Bergen Record Coverage of May 17 Event
The below article was nice and it put us in a positive light. To clarify, the article could give the mistaken impression that we were fighting for issues that we have already gained in our struggle - short term objectives, age 14 for transition services, etc. - when we placed special emphasis on stay put and manifest determination protections - on discipline issues. We were clear about this in our interview with this reporter. She might have been swayed by Barbara Gantwerk that we were still fighting on issues we already won.
The article puts us in a positive light nonetheless and it commits Gantwerk to the changes that we won by fighting. In March of 2005 Gantwerk was quoted in the Trenton Times saying that it was actually parents who wanted to get rid of Short Term Objectives:
http://www.studentadvocate-nj.org/TTimes_20050517_Petition_Gantwerk.htm
The hard copy of the
article was nice as well with three pictures:
One of Bob Witanek
with a sign hanging on his back which stating:
"Sub for 1 Hr? $15 Teacher at IEP? Priceless"
It was very readable! The sign did look beautiful!
There is a beautiful picture of the Delgado kids! Ryan, Rey and Eryn with Ryan reading his statement into a mic! All power to the child with disabilities! There also was another nice group shot.
The following emboldened quote appeared as well:
“What we need is a political movement to empower our children”
underneath the quote it stated:
Bob Witanek, of Montgomery Township. Co-Founder and lead organizer of the New Jersey Student Advocacy Union
The news paper hard copy had a nice subheader as well:
Parents fear rule
changes could weaken special ed
They hold rally in Trenton on behalf of student who can’t
While we disagree with the premise that our children can not go to Trenton (many of our children did come) – it is a sympathetic subhead.
While we do not live and die based upon our latest column inches – the article (which I have some disagreements with how it was presented) was an overall positive spin on our good efforts.
Link to article on Northjersey.com
Parents fear rule changes could weaken special ed
Thursday, May 18, 2006
By KATHLEEN CARROLL
STAFF WRITER
TRENTON -- Autism and behavior problems, plus a high IQ, have made it hard for 9-year-old Eryn Delgado to fit in at any of the five schools she's attended.
It's time to do better, her mother, Evelyn Delgado of Woodbridge, told the New Jersey Board of Education on Wednesday.
"She's hard to place," Delgado said. "From being bounced around, she's learned how to get out of going to school. It's a flaw."
Delgado was one of 60 demonstrators who gathered outside the state Education Department offices to express concerns about any weakening of state special education rules. Delgado, like many parents, said that early intervention and simpler and more frequent planning sessions may have meant a smoother elementary school experience for their daughter and other students with similar needs.
The regulations, which determine how students are evaluated and served, affect all 249,000 of the state's special education students. They are being changed to accommodate the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, which was renewed in 2004.
Some New Jersey advocates for the disabled oppose several provisions in the federal law. Among them are reviewing students' learning plans every three years instead of annually and waiting until students turn 16, rather than 14, to begin so-called "transition" services, which guide graduates into the workforce or to adult programs.
In the proposed New Jersey rules, many of the looser IDEA requirements have been replaced by more stringent regulations, said Barbara Gantwerk, director of the department's Office of Special Education. For example, unlike the federal rules, the proposed state rules require that individual education plans be updated annually and allow transition services to begin at age 14.
Wednesday's protest was organized by the New Jersey Student Advocacy Union, which was founded this year by about three dozen parents. It preceded a hearing conducted by the Board of Education, at which several of its members spoke. The board is scheduled to vote on the new regulations this summer.
The organization's co-founder and lead organizer, Bob Witanek, of Montgomery Township, has two children who receive special education services.
"A lot of parents are so focused on their individual situation, they spend thousands of dollars on attorneys and hours and hours on their own child, but they don't get involved in working together collectively," he said. "What we need is a political movement to empower our children."
The Advocacy Union is opposing several points in the federal rules, arguing that the changes could mean real losses for students. For example, the federal law allows eliminating short-term learning objectives from students' learning plans. But the short-term goals are often the best way to address behavioral and socialization problems, which may be just as significant as academic performance, Witanek said. Short-term goals are included in the state rules, Gantwerk said.
"You have meaningful short-term objectives -- like being able to have a conversation, make a friend, listen to other students, all kinds of social objectives," Witanek said. "These are areas that are not measured by No Child Left Behind, which is only concerned about tests, not the other areas where our children have deficits."
E-mail: carroll@northjersey.com
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