The United States Has an I.D.E.A. Let's Use It.
There is a steady, measured campaign going to in this country to deny children of protections of their civil rights.
A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook a link to a late-2017 WaPo article describing how the federal Department of Education rescinded 72 policy documents that outlined the rights of children with disabilities.
It is now almost ten months later, and what's going on has gotten worse--IMO, much worse.
Links to Obama-era documents, including documents about countering exclusionary discipline and mitigating the school-to-prison pipeline, have been removed from Department of Education websites.
In addition, the federal Department of Education recently changed its policy regarding the investigation of alleged civil rights violations, saying that it was an unreasonable burden to investigate settings where multiple violations had been reported, and so those investigations are being dropped.
As expressed by the New York Times, the "new protocol...allows investigators to disregard cases that are part of serial filings or that they consider burdensome to the office...So far, the provision has resulted in the dismissal of more than 500 disability rights complaints."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/politics/devos-education-department-civil-rights.html
You can check out the Department's Case Processing Manual for yourself. Page 10 gets very interesting.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocrcpm.pdf
Also, the Department recently postponed the implementation of the so-called "Equity in IDEA" regulation, 2 days after it was supposed to be implemented.
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regulation-postponed-two-years-to-ensure-effective-implementation/
The regulation required states to analyze whether there is disproportionality in race or ethnicity in the identification of children as having a disability that makes them eligible to receive special education and related services, (i.e. being eligible for an IEP under the IDEA law).
The regulation also required states to analyze whether there is racial or ethnic ethnic disproportionality in the administration of exclusionary discipline (i.e. things like suspensions and expulsions) to children served under IDEA.
The postponement is for 2 years, which means that no data under the regulation will have been taken and made available before the next presidential election.
Because of the postponement, the Department, Secretary DeVos, and an Assistant Secretary are being sued by the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.
https://www.copaa.org/news/408919/COPAA-CHALLENGES-SECRETARY-DEVOSS-DECISION-TO-DELAY-IMPLEMENTATION-OF-EQUITY-IN-IDEA-REGULATION.htm
Last week, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Secretary DeVos expressing concern about the postponement. In the letter, they pointed out that announcement of the postponement said that it is the Department of Education's position that the issue of disproportionate identification and exclusionary discipline hasn't been researched enough, (which IMO is a laughable position to hold). The letter also pointed out that the announcement stated that it is the Department's position that it is unclear whether discrimination is behind any disproportionate identification and exclusionary discipline that is occurring.
https://cbc.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2018-07-16_cbc_equity_in_idea_response_letter.pdf
The Congressional Black Caucus explicitly asked Secretary DeVos: "Is it your position that racial bias does not exist in special education? Provide evidence as to how the position was determined."
It is unclear as to whether any response has been received.
I think I'm preaching to the crowd here, but I'm telling everybody I know to please vote, from this point forward, in absolutely every election.
A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook a link to a late-2017 WaPo article describing how the federal Department of Education rescinded 72 policy documents that outlined the rights of children with disabilities.
It is now almost ten months later, and what's going on has gotten worse--IMO, much worse.
Links to Obama-era documents, including documents about countering exclusionary discipline and mitigating the school-to-prison pipeline, have been removed from Department of Education websites.
In addition, the federal Department of Education recently changed its policy regarding the investigation of alleged civil rights violations, saying that it was an unreasonable burden to investigate settings where multiple violations had been reported, and so those investigations are being dropped.
As expressed by the New York Times, the "new protocol...allows investigators to disregard cases that are part of serial filings or that they consider burdensome to the office...So far, the provision has resulted in the dismissal of more than 500 disability rights complaints."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/politics/devos-education-department-civil-rights.html
You can check out the Department's Case Processing Manual for yourself. Page 10 gets very interesting.
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocrcpm.pdf
Also, the Department recently postponed the implementation of the so-called "Equity in IDEA" regulation, 2 days after it was supposed to be implemented.
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regulation-postponed-two-years-to-ensure-effective-implementation/
The regulation required states to analyze whether there is disproportionality in race or ethnicity in the identification of children as having a disability that makes them eligible to receive special education and related services, (i.e. being eligible for an IEP under the IDEA law).
The regulation also required states to analyze whether there is racial or ethnic ethnic disproportionality in the administration of exclusionary discipline (i.e. things like suspensions and expulsions) to children served under IDEA.
The postponement is for 2 years, which means that no data under the regulation will have been taken and made available before the next presidential election.
Because of the postponement, the Department, Secretary DeVos, and an Assistant Secretary are being sued by the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.
https://www.copaa.org/news/408919/COPAA-CHALLENGES-SECRETARY-DEVOSS-DECISION-TO-DELAY-IMPLEMENTATION-OF-EQUITY-IN-IDEA-REGULATION.htm
Last week, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Secretary DeVos expressing concern about the postponement. In the letter, they pointed out that announcement of the postponement said that it is the Department of Education's position that the issue of disproportionate identification and exclusionary discipline hasn't been researched enough, (which IMO is a laughable position to hold). The letter also pointed out that the announcement stated that it is the Department's position that it is unclear whether discrimination is behind any disproportionate identification and exclusionary discipline that is occurring.
https://cbc.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2018-07-16_cbc_equity_in_idea_response_letter.pdf
The Congressional Black Caucus explicitly asked Secretary DeVos: "Is it your position that racial bias does not exist in special education? Provide evidence as to how the position was determined."
It is unclear as to whether any response has been received.
I think I'm preaching to the crowd here, but I'm telling everybody I know to please vote, from this point forward, in absolutely every election.
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