There is a very dangerous provision creeping into S. 2860, the Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act, which would permit school staff to include restraint/seclusion in a child’s IEP or Sec. 504 plan. The present proposal (Sec. 5(a)(4) prohibits including restraint/seclusion in an IEP as a planned intervention. The provision should not be […]
New York Senator Dean Skelos, Senate Republican Leader, and New York Senator Malcom Smith, Senate Democratic Leader, have both pledged to New York State United Teachers Union that they will block any attempt to cut school aid.
Tell your Senator - Democratic and Republican - that we expect equal protection for our programs, serving our State’s […]
For parents of children with disabilities the scheduling of an Committee on Special Education meeting is fraught with trauma and anxiety. This annual meeting will determine whether a disabled child’s needs will be successfully met for the next year–or so we fear. As parents we have a unique perspective on the progress and needs […]
Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation by rejecting the concept of separate but equal education in 1954. The IDEA guaranteed a free and public education to every child with a disability in 1975–twenty years after Brown. Schaffer v. Weast, decided in 2005, is chipping away at the guarantee of a free education to children […]
The Supreme Court decision in Schaefer v. Weist decided who bears the burden of proof in an administrative hearing assessing the appropriateess of an IEP.
In the decision, Justice O’Connor wrote: “If parents believe their child’s IEP is inappropriate, they may request an “impartial due process hearing.” ?1415(f). The Act is silent, however, as […]