IDEA REAUTHORIZATION ACTION ALERT!

S.1248 is the senate bill for IDEA reauthorization.
Please call Senator Kennedy and let him know that he has our support.
That S.1248 has many changes to IDEA that we as parents can not support for the sake of our children.

Possible talking points include the elimination of the following:
1. Stay Put
2. School obligation around discipline issues
3. Protections for children not yet eligible for special education & related services
4. Benchmarks or short-term objectives
5. Lowers expectations for teachers of students with disabilities
6. Parents' decision-making role
Last, it creates new burdens for students and parents seeking to resolve complaints about their children's education, and to exercise their existing rights to seek timely resolution through a due process hearing.

(details are from the CLE letter, see below)

Boston contact information:


Senator Edward Kennedy <mailto:senator@kennedy.senate.gov>
2400 JFK Building
Boston, MA 02203
617-565-3170
Fax: 617-565-3170
http://kennedy.senate.gov/index_high.html

Senator John Kerry <mailto:john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov>
One Bowdoin Square, 10th Floor
Boston, MA. 02114
617-565-8519
Fax: 617-248-3870
http://kerry.senate.gov/low/contact_email.html

Here are the details from CLE letter on each of the points:


1.      Eliminates the right of students with disabilities to "stay-put" during administrative or judicial appeals, thereby encouraging school personnel to unilaterally remove from their current education placements students who violate school codes (e.g., rules against tardiness,
cutting class, smoking, chewing gum), thus disrupting educational programs, increasing drop-outs, and ensuring that low-performing students will NOT be "counted" for purposes of school.

2.      Weakens the manifestation determination requirements and heightens likelihood of error by eliminating the obligation of the decision-makers to determine first if the child's IEP is appropriate, and by eliminating the requirement that the team include "other qualified persons" knowledgeable about the child and nature of the disability. See section 615(k)(1)(C).

3.      Eliminates protections for children not yet eligible for special education and related services. See section 615(k)(5).

4.      Eliminates key accountability provisions from current law, specifically, requiring annual Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for all students and written "benchmarks or short-term objectives" that are integral to each student's meeting mandated "measurable annual goals" that should be aligned with state standards. See section 614(d)(1)(A)(1)(II) of S.1248  

5.      Codifies unequal and low expectations for teachers of students with disabilities only by defining "highly qualified" special education teachers to include those who provide instruction in a core academic subject to middle or secondary students who are performing at the elementary level to meet a lesser standard -i.e., to be certified at the elementary level. See section 602(10)(i)(II)(iii).

6.      Removes parents' decision-making role in programming and placement determinations affecting teaching and learning.

7.      Creates new burdens for students and parents seeking to resolve complaints about their children's education, and to exercise their existing rights to seek timely resolution through a due process hearing. 

The CLE letter can be read in full on their website:

        http://www.cleweb.org/Alert/CLE-IDEA-NCLB-S1248.pdf