KEEP NJ SPECIAL EDUCATION LAWS
STRONG:
FOLLOW UP FOR SIGNATORIES OF IDEIA 2004 PETITION
by Bob Witanek
Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org
http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org
http://APIECENJ.org 908-881-5275
Congratulations to all those who have taken their
first step in support of the effort to fend off the weakening NJ special
education law by the New Jersey Department of Education in the wake of the
passage of IDEIA 2004 at the federal level by signing the petition
http://studentadvocate-nj.org/IDEIA2004_Petition.htm . We are currently
approaching 200 signatories which is a good start. But remember that there are
close to 600 school districts in NJ and nearly a quarter million special
education students placed in the state of NJ. The task before us is to reach
out and engage a *much more substantial*
portion of these potential petition signers and supporters of the strongest
possible special education law for the state of
New Jersey. While leaving the discussion of how
to do a better job organizing what could be a strong political and social force
in the NJ aside for the moment, for now let us focus on how we can improve
participation in the petition drive, letter writing drive and over all effort to
affect the outcome of implementation of IDEIA 2004.
DOUBLING THE NUMBER OF PETITION SIGNERS
– this task can be quickly accomplished. If each signer were to make a point of
enlisting at least one other signer and seeing the task through to completion,
our statement support is doubled. For many that could be as easy as asking a
spouse to sign on to the statement (or to let you enter their name for them).
It could mean reaching out to other NJ residents including parents, siblings,
any children who have reached adulthood, close friends, etc. If you have NJ
residents to your house for some purpose, leave the petition page on your
computer screen and invite them to put their information in. Make a few phone
calls to other special needs parents and alert them to the issue, let them know
you are signed on to the statement and ask them to commit to doing so. We know
that many of you have forwarded the petition information and that is important
but we need to have more phone and face to face communications to support and
promote these issues. I also recommend that you print off the MS WORD hand out
from this link and bring it to meetings and events to pass out, place on
literature tables and otherwise distribute it:
http://studentadvocate-nj.org/PetitionIDEIA%202004Handout.doc We also have
available a flier announcing the petition that can be posted at bulletin boards
in public schools and board offices, grocery and convenience stores, libraries
and other public locations:
http://studentadvocate-nj.org/IDEIA2004_Announce.doc .
ORGANIZE AN IDEIA 2004 MEETING
– OR INVITE A SPEAKER FOR BRIEF OVERVIEW AT YOUR MEETING
Part of the issue we face in organizing around this issue is that the IDEA law
is technical and complicated. Most of the hundreds of thousands of special
needs parents in NJ probably do not know what IDEA is let alone that our rights
under this legislation are being chipped away. Our community needs to do a
better job at self education, not just on the many intricacies of how our
child’s disability creates obstacles and how to get around or through those
obstacles, but also how our ability to succeed is supported and hindered by the
laws that govern special education. If you are having a meeting on another
topic and can afford us a brief time slot to hit on these issues or if you
yourself can prepare yourself to present these issues or if you could organize a
meeting dedicated to this topic, that would be a step in this direction. If
there are one or more computers where you meet, you can set them up to point to
the petition page and participants can be asked to add their support to the
petition while they are there. You can print the sample letter to the
Department of Education off and distribute that and ask for commitments to
complete such letters and get them out immediately. I would be willing to cover
such presentations as well as Renay Zamloot of the Special Education Leadership
Council, Martha Brecher, Peg Kinsel, Diana Autin or other experts from SPAN as
well as others from ARC and other organizations are available for such
presentations. Contact
Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org or
SPAN@SPANNJ.org to organize a speaker at your meeting. You can call me at
908-881-5275, Renay at
FOR THOSE WHO CHECKED YES TO THE QUESTIONS
When signing the petition, you were asked several questions as to whether you would provide additional support to this effort. If you did not check yes to anything – it does not preclude you from changing your mind and acting on that action proposal.
LETTER WRITING
There were two questions regarding letter writing geared toward writing to the
Department of Education and to elected officials and Acting Governor Richard
Codey. The following link provides resources that can help you with your letter
and a sample letter:
http://studentadvocate-nj.org/IDEIA2004_Writing.htm . We are looking to
hear back from you to see if any of you have gotten your letters out. If you
can let us know by dropping a line at
Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org , that would be appreciated. We would love
to see the letters you sent so if you care to send them into us, please do.
Please also indicate if you would like us to post the letters up at our on-line
public hearing.
http://studentadvocate-nj.org/OnLineIDEIA2004Hearing.htm We can leave your
name off the website posting if you prefer.
PROMOTING THE
PETITION DRIVE
Many of you checked off that you would send a note to your friends and
colleagues inviting them to sign the petition. The note could be quite simple,
something like:
Please support NJ students with disabilities in our public schools. I have just signed a petition opposing the weakening of NJ Special Education laws that disabled students and their family depend upon for survival and to attain their full potential in the public school systems. Please join me by clicking here and adding your name: http://studentadvocate-nj.org/IDEIA2004_Petition.htm .
FOLLOW UP PHONE CALLS
Ideally – if you could do some follow up phone calls after you forward the
petition information, then you can talk to your friends and colleagues to try to
get their commitment to signing on to the petition. E-mail is important but has
limited effectiveness and face-to-face and phone calls are far more effective.
ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT
We need to demonstrate more solid support to the state for our position and one
way to do that is to show that in addition to individual supporters of the
petition, we have organizations that are supporting it. That demonstrates that
the petition represents and even greater constituency. Many of you checked off
that you would approach your organization. Those groups that have agreed to
sign on should send a message to
Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org . If your organization has a statement on
this issue that you would like to post up at our website, please send that to us
as well. Also if you have a statement at your own website, you can send us a
link and we will point to it from our site. Organizations should strive for
100% individual support of their membership of the petition so that we can
increase the list of supporters.
THE LIST SERVE
We are using a list serve to help organize the
petition effort and related efforts around IDEIA 2004. Many have checked off
that they are interested in joining the list serve. I can send you an invite
but you need to check the JOIN button from the invite message. If you are not
already registered with YAHOO, you need to do that also. It takes a minute or
two, there is no cost and then you can sign on to other yahoo discussion groups
as well. You can also join the list serve by sending a message to
NJStrongIDEA-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then responding when you get the
confirmation note. You might be asked to register with YAHOO using that method
to join the list as well.
COMMENTS
If you are interested in having your letters or comments on IDEIA 2004 appear on
our website on the public hearing page http://studentadvocate-nj.org/OnLineIDEIA2004Hearing.htm
, send those in with a note stating that it is ok to put the comments up at the
website.
PETITION COMMITTEE
Finally, I want to invite anyone who has signed the petition, if you want to get more involved in the petition drive and to help make this campaign successful, please write to us at to Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org . This effort can only be successful with greater involvement by more individual and organizations committed to its success.
For our children,
Bob Witanek
http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org
http://APIECENJ.org
Advocate@StudentAdvocate-NJ.org 908-881-5275
Ask the Advocate
NJ Complaint Form (MS Word)
(PDF)
On Line Public Hearing on IDEIA 2004
Survey on NJ OSEP Complaint
Process
Past Activities
IEP Wkshp
Rec. Programs for
those w/ Disabilities
An Evening of Educational Advocacy
September 8, 2005 Edison, NJ
What The Student Advocate Has Done for Our Children
Lately . . .
NJ IDEIA 2004 Organizing Committee
Minutes of IDEIA 2004 meeting on Thu., May
26
Student Rights Radio
Discussion, October 31
Effort to
Reach Gubernatorial Hopefuls and Acting Governor / Candidates
IDEA: An Update
Dec. 5, 2005
Middletown
January 18,
2006: Hold a Candle Light for Our Children's Rights
50 Strong For Our
Children
No. Jersey Radio Interview Aired, 1/22
Petitioning for Rights Children: Legal in Princeton
Interview on NJ IDEIA Rights
- Racial Disparities in Sp-Ed
Call
is Heard in Montgomery Twp: Inclusive Recreation
NJSAU Minutes 2/18/2006
Playing and Singing for
Our Rights, 4/1/6
Better IDEA Laws for Special Education
Students?
Better IEPs? Anything is Possible!
April
1 Report: Student Advocacy Union - Fundraising Concert
Mobilization for Rights
of Our Children, May 17, 2006, Trenton
Nationwide Internet Radio Rally for Sp-Ed Parent Rights
9pm EST, Sat. May 20
Parents’ Rally @ Statehouse in Trenton Thursday, June 8, 2006
Piscataway Parents Mtg, June 19, 2006