Below is the letter that I sent to my school district requesting the feedback they have provided to Gantwerk.  This is another level of pressure that we can keep up – to publicize what districts are saying so that the families of students with disabilities know where they stand with their local directors.  Ideally, all 600 – 700 directors in the state would get a letter like this from one or more of their constituents.  Then when we do get the letters that they sent Gantwerk, we publicize them to our communities and if need be – we offer our commentary about whether or not it is appropriate for the directors who supposed to be serving the needs of our communities to say whatever it is they are saying.  This is just one other level of activity that we can kick up around this effort.
 http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Witanek [mailto:bwitanek@igc.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 12:04 AM
To: 'nnovack@mtsd.k12.nj.us'
Cc: 'sschnur@mtsd.k12.nj.us'; 'bdofed@mtsd.k12.nj.us'
Subject: IDEIA 2004: Montgomery District Feedback

Dr. Stuart Schnur
Superintendent
Montgomery Township School District
1014 Route 601
Skillman, NJ 08558-2119

Nancy Novack
Director of Pupil Services
Montgomery Township School District
1014 Route 601
Skillman, NJ 08558-2119

Dear Ms. Novack and Dr. Schnur,

On March 23, 2005, NJ Special Education Directory Barbara Gantwerk sent a letter to Pupil Services Directors in all of the districts of the state requesting feedback and suggestions as to how IDEIA 2004 should be implemented at the NJ State level.  She requested quick replies from districts in her letter.

Our organization, A Parents’ Initiative for Every Child’s Education (APIECE http://APIECENJ.org ) is working with advocacy organizations and parents of disabled children throughout the state of NJ.  We are helping to coordinate a drive to call upon the state to reject the areas where federal law now allows weakening of parent and student rights in the IEP process and elsewhere in the special education process.  We are petitioning from our website at http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org around 11 specific points where we see the federal relaxation of IDEA could have a deleterious effect on the education of our children should NJ and the districts follow suit.

Our organization is also monitoring how districts are responding to the request from Ms. Gantwerk.  We believe that districts should act in the best interests of the special needs parents and students in the district and that the only way to do that is to support the maximal rights and protections for parents and students in the IEP and special education process.  Indeed we call upon the districts to support the petition drive at the Student Advocate Website.

Along these lines, I hereby request any and all correspondence between you, your office, your staff and Montgomery School District in general with Barbara Gantwerk, the NJ Department of Education, the NJ Department of Education Board of Education or any other representative of the NJ Department of Education regarding IDEIA 2004 implementation in NJ.  Our goal is to help inform communities such as our own as to what role NJ districts are playing in the IDEIA 2004 implementation process.  It is important for our communities to stay so informed as we believe the districts have a responsibility to represent our best interests since it is the community, the parents and the families of the public education students who sponsor and pay for the actions of school district administrators. 

Of course it is understood that there could be some small fee required for copying any such documentation.  Please inform me of what that fee is and how to go about obtaining all such documents.

I look forward to your compliance with this request as per laws, rules and guidelines governing public access to public documents.

 Sincerely,

Bob WItanek