JANUARY 20, 2004
PARENT TRUST BETRAYED: THE CHALLENGE TO WIN IT BACK
If this IDEA reauthorization has taught us anything, it has taught us whom we can and cannot trust to look out for our children.
We were beginning to lose faith in the education establishments ability to truly look out for our kids on Capitol Hill with respect to this IDEA reauthorization until Michigans State Board of Education (MSBoE) demonstrated their compassion through deed last week.* Since the MSBoEs well-researched preliminary work was made public, we have heard that parents in other states have been asking their own State Boards of Education and legislators to follow suit.
Parents need to locate some heroes. We have been feeling really betrayed by school professionals organizations. And we have been feeling overwhelmingly betrayed by the fact that our own lawmakers have been preferentially playing along with these organizations, while at the same time quite literally putting our childrens lives and futures seriously at risk, a risk unlike anything we have experienced in over 30 years.
We know that this pass at reauthorizing IDEA will do little to bridge the huge gaps between the needs of students with disabilities to access learning and the marketed vision of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Many claim that this IDEA reauthorization should have actually been called, The Congress Making Nice with School Administrators Act, as Congress response to the negative backlash directed at them by the school administrators in the wake of NCLBs rollout. Parents are beginning to realize that the draconian gutting of present law is merely a means of making school administrators lives easier, not a way to level the education playing field for students to learn. Future home-school partnerships are at risk because of a pervasive feeling of betrayal.
And whom does this Congress think they are fooling? They have introduced life-altering legislation for kids behind the smokescreens of the Iraq War and Medicare Prescription Coverage; moved it forward based on anecdotal claims versus data, evidence and fact; and said things to the press and public, knowing full well that they actually meant something totally different. The point of this reauthorization for them has been to advance long-standing political agendas. We know all of this and are becoming increasingly angry about it.
The only deliberate input that parents were allowed to provide during this reauthorization process came after the fact: we were given an opportunity to respond to something that had already been drafted, something based on absurd claims by school lobbies and drafted well before the No Child Left Behind rulemaking process was ever completed. The Congress chose to embrace the school lobbyists words as truth, thus believing that parents should be granted less power to advocate for their children and that somehow this was going to lead to better outcomes for our students, children who cannot advocate for themselves. How can we expect healthy home-school partnerships at the local levels to thrive when the very spirit of the proposed legislation, directed at kids who need the help of their educators the most of all, is not rooted in that very good intent?
This IDEA reauthorization is so loaded with deception that it is going to be difficult for parents of 6.5 million kids to ever again trust that school lobbies are actually looking out for our children. The words trust us will be meaningless, if not antagonistic. As a result, this Congress will forever be remembered for their dangerous and reckless deeds toward people with disabilities and those who love and care for them.
We applaud Michigans State Board of Education for reaching their hands out to parents, for doing their best to understand and ask questions, and for setting an example of what should have been done at the national level all along with this IDEA reauthorization. They have elevated feelings of trust between families, their State Board of Education, and the Department of Education they represent. They have articulated concerns that could have an impact on students and on Congress itself.
We also applaud you, our Web site visitors, for helping us find more heroes. There are lots of good people out there. It is our job to ask and to help them find the credible resources they need to confidently take a stand on behalf of students. The positive impacts of heroes who are looking out for Americas children in their words and deeds cross state lines and touch the hearts of families across this country.
Damage has been done to parent perceptions and their trust of school lobbies. But it is never too late for school personnel to help win back the trust of parents. They just need to believe that it is important to do so, that our intent is truly to help our students, and that healthy home-school partnerships depend upon actively fostering meaningful relationships with parents at all levels, including on Capitol Hill. They too can be heroes!
We are on a quest for hero stories. Please share your favorite IDEA hero stories with us.
Shari Krishnan, today's parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com
* To better appreciate what these heroes did at their January 13, 2004, Board of Education Meeting, please visit: pub60.ezboard.com/fourchi...182.topic.
©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.
