-to-know-assistant-secretary-for-civil-rights-catherine-lhamon/

A mother pleaded with school board members for ESE review after her daughter almost died

A mother pleaded with school board members for ESE review after her daughter almost died - click to read full story.

Here is another story of an ESE Parent that went to School Board Meeting after School Board Meeting...each time speaking on behalf to CHANGE THE WAY Special Education handled 'things'.....hmmmm this reminds me of someone we have here in Broward County that was doing the same thing before her son 'aged out of the school system'....and yet nothing changes here too.

Parents of Students receiving Special Education Supports and Services, we need to band together and support each other and SPEAK UP about what is really happening or NOT happening with our Children's education! After all, isn't about EDUCATION?

It's about Educating our Children! It's about our Children being safe while attending school. It's about having QUALIFIED teachers and staff that work with our Children.

The 2 deaths that have happened in the Tampa area are a WAKE UP CALL FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY and how Children with Special Needs are Educated!! If 2 deaths have occurred in one School District in Florida, you can bet this is happening across the Nation!

BENSON goes to NOVA E ~ finally!!

(Below is an email I received from BENSON'S mom - just had to post here!)

Well I like to thank you Nancy for finally making it happen.... Benson is in Nova E Elem. like he was suppose to be last year because his name was picked out of the lottery. His 3 older sisters attend Nova too! He wasted a whole school year in a cluster program at another school in Broward! Oh sorry, not a whole school year, I forgot the 2 months that Broward County schools district left him behind without being in any school! I refused to let them force me to put my son in school I did not want him to go...his name was picked from the Nova E Lottery...that is where he was registered to go for Kindergarten...I went to the Kindergarten Round Up! Funny Nancy how they kept telling you and me how they had no record of him being registered there. How do they lose registrations of children after school starts?

I learned many things this past year:
1.) 90% of the people that say they know what is best for Benson, had never meet him.

2) there are beautiful laws that look good on paper, but make them work it is almost impossible.

3) definition of inclusion in broward county schools is a special need child inside a regular classroom as a guest and if possible far away from his peers.

4) discrimination from students toward special needs children starts with the way teachers introduce them to the peers.

5) if we could have more like "Nancy Harris" to advocate for our kids, cluster classrooms would be history, well maybe not for all but for those with Down syndrome anyway...

I don't really know how it will be at Nova E this year, I don't know how inclusion works in this school, what is the level of acceptance, but at least Benson is happy for now and that counts a lot for me and my family. I know we still have a long way to go, because while ignorance predominates the fight never ends for me to have good help for Benson to get an education in Broward Public schools. I am hopeful soon they will get it right and help me with my Benson because everyday is important for his education and his future success.

Thank you Nancy for not giving up on me or my son this past year!

Daniele ~ Benson's Mom

NEW BOOK TO OWN!!! Wrightslaw: All About IEPs

Wrightslaw: All About IEPs by Peter W. D. Wright & Pamela Darr Wright; Sandra Webb O'Connor
http://www.wrightslaw.com/bks/aaiep/index.htm#order

If you purchase just one book this year to help you in understanding the whole IEP process....any book by Peter and Pamela Wright gets my highest recommendation! This is their newest released IEP book! Order one today, order a couple as gifts for your friends!

Wrightslaw: Peter and Pam Wright are the most respected Special Ed Advocates in the country! If you haven't attended one of their weekend BOOTCAMPS or heard them speak at a conference...you are really missing simply the best training that all parents dealing with Special Education MUST ATTEND at least one. I have attended 4 already and can honestly say, I learned all I know from Pete Wright!!

Thank you Pete and Pam for the tremondous help you continually provide to parents and families across the country!

SP&P Guide ~ State & Federal IDEA Law *LINKS*

**ESE Policies and Procedures (SP&P) Listed by DISTRICT in a handy-dandy-drop-down-list!! What a concept!!! This is my personal baby for the past 4-5 years to get our State Dept. of Ed to do....to create a DROP DOWN LIST OF ALL the districts SP&P Guides! Whoo whooo...advocacy DOES PAY OFF!! Be sure to print one out and put it into a 3-ring binder...this is an invaluable tool!! Enjoy!



ESE Policies and Proceedures
http://www.fldoe.org/ese/ppd.asp

Section 1003.57(1)(d), Florida Statutes (F.S.), requires that district school boards submit to the Department of Education (DOE) proposed procedures for the provision of special instruction and services for exceptional students once every three years. Approval of this document by DOE is required by Rule 6A-6.03411, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), as a prerequisite for district’s use of weighted cost factors under the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP). This document also serves as the basis for the identification, evaluation, eligibility determination, and placement of students to receive exceptional education services, and is a component of the district’s application for funds available under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

IMPORTANT STUFF to be a GREAT ADVOCATE!

Florida ESE documents!

IMPORTANT FLORIDA ESE STATE DOCUMENTS
http://www.fldoe.org/ese/ppd.asp

FLORIDA'S RED BOOK ~ ESE RULES
http://www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/1b-stats.pdf

FEDERAL IDEA LAW - it's the Federal law!!!
http://idea.ed.gov/

ALL OF THESE LINKS WILL HELP YOU KNOW FOR A FACT WHAT THE RULES OF SPECIAL EDUCATION ARE.....IF YOU GET TO KNOW THESE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE POSTED TO OUR STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONS WEBSITES....YOU WILL CERTAINLY BE A CONFIDENT ADVOCATE AND KNOW WHAT YOUR RIGHTS ARE TO SUPPORTS AND SERVICES TO SPECIAL EDUCATION! PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO KNOW ALL OF THESE, DOWNLOAD AND MAKE THEM INTO YOUR VERY OWN 3-RING BINDERS. CALL YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND THEY CAN PROVIDE YOU A COPY IF YOU DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO A COMPUTER TO PRINT THEM OUT.

ENJOY YOUR JOURNEY TO BECOMING AN INFORMED AND KNOWLEDGABLE ADVOCATE FOR YOUR CHILD, THEY NEED YOU TO KNOW THIS IN ORDER TO HELP THEM BE SUCCESSFUL IN SCHOOL AND BEYOND!

I LOVE THIS STUFF! .....learn to like it yourself! 'o)

"It's an IEP Team Decision"......ever hear that?

Ever heard this before? "It's an IEP Team Decision"... What does it really mean? When you are at your Child's IEP meeting, have you ever heard this said before? Yes parents are part of the IEP team, it's good when you speak up and provide your input, concerns and suggestions....but when it comes to  having the document really say exactly what your input or your suggestions are, it's like a knockdown drag out fight to get the simplest of support or service actually written in. Even the SUPPORT & TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL piece of the document...egads those working closest to and with our Child, should be "required" to receive some training!...how do we parents ever know if teachers and para professionals have actually been trained? We never do! Where does it say specifically that they actually have to 'be trained' and by what date?...usually....this too shall become nothing on that IEP document...it's a legal document right?

I can not believe how the majority of IEP team members are usually on the 'opposing team' to what the parent is advocating for. There is no "IEP team decision"...it's a district wide decision many times ESPECIALLY when it comes to PLACEMENT of our Children with certain 'eligibilities' into a certain type of classroom environment!...only to hear repeated like it's the mantra 'they all chat' while brushing their teeth in the morning before going off to attend yet another one of 'those meetings' with one of 'those parents'....they get paid for attending these IEP 'team' meetings day in and day out! These meetings don't give them diarrhea like it does the mom's of those Children! Parents are STRESSED OUT and fighting hard to have their Child provided a good classroom with good supports to help them be successful! Parents know best, but are never really heard and often times their suggestions or concerns are not really 'taken into consideration'......usually shot down at every corner they turn...every real concern or support the parent suggest many times falls on deaf ears of the entire IEP team!

The majority of our 'school society', and that means teachers, principals and especially district administrators and staff, schoolboard members and Superintendents even....still do not really believe our Children with disabilities should be 'allowed' to be taught in a GENERAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM with their friends that live in the same neighborhood! I am sickened by the uneducated and outdated way of thinking that so many running our schools have today in 2009!

They call themselves professionals and say it "at us" in a degrading sort of way...during our IEP meetings, as a way to talk down to parents! Because 'they have' this or that degree in Speech and Language Pathology ~ THEY ARE THE PROFESSIONALS!!! Of all people that should understand the most about fine motor delays in speech and language and communication....some of the so called 'most educated' from a BOOK...have NOT-A-CLUE what it means to provide a support or service to a Child that needs it the most! (They have been instructed from their 'higher ups' on what to say and provide!..do not go over!!! Everyone wants to keep their job and that paycheck coming in!) Most times the highest degreed IEP 'team members' are the very ones that have no idea what it's like to really help a Child be all they can be! Mainly because they don't believe certain individuals will ever really amount to much....they went to school to get that degree for?...for what? To deny the very support or service they could provide to help a young mind learn skills they struggle with, so they can be better at it in the long run..for life!

Why do people go for the Professional degrees they have, to work with Children with disabilities in the first place? IMHO: To make money OFF the delays and disabilities of the very students they don't 'really believe in'? I think our Children with Disabilities are a COMMODITY...seen only as a means to earn a living off of them! If this is not true to some degree...why are the professionals providing MINIMAL support across the board and only giving out a one size fits all service, no matter how hard it is to understand a person 'communicate' or 'write'.....needing OT-Occupational Therapy...or how funny they may walk because of certain genetic conditions...if they can stand up and walk and they ''can navigate the school campus''...what more do we want from those professionals during the school day?

I see too many IEP 'teams' act as though they haven't a clue about doing the right thing in providing WHAT THE CHILD NEEDS and only go by what 'they are instructed' to carry out by the end of that IEP 'team' meeting...us against them....who's gonna win.....well certainly not the Child!! Two opposing teams...certainly not all on the same team, but out to deny!!

It's been a stressful day of advocating for the rights a Child to be educated in a General Education Classroom today. Trying to secure the needed supports and services so the Child can be successful....I am up against 'the district'.....THE DISTRICT wants this student where they WANT THAT STUDENT and that's the bottom line! THEY WANT TO SEPARATE and put this Child in of 'those cluster classrooms' without ever once providing an opportunity or chance to attend a regular general education classroom with all the supports and services to be successful...why???...because for one..."it's an IEP Team Decision"!! and THE TEAM believe that Child "NEEDS" that type of most restrictive setting! Do they even care what the parent wants and knows their Child needs? NO THEY DO NOT CARE WHAT THE PARENT WANTS FOR THEIR CHILD!!.....The Professionals...THEY HAVEN'T A CLUE!!.....many times they aren't even a parent.....and of course they aren't raising a Child with Down syndrome or Autism or any number of unique learning challenges...how could they possible know what we know....we didn't get our EXPERT KNOWLEDGE from attending college....we shed our blood for these Children!!!

Our 'school society' is pushing our Children with Down syndrome especially, away and into SEPARATED and out of sight SPECIAL classrooms...usually in a portable or a back classroom, away away away from the general population! Oh let's not forget they will "INCLUDE THEM" during lunch and recess and specials!...might get lucky and get an entire 15 minutes of GEN.ED time during a REGULAR KINDERGARTEN CLASS CIRCLE TIME!...15 WHOLE MINUTES!!!....and that's ONLY if the Child BEHAVES for those 15 minutes!! Oh assuring the student would get ALL THE SUPPORT he needs!!...We should be grateful we have such caring and knowledgable professionals making Individual Education Plan Placement decisions for our Children! We are GRATEFUL!

I will wake up again tomorrow to fight the good fight all over again....certainly not making a regular paycheck doing it either! I am trying to contribute financially to our family expenses, but am I doing these 'advocacy fights' for the money....for the most part no! I work for FREE much of the time! I do this with a passion because I believe in the Children that need us the most! I believe in their futures and their abilities to do great and wonderful things...so I fight for them! They can't.....many times their parents can't.....but everyone is learning. I see myself as a coach to parents! I love what I do, I love the little kiddo's I am speaking up for, I believe in their futures and I believe in their RIGHTS TO AN EDUCATION! I am a parent to a Child with Down syndrome, all of my friends have a Child with Down syndrome or Autism or Prader Wili or CP or any number of things...these Children are NORMAL to me and my friends...they are our Children!

I hope...when it's all said and done at the end of the day, everyone that sits in on an IEP team meeting...that they can honestly say....they spoke up and supported the parents hopes and dreams for their Child. That they believed in that Child and did the right thing. What would you want if it was YOUR CHILD we were talking about? You would want the IEP team, to do the right thing! You would want your Child going to 'regular' classes....like everyone else!

I know more than anything, bottom line...everyone wants to keep their jobs and they have their instructions to carry out from their 'bosses'....it is so obvious that it's a district wide 'thing'....nothing is going to change unless those running the entire school district open their minds to 'doing the right thing'!!!

Elections for Schoolboard members when those come up....get to know who you will be voting for! Do we need schoolboard members that still call our Children MONGOLOIDS?! I think not!