JANUARY 29, 2004
THE "WRITE" THING
Friends,
Many of our visitors have been asking for an updated template letter to use when contacting their Senators. Well, ask and you shall receive!
Feel free to cut and paste the text below into your own letterhead, fill in the blanks with your Senators name, and add your contact information (i.e. phone number, email address, or whatever you want). Customize the letter with some of your family background, add photos, and do anything that you choose with it.
Since we have currently received requests for this, we thought that there may be a real need out there and that this would help give you a jumpstart.
Our kids futures are at risk, and the Senates clock is ticking. Technically, even though we have heard through several sources that the week of March 22 will be IDEAs time on the Senate floor, they could actually pull it out at any time, sooner or later. We already experienced the date shuffling and Hide N Seek games last year. Our input cannot come soon enough.
Please keep in contact with your Senators and let them know that the Senate bill, S.1248, is a BAD IDEA! Send your letters today.
As always, keep in touch and let us know what you are hearing. It helps us all!
Shari Krishnan, today's parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com
Dear Senator _______________________________,
My family desperately needs help that only you and the other Senators on Capitol Hill can provide. We need you to stop this extremely dangerous and reckless IDEA reauthorization train from derailing and potentially harming 6.5 million students who receive special education services in America. If families like mine do not get the help that we need, we will suffer physically, emotionally, and financially.
There are no valid reasons for having to bring Part B of S.1248 to the Senate floor this year. Part B of the IDEA is permanently authorized, and the present IDEA legislation (IDEA 97) is actually much more aligned with No Child Left Behind than either H.R.1350 or S.1248. This is especially true now that the No Child Left Behind rulemaking process for individuals with disabilities has begun taking form.
The proposed House and Senate bills (H.R.1350 and S.1248) are neither grounded in present No Child Left Behind realities, nor are they based on reliable data to validate any of the major changes proposed therein, changes which will only serve to hurt children and the people who love and care for them. Both bills are already obsolete, given that they were first drafted prior to many of the No Child Left Behind rules being released and prior to states and local districts having an opportunity to figure out what they would eventually look like.
Families across this country now understand what No Child Left Behind looks like for students with disabilities. We are terrified, and these bills will do absolutely nothing to help our kids escape the numerous unintended consequences that will compromise their access to learning and productive futures.
H.R.1350 and S.1248 are certain to push students backwards rather than forwards. Both bills will compromise access to the general curriculum and banish any hope of having many of our students with disabilities make AYP and become proficient by 2014. It is not the fault of our children and families that No Child Left Behind did not carefully consider them in the first place. Now the same people who brought us this controversial legislation are looking at dismantling our only safety net.
Until No Child Left Behind has been completely rolled out, is understood by all the relevant stakeholders, and has thoroughly addressed the unintended consequences that our students face as a result of its enactment, I am begging you to ask Senator Frist to please remove S.1248 from this years calendar and allow our families to reclaim time with our students so that we can work with them to assure that they truly are not left behind.
Please feel free to contact me at any time should you want to discuss this further. I may be reached at: Phone _______________________ Email ____________________. Let me know how I can best help you with your consideration of this life-altering legislation.
Thank you for your serious consideration of this most important matter. The lives of members of my household depend on it.
Sincerely,
©2004 Our Children Left Behind.
Our Children Left Behind [OCLB] was created and is owned/operated by parent volunteers (Sandy Alperstein, Tricia & Calvin Luker, Shari Krishnan, and Debi Lewis). Permission to forward, copy, and/or post this article is granted provided that it is unedited and attributed to the author(s) and www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com. For more about OCLB or to share information, please contact parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com.
