Wake Up Maggie I Think I've Got Something to Say To You ...

"Perhaps more than any other adviser, Ms. Spellings helped shape the Bush education philosophy: a strict emphasis on standards and accountability, intended to close the “achievement gap” between black and white, rich and poor. While other Republicans talked of dismantling the federal Department of Education, Mr. Bush cast education as a civil rights issue, challenging “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

- taken from a recent article written by Sheryl Gay Stolberg in the New York Times


Even though Margaret Spellings, NCLB czarina, is far from admitting it, No Child Left Behind legislation is a disaster in Ohio. All it did was create an illusion that academic standards and graduation goals were being met by hiding the failures in charter schools, grossly manipulated statistics, and "certificates of completion."

In Ohio, we learned that kids who cannot pass proficiency were warehoused in for-profit charter or contracted school environments operating as for profit.  There at the warehouse, the kids are not required to take the proficiency tests so they are entirely missing from the statistics suggesting Ohio students are doing better. Instead they learned how to organize their time, learn about manners, and learn how to play basketball. To make the "drop out" rate go down,  kids who are not eligible to receive a diploma are given a "certificates of completion" which qualifies them for one thing -- to serve in the armed forces.

In many school districts right now,  contracts that guarantee testing success are offered to schools that are designed to help students "prepare" for the tests. In every school in Ohio, teachers take a detour from their regular classroom responsibilities so kids can log onto computer programs for a few weeks that give similar "test questions" so the kids will know the answers beforehand.

There are still no real statistics that support No Child Left Behind is actually narrowing the disparity between "black and white" and the "rich and poor." The only thing it has done is create an illusion of statistics that were easily manipulated to hide the disparity.  We can't put an education template over a large population of children with varying learning styles and preferences.

If you look at the number of kids who are homeschooled or enrolled in public or private school vs. the number of kids who are school age, there's a whole bunch of kids missing in Ohio! Kind of ironic, isn't it?

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The More Things Change: Part One

One of the my child's advocates early on suggested reading a book called, "The Child That Never Grew" by Pearl Buck. What I found interesting about Pearl Buck's journey is how our attitude toward disability in general hasn't changed all that much. The way we treated "disability" back in Pearl's day was to send our children off to a public or private institution where they were cut off from society. They were never seen again.

Although we see our children out and about, many still exist on the margins because instead of "warehousing" their bodies in institutions, we are "warehousing" their needs in public schools burying them under paperwork created from the legislation that was put there to protect them. We are warehousing their "needs" instead of building on their ability.



Many children with atypical needs today are being "warehoused" in public schools where they are "rolled" in and out of classrooms at what is considered "appropriate" and "inappropriate" times and then used as instrument to be measured once or three times a week because of what is written their Individualized Education Plan or IEP. They are children first, not instruments to be measured.

"No Child Left Behind" legislation stole away from my daughter her right to a free public education guaranteed by The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA laws established in 1974 by enforcing curriculum guidelines into her IEP among other things which is illegal. It also serves as the future "green light" for her to be pulled in and out of a typical classroom at someone else's will. It is this IDEA 1974 law that safeguards her rights to receive an appropriate education based on her atypical needs and "No Child Left Behind" legislation that takes this right away from her.

The Frederick A. Breyer School was a school that served kids in the community with atypical needs through their atypical classrooms; it was a school where children were allowed to be children first, not instruments to be measured. It was a school that offered therapies for children with severe disabilities to develop independent life-skills according to each child's need which takes time, patience, and focus. It has been closed by the HC/dd formally known as MR/dd Superintendent and Board and these services will be lost forever to children in our community.

When I read from e-mail transmission from a tax levy review committee member that it was HC/dd who suggested (i) closing one of three adult education centers and (ii) shifting some of the MR/dd-provided services to children onto the respective school districts; and when I became personally involved in the carnival of politics and associated business that determined where my child goes to school, how her classroom should look, and what therapies she should receive, it is at most a very sad commentary of corrupted and failed local, state, and federal government.

The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Post, Cincinnati WCPO-TV and other television news stations refused to investigate what qualifications"Maximus," the Columbus, Ohio company, hired by the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee, had to determine how special education classrooms for severely disabled children should look like and how services should be rendered to children with severe disabilities.

Furthermore, the Cincinnati media did a terrible disservice to all our children with disabilities by failing to report to the public exactly who was responsible for closing the school or asking why MR/dd administration denied this information to their clients and Hamilton County property owners by hiding it as "continuing children services" on compaign cards until after the Mental Retardation tax levy was passed and why the teacher were told not to tell the parents. Why in April in 2005, there was still discussion with PTA personnel atBreyer about options still being considered and waiting until 2 weeks before summer vacation to notify parents the school was closing.

MR/dd refused to consider the available "financial" alternatives and solutions to keeping the school open and told the commissioners that closing the school was only a matter of "inconvenience" to a few families. The media fell short of investigative reporting by refusing to look at the attempted HC/dd school closing in 1997 and why suddenly it was okay to close one in 2006 based on "declining" attendance -- a manipulation in its worse form due to the fact that from 1997 until 2004 parents like me were told by CPS teachers that the therapeutic services offered through HC/dd schools were not available because "they were working to capacity."

No statistics were gathered as to why so many children with serious disabilities and developmental delays are "homeschooled" or why so many parents do not know about HC/dd services. An even sadder commentary is how some of our children remain only a footnote in history when their freedoms are taken away while others are allowed to make history with their freedoms that are bought and sold for them. When a government places the needs of its own children into "stipulations" then it is no longer a government for the people.

Who Stole the Cookie for the Cookie Jar?

No Child Left Behind and Ohio Proficiency Test: Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?

A few days ago, I received in the mail Elisabeth's report card from the State of Ohio. Not only is she beyond proficient in math, science, reading, spelling, and social studies, she is perfect. She scored a "perfect" on the State of Ohio's Proficiency examination.

I've been thinking about contacting Governor Taft to congratulate him for his success in providing a testing mechanism that can accurately define and measure the proficiency level for all children with varying learning abilities, disorders, disabilities, and delays throughout the State of Ohio. I had no idea Elisabeth's strengths were cognition driven. In fact, when she was born I was informed by the head of neurology that this part of her brain was "disconnected."

I'm sure the research staff at the University of California in SF will also be amazed since it was only last week when they suggested we take a non declarative approach in addressing her needs. Do I dare suggest that maybe the research for Elisabeth's diagnosis is on the wrong track. too, and that they should consider hopping on the O.D.E.'s bandwagon?

I suppose President Bush is due for a big "thank you" as well since "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" legislation was the driving force for introducing proficiency testing in Ohio. This is how they both got their current jobs in government. Both of their big ideas would provide a cost savings to tax payers from shifting the financial burden of operating public schools onto local school districts leaving both the Federal and State with no other responsibility except for providing reading programs for two years, lunches for kids, and proficiency testing.

Are there Nobel Prizes for Cookie Jar Economics and Proficiency Tests? President Bush should be nominated for his "bait and switch" talent with Cookie Jars. Governor Taft, on the other hand, should be commended for investing the money he saved for tax payers by putting it into the antiquities market.

In the meantime, Elisabeth and I are going to have a heart to heart discussion tonight about why she's been holding out on me all these years. Had I known she was beyond proficient, I would have considered science or math camp this summer or I would have asked her to spell out for me why she hasn't talked to me for the past 12 years.

posted by Elisabeth's Mom @ 6:28 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

White Collar Crime in our Backyard?

A simple law that was created to protect the civil rights of children with severe disabilities by giving them the right to a free education base on their individual need due to their disability has been violated. The same law that allows a child with special needs to have a individualized education plan (IEP) designed by parents and school district based on the child's individual disability was also violated.

Also in violation of the law is the parents right to define and determine alternative services through their school district by "continuum of alternative services" and their right to be properly notified if any changes will be made in services.

The heavy regulated “No Child Left Behind” statute imposed many restrictions on our children's right to a free public education guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA laws established in 1974 by enforcing curriculum guidelines into IEP (Individual Education Plan) making any IEP throughout the US void. The purpose of an IEP is to allow the school district and parent to design a proper special education plan that meets the individual needs of the child.

It is the school district and parent who can accessed alternative services through "continuum of services" which is part of their child's civil rights. It also guarentees that they cannot be removed without first notifying their parents.

However the children were removed without parental notification from a school at was closed by the MR/dd Superintendent and Board who re-defined "services" and transferred the childen without their parent's permissin to another location or to the district school without first notifying parents. "Services" that are to be determined by parent and district school according to federal law.

It is through the 1974 IDEA federal law that allows children the right to attend a special therapy center through "continuum of alternative services" and protects them from being removed without properly notifying the parents or guardian. How these services are defined and determined are through the parents and district schools. The facility providing services cannot remove or transfer a child into another location or service because they are only providing the services, not defining it for the parents and districts.

Here are some references to look at:

Question: Once a determination is made that a disabled student cannot be educated satisfactorily in the regular educational environment, even with the provision of supplementary aids and services, what considerations govern placement?

ANSWER: IDEA does not require that every student with a disability be placed in the regular classroom regardless of individual abilities and needs.This recognition that regular class placement may not be appropriate for every disabled student is reflected in the requirement that school districts make available a range of placement options, known as a continuum of alternative placements, to meet the unique educational needs of students with disabilities. This requirement for the continuum reinforces the importance of the individualized inquiry, not a "one size fits all" approach, in determining what placement is the LRE for each student with a disability. The options on this continuum must include "the alternative placements listed in the definition of special education under § 300.17 (instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions). " 34 CFR §300.551 (b) (1).These options must be available to the extent necessary to implement the IEP of each disabled student. The placement team must select the option on the continuum in which it determines that the student's IEP can be implemented. Any alternative placement selected for the student outside of the regular educational environment must maximize opportunities for the student to interact with nondisabled peers, to the extent appropriate to the needs of the student.It also should be noted that under IDEA, parents must be given written prior notice that meets the requirements of §300.505 a reasonable time before a public agency implements a proposal or refusal to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the child, or the provision of FAPE to the child. Consistent with this notice requirement, parents of disabled students must be informed that the public agency is required to have a full continuum of placement options, as well as about the placement options that were actually considered and the reasons why those options were rejected. 34 CFR §§300.504-300.505; Notice of Policy Guidance on Deaf Students Education
Posted by Labeled Disable