Wrightslaw

1. CAN THEY DO THAT?  New Letters to Wrightslaw about Privacy, FERPA, Parent IEP Attachments, the "Parental Role," Using Tactics & Strategy to Resolve Problems with School Officials

* ABOUT PRIVACY *

"The school suspended a child for 30 days for being disruptive but won't allow his parent to see a video of his behavior because of "privacy issues" for other children. Can they do this? If not, what can the parent do?"

What do you think? Can the school prevent a parent from seeing a video of her child? What about "privacy issues?" For the "truth" about privacy and how to resolve this problem, go to:

https://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/video_privacy.htm

* PARENT IEP ATTACHMENTS * 

"I wrote an 'IEP attachment' and asked that it be included with my child's IEP. The special education coordinator refused. She said they could not include my input because of "school policy."

"Can they do this? How should I deal with this?" 

What do you think? How should a parent deal with this? Read the advice from Wrightslaw - and get quick lesson in law and effective advocacy too!

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2. NEWS BREAK!  COPAA Issues Statement & Position Paper on NCD Report; Pete Adds His Two Cents and Lessons from Cases; Words of Wisdom from Jesse Ventura; What YOU Can Do to Promote Change.

In January, the National Council on Disability published the IDEA Compliance Report, a bombshell entitled "Back to School on Civil Rights."

NCD found that after 25 years, the U. S. Department of Education has failed to enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Act, leaving parents of disabled children with "enforcement responsibility."

If the feds don't require states to enforce the law, how can we reasonably expect states to require local districts to enforce the law?

On December 13, 2000, The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) issued a statement and position report on the IDEA Compliance Report, "Back to School on Civil Rights." COPAA is an  independent, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization of attorneys, advocates and parents established to improve the quality and quantity of legal assistance for parents of children with disabilities.

In this new article, Pete discusses how he used this IDEA Compliance Report in a recent case, and what happened when a state refused to comply with the law.

Change never begins at the top - people at the top seek to maintain the status quo. Change begins with people like you - people who know what life is like when school districts refuse to obey the law and when states look the other way.

Today, we offer you another Game Plan - the IDEA Compliance Report Game Plan.

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3. THE ADVOCATE'S GIFT SHOP - Neat Books, Inspiring Videos, Good Sounds, Cool Tools, and More!

If you are still shopping for the holidays (and we are), stop by the Advocate's Gift Shop. You'll find some neat books, good sounds, cool tools, inspiring videos -- and some bargains too.

Books & Videos

Good Sounds & Cool Tools