News and Events 2004 / 2005
Read about important 2004/2005 special education news, ACE actions and events, and our continuing education and advocacy training.
CAHSEE Update | 12/4/2005
You have not recd. A Friday Folder from me this school year because I have no clones and am working nearly full-time to abolish the Exit Exam and advise any potential plaintiffs in two class action lawsuits against the State---but chiefly against State Supt. of Jack O'Connell who, according to Sacramento insiders, wants to run for Governor [over my dead body] in 2010 so he will not admit that he has wasted around $15 billion in 6 years on his CAHSEE bill and ensuing, worthless, meaningless exit exam that 139,104 seniors in the Class of 2006 had not yet passed as of Sept. 2005 including 39,858 students with disabilities.
Likely, only 10-12% more will pass this year---adding up to six monotonous CAHSEE repeats. Others will drop out in despair or leave this mandatory 13 year program empty handed in June. Fresno School District sent out a depression/suicide alert to all their staff just before CAHSEE results [from Sept. administration] were sent home in November. This wholesale child abuse is way beyond tolerable.
Reason, pleadings, and testimony at countless State Board of Education meetings, hearings, panels, and stakeholder meetings all fell on deaf ears. Three pieces of legislation on the CAHSEE all failed by way of the Governor's veto. Numerous reports from esteemed educational policy think tanks opposing high stakes exit exams from major university think tanks [Harvard, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, University of Minnesota, Arizona State] failed to move leaders at the CDE. Research showing two-thirds of the CAHSEE test items have technical/validity problems by the state's own independent CAHSEE evaluator, HumRRO, failed. But most alarming...100,000 + seniors at risk of not graduating in June 2006 has failed to persuade higher ups at CDE to reconsider the sanity or fairness of the CAHSEE. Nothing has tempered their ridiculous rhetoric claiming the CAHSEE is improving student achievement. The CAHSEE has failed miserably, except to waste taxpayer dollars and push more kids out of high school unprepared for anything. IT IS TIME TO PLAY HARDBALL OVER THIS CAHSEE CIVIL RIGHTS ATROCITY...
Please distribute the attachments to as many advocacy groups and families of students at risk. Or contact Attorney, Chris J. Young, with Morrison and Forester LLP in San Francisco if you have meetings of concerned students or parents and invite him to come and speak to your group. He's traveling around the state.
Chris Young, JD email: cyoung@mofo.com [415] 268-7027 direct line [415] 268-7522 fax
Information for potential plaintiff information [in Spanish & English] for possible lawsuit/injunction against the state on behalf of minority and English learners who have not passed the CAHSEE but would otherwise predictably meet all other graduation requirements to graduate in 2006 is attached. Keep in mind that the majority of special ed students are also Hispanic, so this lawsuit will serve a variety of subgroups and compliment the Chapman case.
Students sought for this potential class action can be
any senior, any race, with or without disabilities.
The Chapman case by Disabilities Rights Advocates
[DRA] in Oakland on behalf of students with
disabilities is going forward as well.
I and other policy advocates are currently in discussions with Gloria Romero's staff to develop a new bill to postpone consequences of denying a diploma for the seniors with disabilities for Class of 2006. As you know, her last bill [SB 586] was vetoed primarily because it ask for a 2 yr. reprieve and the Chapman settlement terms were only for the Class of 2006. Her new urgency bill will exempt the Class of 2006 and has support of the CA Department of Education so far.
To spare the future life prospects of minority students, however, please distribute this information on the Morrison & Foerster case to as many students, parents, advocates, attorneys, and agencies, as soon as possible.
The CAHSEE is life-threatening for some and life-option limiting for all. Please act now to try and restore a glimmer of hope for California seniors who have been systematically abused by this massive failed CAHSEE accountability/reform blunder.
Jo Rupert Behm, M.S., RN State and Federal Health and Education Public Policy Consultant Council Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) Government Affairs LDA National Healthy Children's Project Advisory Committee Collaborative on Health and the Environment-LDDI Workgroup
Phone: 415-897-2426
FAX: 415-897-8115
email: jobehm@behmer.us
"Convincing Grown-ups to Enact Responsible Policy and Legislation When Deciding the Future of Children" JRB January, '04
National Conference IEP Game Training |10/28/2005
Access Center hosted an IEP Game Training Session at the 1st Annual National IEP Facilitation Conference hosted by the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education.
Board Member Linda Simpson's Letter to the Editor... |10/9/2005
Re: High School Exit Exam
About 20% of California seniors have not passed both parts of the high school exit exam. Many have either have an identified learning disability or English as a second language. Others probably have unidentified learning disabilities or other serious issues. I heard on the radio mention that these students should be shipped off to the armed services since they have not been able to perform to this low-level standard. I have another view.
If the students achieved a 2.0 or better grade point average through most of high school, and received passing grades for most courses, they should be suing the state for supplying them with an inadequate education. This includes dumbing down classes for kids who learn differently, leaving students in classes with teachers who could not or would not teach to reach them, not identifying students with learning difficulties, and not using proven research-based teaching methods to teach students who learn differently. For some of these students assistance in passing the exam comes as offering one 4 hour Saturday class a few weeks before the test-too little too late. As grownups, we must take responsibility for working in an area that uses our strengths and finding ways to overcome our weaknesses. To demand this of our children while still in school is unjust and lazy on our parts. These students aren't failing the CAHSEE-we're failing them and setting them up for devastating failure in their futures.
Linda Dorey Simpson
The Orange County Joint Powers Legal Alliance Funds Cypress School District's Due Process Case Filed by a Parent in That District. |9/7/2005
The news came from the ORCO SPED RELIANCE TASK FORCE. The Reliance Taks Force is composed of attorneys, advocates, activists, parents, agency representatives, and others.
The RELIANCE monitors the actions of the Orange County Special Education Joint Powers Agreement(JPA) Alliance.
The JPA Alliance is composed of the superintendents of the 28 Orange County school districts, the Orange County Department of Education, as well as the directors of the several Special Education Local Plan Areas(SELPAs).
In order to join the JPA Alliance, each school district contributes 50 cents per Average Daily Attendance. The pool of some $300,000 is to be used to provide additional legal support to member school districts involved in special education due process matters. In addition, the joint funds are to be used for staff development.
The JPA Alliance has awarded the Cypress school district up to $17,500 to be used to support the school district in the school district's opposition to the parents of a special needs child in DOE v Cypress.
Baltimore mayor raps judge's special education ruling |8/17/2005
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley accused Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of obstructing school progress and a federal court of inappropriate judicial activism following a ruling that gave the state more powers over the city's failed special-education program. State schools chief Nancy Grasmick said her nine-person intervention team would use a "collaborative" approach with district officials. Read the Article
Access Center is in the News |8/11/2005
ACE makes the front page of the Irvine World News August 11, 2005 edition. Irvine World News
Executive Director, Brenda Rogers, Testifies at the Nevada IDEA Public Meeting |6/24/2005
The afternoon session included 32 parent, community professionals, and district personnel testimonies. Rogers testimony emphasized how terms like "frivolous" combined with local educational agencies ability to seek attorney fees from parents will make exercising civil rights for children with disabilities a high stakes risk for most parents around the country.
Access Center in the News
|6/2005Solutions Magazine announces Echoing Green Fellowship Winners and Brings Access Center for Education into the news.
Special Education Activist and Concerned Parent Named Among World's 'Best Emerging Social Entrepreneurs' by Echoing Green
|6/2005Brenda Rogers receives $60,000 seed grant to ensure effective special education programs and services in public schools
The global nonprofit organization Echoing Green has named Brenda Rogers among the world's "Best Emerging Social Entrepreneurs" for her bold plan to hold public schools responsible for implementing effective special education programs and services.
As a winner of the prestigious 2005 Echoing Green Fellowship, Rogers will receive $60,000 in seed funding, as well as two years of technical support, leadership training and strategic counsel, to develop Irvine, California-based Access Center for Education (ACE). ACE will train advocates to hold schools responsible for implementing effective programs and services in special education that comply with federal and state law.
ACE is one of ten organizations to receive the 2005 Echoing Green Fellowship from 700 applicants in 28 countries. From healthcare to human rights and education to economic development, Echoing Green's 2005 fellowship recipients represent a cross-section of new leaders committed to using smart business principles to right seemingly intractable social wrongs. The rigorous six-month selection process included the submission of detailed start-up plans and a series of in-person interviews before panels of veteran business and nonprofit leaders in New York City. Judges evaluated applicants' leadership and entrepreneurial skills, creativity and the potential of their ideas to deliver long-term social change.
"Our fellowship is designed to provide critical support to bold leaders like Brenda Rogers when they need it most," said Dr. Cheryl L. Dorsey, Echoing Green's president (and a 1992 fellowship recipient for The Family Van, a mobile health unit for inner-city Boston neighborhoods).
"These visionaries are not afraid to think big, and they need an investor with a strong track record to pave the way for future support. But that alone is not enough," she said. "That's why Echoing Green also provides strategic counsel, technical support and access to an extensive networking community."
CAHSEE Class Action Law Suit
|5/2005The State legislature/CDE/SBE cannot or will not be able to do enough, fast enough, to protect the post-secondary options of seniors with disabilities [IEP or Section 504 Plan] next year who are otherwise qualified to graduate from being discriminated against due only to the absurdly flawed California exit exam and important federal laws that have been ignored. Not the least of which is the outrageous fact that no alternate assessment [in 6 yrs since the CAHSEE legislation passed] has ever been developed and there should be two of them, one for severely cognitively impaired students and another for students on track to graduate but unable to demonstrate grade level mastery even with accommodations and modifications. It takes at least 3-5 years to develop/validate any reasonable large-scale alternate assessment at a cost of $10-$12 million so to whip one up by next June doesn't meet muster...
Please widely share/distribute/print the attachment and have any interested students, parents, teachers, contact DRA with CAHSEE related issues/scenarios.
I know two families moving out of state this summer, prior to their child's senior year, due only to the CAHSEE. Another family called me from out of state because the father got a transfer to CA. After I described the CAHSEE, the father came alone, rented an apartment in So. California and commutes back to the Northwest on weekends---just so their high school son could avoid the inevitable humiliation of moving here and being told he can't graduate because of the CAHSEE [a high GPA-college bound student w/dyslexia & dysgraphia who must use lap top with all the assorted high tech features for writing anything important, graphing calculator, literature on CD's etc].
The CAHSEE will likely go down in state and national archives as one of the most costly education mistakes in California and U.S. history--remember $12.5 billion was spent at warp speed by the STATE in the first 27 months after the CAHSEE legislation passed as reported by former Executive Director of the State Board of Education, Reed Hastings, at an Ed Source conference. It costs $21 million [just State cost] every year to administer...
But our duty and priority now is to our upcoming seniors and their lives and futures. Please ring-up DRA with your CAHSEE woes ASAP. [see attachment]
Jo Behm
Jo Rupert Behm, M.S., RN
State and Federal Health and Education Public Policy Consultant
Council Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) Government Affairs
LDA National Healthy Children's Project Advisory Committee
Collaborative on Health and the Environment-LDDI Workgroup
Phone: 415-897-2426
FAX: 415-897-8115 email: jobehm@behmer.usAlison Leigh Cowan's New York Times Article is a Must for Parents |4/24/2005
""The focus of the administration changed," said Richard C. Elliott, an adjunct professor of education at Argosy University in Sarasota, Fla., who spent 30 years as a teacher and administrator in the Westport system. "It changed from asking the question, 'What's best for the child?' to asking, 'What is our minimal requirement under the law?' "
"Last year, 23 requests, most of them from parents, were filed with the state from Westport for "due process" - an administrative procedure that generally precedes a lawsuit. That was the highest number in Connecticut, according to the state. Next highest were West Hartford, with 16 requests, and Greenwich, with 15, both with larger districts than Westport."
Amid Affluence, a Struggle Over Special EducationInternational LDA Workshop |3/02/2005
On March 2, 2005, with the assistance of Board Members, Brenda Rogers led a parent focused workshop designed to help parents "get past the impasses in IEP meetings." Brenda created a new tool for training parents how to overcome obstacles in IEPs. The IEP Game, patent pending, was welcomed with enthusiasm by participants.
OC Alliance Information from IUSD Report No. 12c. |2004
The following information is a direct quote about the Orange County Legal Alliance:
The OC Superintendents are proposing a Special Education Legal Joint Powers Alliance in an effort to Support systematic legal change. The alliance functions include, but are not limited to:
- Review special education legal decisions rendered by courts and administrative agencies
- Assist districts in funding litigation appeals
- Provide leadership for advocating special education legislative and administrative changes
- Analyze significant special education decisions and determine their county or statewide significance
The Joint Powers Alliance would be created upon approval by districts representing two-thirds of the student average daily attendance in Orange County. An executive committee made up of participating district's superintendents would develop governing by-laws. In addition, a nine member review panel would be formed to review cases and make recommendations to the executive committee.
The rapidly rising costs of special education are an ongoing topic among school districts. Staff is supportive of this alliance in that it represents a regional approach to addressing legal costs and pertinent legislation. The cost of joining the Joint Powers Alliance is $.50 per ADA, so IUSD's contribution is $12,500.
Not to exceed $12,500
Authorize the Deputy Superintendent of Business Services to enter into a Special Education Legal Joint Powers Alliance.
Newport-Mesa Unified School District Joins Special Education Legal Alliance: Special Education Director Explains Alliance Purpose |10/20/2004
At Newport-Mesa Unified School District's October 20, 2004 CAC meeting, the Director Of Special Education explained the purpose of the OC Legal Alliance. He stated that each year California receives a funding increase of 1.1 billion dollars for special education. Each year, one-third of this increase is spent on attorney fees for California School Districts.
I asked a clarifying question about the manner in which attorneys were used within the district. The director explained that millions of dollars are spent on both attorney fees for district representation and for reimbursing parent attorney fees when parents prevail in a due process hearing or settle prior to hearing.
The director stated "there are some crazy laws out there. For example, if a parent requests reimbursement for an independent assessment and the district does not want to pay for that assessment, the district must file a due process hearing against the parents. If the district does not file a due process hearing against the parents, then the California State Department of Education will file a claim against the district." He explained that the Orange County Legal Alliance was going to analyze a few cases that stand out as example cases to find out where state special education law, civil rights law, and federal IDEA laws do not line up in an attempt to stop the flow of money going to attorneys. The special education director then stated that as parents, this is not really our concern.
At that point, I had to speak. I responded to his statements by reminding him that these laws are parent concerns because these laws are about our due process rights. I explained that these laws allow me to get my attorneys fees back if the district files a due process case against me. I explained that the district already has seemingly unlimited resources for due process cases when they file and as a parent, I have very limited resources for a due process case. Therefore, the district already has the upper hand. The district can afford to file a due process case any time it likes but If I file, I have to wait until I can afford it. If the district files against me in the process of fighting for my child's future, then I have to come up with between $1500 and $5,000 on average for an attorney retainer that I might or might not have. If I spend every penny I have on a retainer, then the rest of the attorney fees that pile up during my case are held over until I either prevail or settle and the district picks up that bill as reimbursement. How would I otherwise fund a due process case. In essence, my due process rights are only realized by having district money available for reimbursement or I would not be able to afford to have an attorney at all. What good are due process rights when a parent can't afford legal representation and the school district can?
The director conceded that there is a resource imbalance between parents and districts before retreating from the discussion and wrapping up the CAC meeting. He finished by explaining that the OC Alliance has a central organizing body and created a joint powers entity between the Orange County Special Education Districts and the Orange County Department of Education. There was no mention of any room for Parent Participation in this alliance.
Donation Alert! Irvine Ranch Water District Donates Cases of Water for IEP Meetings! 9/2004
ACE thanks IRWD for their donation. We have been provided water to give to all IEP members during our IEP meetings in most OC school Districts. All IEP participants have benefited from the IRWD donation.
Shae Center Therapeutic Riding Program - Fundraising Event, San Juan Capistrano, CA 6/2004
On Saturday June 5, 2004 ACE consultants attended the Shae Center Fundraising Event. Shae's Therapeutic Riding Program provides horse riding therapy to the disabled.
Echo Park Boys and Girls Club Outreach 5/2004
On May 15, 2004, Access Center for Education staff and volunteers spoke with parents about their Special Education rights at the Echo Park Boys and Girls Club. With the help of Boys and Girls Club staff, we spoke to parents in both English and Spanish. The Boys and Girls Club was gracious to let us speak during their parent meeting.
There were 60 parents in attendance today. Out of 60 parents, 21 families signed up with ACE for assistance with their Special Education Students.
The need among these families is great. Many of the parents who came to ask for assistance had middle school children who could not read. Many of these parents reported that their children were being suspended from school on a regular basis. Some of these parents can not communicate with the school to help their children due to language barriers.
ACE has created an Echo Park project. We are going to go back to the Boys and Girls Club and train parents to advocate for their children
Senator Betty Karnette Supports ACE 5/2004
Senator Betty Karnette met with ACE's Executive Director in February. Senator Karnette supports special education and what Access Center for Education does for parents. We are happy to have Senator Karnette as one of our supporters! Senator Karnette represents the 27th District, including the cities of Artesia, Avalon, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, San Pedro, Signal Hill and portions of Los Angeles County.
Our New Brochure Sponsor 5/2004
ACE wants to thank Select Graphics and Printing for donating the duplicating of our new brochure!
They are very easy to work with!