NLDline
Subj: THE SPECIAL ED ADVOCATE,
OCTOBER 28, 1999 (V. 2, NO. 26)
Date: 10/28/99 7:18:30 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: pwright@wrightslaw.com (Pam & Pete Wright)
Sender: owner-special-ed-advocate@wrightslaw.com
To: special-ed-advocate@wrightslaw.com
==================
The Special Ed Advocate
The Online Newsletter About
Special Education and the Law
October 28, 1999 Vol. II, No. 26
Visit us today at:
http://www.wrightslaw.com
===================
The Special Ed Advocate is a free online newsletter about special education legal issues,
cases, tactics and strategy, effective educational methods, and Internet links.
As a subscriber to The Special Ed Advocate, you will receive announcements and
"alerts" about new cases and other events. Back issues of The Special Ed
Advocate are archived at our web site -
http://www.wrightslaw.com
If your email address changes, please unsubscribe your old email address and subscribe
your new email address.
For a "printer friendly" copy of the newsletter, go to
http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/nwltr/1999/nl_99_1028.html
Contact, copyright, and subscription information is at the end of this newsletter.
=================
1. LETTER TO WRIGHTSLAW: “WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ABOUT GRADES?”
2. LETTER TO WRIGHTSLAW: “AREN’T IEPS CONFIDENTIAL?”
3. WRIGHTSLAW: SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW: A RUNAWAY BESTSELLER?
4. UPDATE ON THE ADVOCACY CHALLENGE PROGRAM
5. NEW FILM - ANYA’S BELL
6. NEWS FLASH! BAD NEWS IN BOSTON
7. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
8. CONTACT INFORMATION
==================
1. LETTER TO WRIGHTSLAW: “WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ABOUT GRADES?”
Ken asks, “What does the law say about grades for children with disabilities?”
“I am a special education teacher. Our director has told us that our students are not
“allowed” to make any grades below a C (no D’s or F’s are
allowed).”
“The director said if a child receives a grade below a C, this means the IEP isn't
valid and we need a new IEP with a functional behavior assessment attached because the
only reason a child should make grade below a C is because of behavior.”
“Could you please direct me to the law or anything in the law regarding this
subject?”
What do you think? Should all kids with disabilities receive grades of C or above? Should
teachers be told to give passing grades? Why is so much attention being paid to passing
grades?
Wrightslaw answers:
“Your director's advice about giving children passing grades could get him /her and
the teachers into hot water. If special ed kids always get passing grades, it won't take a
lawyer or an auditor to know that someone is cooking the books.”
Is it fraudulent to "give" students grades they didn't earn?
For our answer to Ken and a link about grade inflation, go to
http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/ltr_Ken_average_grades.html
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2. LETTER TO WRIGHTSLAW: “AREN’T IEPS CONFIDENTIAL?”
Jean writes:
“At a recent workshop, the presenters said that teachers have the right to have
copies of their students' IEPs in the classroom. Is this right? How can confidentiality be
maintained if the teachers have copies of IEPs?”
“It seems to me that giving teachers copies of IEPs is a gross violation of the
confidentiality of students with special needs.”
“If this information is correct, how should I deal with students at the high school
level who have more than one teacher?”
To read our answer to Jean, go to
http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/ltr_Jean_confidentiality_IEPs.html
===============
3. WRIGHTSLAW: SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW: A RUNAWAY BESTSELLER?
News spreads like wildfire on the Internet! Wrightslaw: Special Education Law (ISBN:
1-892320-03-7) is scheduled for publication on November 9, 1999.
A few weeks ago, Amazon.com added Wrightslaw: Special Education Law to their online
bookstore. If you search Amazon using the terms “special education,” the search
will take you to Wrightslaw: Special Education Law.
Amazon provides sales information in the form of a numerical “rank” for the
books they carry. Wrightslaw: Special Education Law has consistently ranked between 2,500
and 8,000 out of Amazon’s 2.5 million titles. How often has a legal reference book
become a bestseller?
Parents, educational consultants, and attorneys who represent children with disabilities
have posted early reviews on the Amazon site. Although most reviews are positive, one
reviewer thought the book wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on!
Take a minute to check out these reviews at Amazon–what do you think?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1892320037/thespecialedadvo/
If you’ve read this book, please add your own review.
For information about this book, go to
http://www.wrightslaw.com/bkstore/ourbooks/Law_Book_Announce_99_0712.htm
============
4. UPDATE ON THE ADVOCACY CHALLENGE PROGRAM
Because attorneys, advocates, educators, and parents need accurate, affordable information
about special education law, Harbor House Law Press began the Advocacy Challenge Program.
People who teach advocacy classes, provide training, or distribute books to parents of
children with disabilities can buy units of 20 books at half price. Although the book
retails for $29.95, Advocacy Challenge participants can purchase 20 books for $299.50 plus
shipping.
Advocacy groups in several states have accepted the Challenge and are purchasing this book
for training and conferences.
For more information about the Advocacy Challenge Program, go to
http://www.wrightslaw.com/bkstore/ourbooks/AdvChallenge.htm
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5. NEW FILM - ANYA’S BELL
Della Reese plays the title role in ANYA’S BELL, a new film about a friendship
between a blind woman and a 12 year old boy with dyslexia who teach each other to overcome
their disabilities.
The following information is taken from a press release about the film:
It’s 1949 and Scott Rhymes is caught cheating on a spelling test. His teacher calls
his mother, Jeanne, in for a conference. The teacher advises Jeanne that Scott will be
held back a grade.
Jeanne learns that her son is seated in what the teacher describes as the “dumb
section” of the class.
Scott works as a delivery boy for a drug store. He delivers a prescription to an older
woman, Anya Herpick. When she accidentally overpays him, he tells her the truth. She is
impressed with his honesty. Anya invites Scott into her home. She shows him her collection
of bells from all over the world. Scott learns that Anya is blind.
Scott learns that Anya must move to a home for the blind because she cannot care for
herself. Unwilling to lose his new friend, Scott teaches her how to use a rod-cane that
will allow her to get around on her own.
Anya teaches Scott how to read in Braille. Concerned about his reading problems, she asks
him to read a printed book to her. He tells her that the words seem “jumbled
around” on the page. Anya’s suspects that Scott has dyslexia and is not the
“retard” that the kids have labeled him. Their bond allows Anya to break through
Scott’s fears and find help for him.
The film ANYA’S BELL will be broadcast on Sunday evening (October 31) between 9:00
and 11:00 ET (CBS).
NOTE: In 1953, Pete Wright was diagnosed with dyslexia. He was seven years old. For the
next two years, Pete had intensive Orton-Gillingham remediation every day after school.
Because he was remediated, Pete Wright can read, write, spell, do arithmetic–and
write a best-selling law reference book!
Turn the clock forward. It’s 1999. The educational techniques to remediate people
with dyslexia have been available for more than 50 years. Yet most children with dyslexia
are not remediated. Most teachers do not know how to remediate.
Over the past 50 years, how many dyslexic children have left school without learning how
to read, write and spell?
To read Pete’s story, go to http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/orton.html
==========
6. NEWS FLASH! BAD NEWS IN BOSTON
(This editorial was published in the Boston Herald on October 27, 1999. A link to the
editorial is at the end of this article.)
“Special Education At Issue: Bad News In Boston”
“The Boston Public Schools are planning to take away speech therapy and other
individualized special education services for parochial and other private school students.
It's been a long time since the schools have perpetrated anything this ugly and
mean-spirited. And it just may be illegal.”
“What this is supposed to do is save $200,000 or so spent annually on about 200
children - all of whose parents pay taxes to the city. If the parents were to send their
children to public school, they'd probably cost the city five times as much.”
“The explanation the school department offers is that these services are no longer
required by federal law. But neither is there any prohibition on such help.”
“Federal law is a set of minimum requirements. In Massachusetts, state law is much
broader. For instance, Chapter 71B, Section 3 of the General Laws (which is where the
famous Chapter 766 of 1972 appears) requires school committees of every city and town to
“identify the school age children residing therein who have special needs”-not
just children enrolled in their schools.”
“Obligations not to discriminate in serving special-needs children were recognized
long before the passage of Chapter 766. The attorney general ruled in 1963 that any school
committee providing speech therapy for its own children must also do so for private school
children.”
“If money's the object, why not cut off the more than $2 million a year the city of
Boston pays for transportation for private-school students?”
“But money is not the object. The object is the coercive maintenance of a monopoly:
Our way or the highway, Jack. It's ugly, it's stupid, it discriminates against Catholics
(most are parochial school students) and the School Committee ought to stop it
immediately.”
Thanks for FEAT for this article.
Link to FEAT: http://www.feat.org
LINK to the Boston Herald editorial:
http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/opinion/edt110271999.htm
===============
7. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
To subscribe to The Special Ed Advocate, go to
http://www.wrightslaw.com/approve.htm
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===========
8. CONTACT INFORMATION
Pete and Pam Wright
c/o The Special Ed Advocate
P. O. Box 1008
Deltaville, VA 23043
Phone: 804-257-0857
Website: http://www.wrightslaw.com
Email: webmaster@wrightslaw.com
The resources at this website are copyrighted by the authors. They may be used for
non-commercial purposes only. They may not be redistributed for commercial purposes
without the express written consent of Peter W. D. Wright.
It is not necessary to obtain our consent to link to our website or copy, print and
distribute our articles and newsletters for nonprofit purposes so long as the material is
reproduced in its entirety and credit is given to Pete and Pam Wright and
"wrightslaw" including the URL -
http://www.wrightslaw.com
Copyright 1999, Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright. All rights reserved.
END