Friday, September 12, 2008

77,000 Parents Have Spoken



The tranlation for the Latin phrase on the Seal of Virginia is:

Thus Always to Tyrants

And it's as relevent today as it was when the flag was first sewn.

It's time for the Virginia Special Education Regulations to be renewed. Unfortunately, some of the proposed reg changes would be catastrophic to families of children receiving special education services in Virginia. The most notable proposed changed would have let school districts decide, WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT, that a child was no longer in need of special education services.

But 77,000 parents in Virginia have spoken - the most to ever speak on a change to the regulations. So has the Governor and other key legislators. And although not yet fully approved, it seems that change will be removed from the proposed regulation changes.

I'm proud of you, Virginia, very very proud!

4 comments:

  1. I guess the never heard of Prior Written Notice

    http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/law.htm

    The school district must give parents written notice whenever the district proposes to begin or change your child's identification, evaluation, or educational placement OR refuses to begin or change your child's identification, evaluation, or placement or provide your child with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). This "Prior Written Notice" includes several required components and the language must be easily understood.

    ********

    If they try to reduce services or say that your child cannot receive the services any more, etc. (or anything else that you think your child needs), they MUST have Prior Written Notice. Always remember, you have to test into special ed. and you must test out as well.

    Prior Written Notice
    The precise content of the notice is in 20 U.S.C. 1415(c). The written notice has to describe the action proposed or refused by the school, explain why the school proposed or refused to take that action, describe any other options that the school considered and reasons why each of those other options were rejected, describe each evaluation procedure, test, record, or report the school used as a basis for their proposed or refused action, and describe any other factors that are relevant to the school’s proposed or refused action.

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  2. Prior written notice has been there for a long time, but the proposed new regs wanted to take it out. That's the part that got put back in - thankfully!

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  3. Thank goodness for this!

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