Parent Victory –
Board Hearing Rooms Maxed Out
By Bob Witanek
advocate@studentadvocate-nj.org
http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org 908-881-5275
Before I explain
about this important victory, I will remind all:
January 18, 2006: Hold a Candle Light for Our Children's Rights
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
5:30 PM - Press Conference / Hold a Candle Light for Our Children's Rights
6:30 PM - Testify and / or attend the hearings inside
100 Riverview Plaza, Trenton New Jersey
Momentum is building – be part of this historic event!
for info:
advocate@studentadvocate-nj.org
http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org 908-881-5275
Please spread the word about this important event. If you want to help make some telephone calls – contact advocate@studentadvocate-nj.org / 908-881-5275
The NJ Student Advocate in its newspaper, at its website and in internet messages along with SPAN in its communications, workshops, at its site, and other groups and individuals had called upon the NJ Board of Education to make hearings regarding changes to special education code more accessible to the public. We called for evening hearings, weekend hearings and regional hearings. The board threw us a bone by scheduling one evening hearing – the one that is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18 at 6:30 pm at 100 Riverview Plaza, Trenton.
There was a risk on our part in calling for a change in the regular meeting schedule – what if we were unsuccessful in registering a significant number of parents for such an evening meeting? Then the board would try to say – “look, we tried to accommodate them and they didn’t show – obviously it’s just a few loudmouths making all the noise about these issues. Most parents could not care one way or the other,” or something to that effect.
Well guess what! The board will not be able to say that. Why not? Because we have maxed out the capacity of the rooms for the January 18 meetings! No less than seventy-one are scheduled to present! Bravo to all those who put the word out and all those who signed up as well as to the several dozen who tried to sign up and probably were prevented from doing so. ‘What’s that about?’ you probably say.
One parent called me this morning to state that she had been trying to register since Wednesday afternoon and that every time she called she got a filled up answering machine. A grandparent called me this morning substantially after 9am, and related that he was getting a similar situation. Why would the message line be full after 9 am when the board office hours start at 8:15 am? Why would it be full on a Wednesday afternoon? How many parents were unable to get through because of such problems? This is one of those ways that a broken down bureaucracy can befuddle democratic participation and then shrug its shoulders and claim that it is unable to do anything about it. What other ways is the state shutting us down?
One big problem in the board registration process shut downs 5 ¼ days in advance of the hearing! How is that conducive to public participation, especially given that many special education parents need to arrange care for their children – a special consideration when a specialized sitter is needed? It obviously is not and is not intended to be. In a 25 minute conversation I had with the person taking testimony registrations today, she explained the need for such lead time because the board members need “information” in advance. This excuse is dismal as there is no preparation at all needed by board members – aside from showing up (some sometimes do not bother to do even that) – and a list of names and topics to be addressed is not at all needed for board members to sit there and listen to testimony. Other public hearings often allow presenters to sign up on the day of and during the hearing – in those cases they queue up behind the list of pre-registered presenters. There is no good reason to bar later enrollment – the obvious reason is to befuddle inclusive participation.
The other outrage is leaving the phone message queue full. It can not be said that it was an issue with the tape getting full over night because it was discovered after 9am that the tape was full. The State Board message states that the office opens at 8:15 am. How many people called between 8:15 and around 9:30 am and did not get spots reserved? How many people called when the parent who called on Wednesday afternoon and again on Thursday – when she could not register?
When I was contacted by the grandparent who tried to register, I confirmed the situation. Then I pressed buttons until I got the public information office. I voiced my complaint of the registration process being shut down and the person told me she would take it down the hall. Fortunately the line was cleared up shortly after that. Was the shutting down of the queue during office hours intentional? If not – it had the same effect as if it was. And how long would that situation had persisted had I not taken the step of talking to someone in Public Information? Unintentional or not – parent input to the process was being shut down until we intervened.
The situation got even more interesting later. Even before noon, the state stopped registering people. This time it was because they claimed their limit was 60 people given the size of the tiny rooms they use for these hearings. SPAN staffer Martha Brecher had to cajole them to keep the registration open until noon.
I had left a message complaining about the process and was called back around noon. I had a 25 minute conversation with the person about how the broad process befuddles meetings. I was told that the phone was ringing off the hook all this morning. (I had letters in 2 papers with the registration number and in a third paper urging people to participate and I and several others had publicized the deadline widely in recent days.) Here are some points I made on how the Board is denying our right to input.
1. By cutting registration 5 days before the meeting – the registration should go on until the actual event.
2. By cutting the registration off because of the tiny rooms – I told her that they need to reserve rooms at a local campus – Mercer County or Trenton State for example.
3. By not holding regional meetings – they need to hold them in South Jersey, North Jersey as well as in Trenton. The Board website states “there are no regional meetings at this time,” showing that there has been precedent for regional meetings in the past.
The person was telling me how difficult it is for the board members since they have fulltime jobs and often can not make meetings. My response was that if they do not have the time to do the job right – they should not accept the appointments. We should communicate that message to Governor Corzine!
In spite of the obstacles – we mobilized the registrations and maxed out the rooms. We overcame the obstacles of shutting the registration line down and of trying to cut registration off before noon. We have many more walls before us – be they brick or weaker matter – we have the wherewithal to see our way through. Now the task remains to mobilize as many folks as possible for the candle light vigil and press conference. If you are going to testify anyway – come early to stand with us. If you are not testifying, come to stand with us. If you can’t stick around for the board sessions, come for the conference and vigil. We are stepping forward – setting side our differences and uniting around our commonalities.
We will have challenges and we will have successes as we continue. Today was a good day for the struggle for our children and ours as their top advocates.
For all of our Children,
Bob Witanek advocate@studentadvocate-nj.org http://StudentAdvocate-NJ.org 908-881-5275
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