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Vote NO V on S.1248
Click on BLUE Line
MARCH 20 & 21, 2004
www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com
IDEA WEEKLY UPDATE – COUNTDOWN TO IDEA RALLY!!
As you probably know by now, the IDEA rally in D.C. is set for
next week. For those of us who cannot make it to D.C., there’s
still time to get your letters in, and you can still
participate in the national Call-In Day (March 24). Just click
on the big red line at the top of our Home page (“What You Can
Do Right Now”) and you’ll find several quick and easy ways you
can help, even without going to D.C. Please take five minutes
to help save IDEA for our kids!
This week on our
Home page , we have several pieces that compare and
contrast two events that will be forever etched in our
collective memories: the Iraq War and the IDEA War. Started on
the same day, there are striking parallels between the two,
both of which have had their one-year anniversary and both of
which are still ongoing struggles. Read “Consensus
or Concession – The IDEA ‘War’ One Year Later” to see what
we mean. Also, read “IDEA
- Still Under the Radar” and see why we need to break the
silence that has surrounded our battle to save IDEA.
Also on our
Home page , we ask what the advocacy agencies that are
supposed to be representing us and our kids have been saying
and doing on our behalf. In “Reclaiming
Your Voice ,” we urge you to examine what your own
favorite agency has been doing to save IDEA, and ask you to
speak up if it is not what you would have hoped it would be.
In “The
More Things Change ,” we remind ourselves that if we
continue to make the mistakes of the past, nothing will ever
change. Let’s make this time different – let’s make our voices
heard and truly make a difference for IDEA and our kids!
Finally, on our
Home page, we celebrate our newest heroes – the National
Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD).
In “Joining
the Ranks of Heroes: The National Association of Councils on
Developmental Disabilities (NACDD)” and on our
Breaking News page, we feature this courageous group that
has stepped up and declared its opposition to the Senate bill,
S.1248. Please take a moment to thank these heroes for having
the courage of their convictions and standing up for our kids!
On our
Breaking News page this week, we have a couple of
scheduling updates on the Senate bill. We have a brief
scheduling update from the AUCD Legislative News in Brief (<i
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">excerpt), and also a more
detailed update from CEC Policy Update (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">excerpt). We also have posted the national Call-In Day
flyer and an NDSS Action Alert regarding the Call-In Day.
We have updated our
Press Info page to include an Open Letter to Rod Paige
from the Reed Martin site (http://www.reedmartin.com),
and we have added several new links to our
Resources page: (1) a link to a site containing a slew of
IDEA-related data; (2) a link to the report of the President’s
Commission on Excellence in Special Education; and (3) a link
to a group (PADDA – People with Attentional and Developmental
Disabilities Association) that has an excellent IDEA
reauthorization page.
The Grapevine features a detailed IDEA update from the
winter edition of the AccessAbility newsletter (published by
the Southern Tier Independence Center). Finally, our
Message Board includes a post about the use of restraints
with special education students and a visitor’s letter to her
senators.
Only a few more days to go – still plenty of time to
participate and help save IDEA! Please let us know what you’re
doing – we love to hear from you!
Sandy Alperstein, today’s
parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com
©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 done in its entirety and is attributed to the
author(s) and
www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com. For more about OCLB or to
share information, please contact
parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com.
Sandy, Illinois (alpy2@aol.com)
Volunteer Co-Webmaster,
www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com (IDEA reauthorization)
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