It's time for the Monday question. Each state department of education must have state complaint procedures. In your state how effective are state complaint procedures for resolving systemic issues? We are collecting information on this topic; what have you got?
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After a few due process hearings and complaints I have come to realize that Wisconsin does not have an effective procedure to deal with systemic issues. We are lucky if we can get the issue at hand addressed. Example - My district did not create a prior written notice as per IDEA which is the district's normal procedure. ALJ said it wasn't necessary to include all aspects as required by IDEA if they are not pertinent(which was the district's excuse)...like the evaluation procedures that were used to form a conclusion. Here they defer to the school district as the expert and the parents as a pain in the backside(which I have in my complaint record). If you try an appeal the judge defers to the ALJ (who defers to the school district) as the expert as educational law is not a specialty of many judges. We can also try mediation, which I did. The district broke the agreement within 24 hrs - the remedy go back to mediation. So the procedure in Wisconsin is to keep the parents going in circles until they give up or the child graduates, by which time the parents are no longer interested in advocating for systemic change. Also our system takes so long that we are on to other problems by the time anyone is willing to address the first problem. WI DPI also gives the names of parents who call with questions to the appropriate district which immediately causes a combative relationship with the parents and districts so not many of us are willing to call to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteLegislators are no help either as they think everything is fine because the child has their butt in a chair. What is needed is a law that requires and spells out the accountability for education providers and what consequences will be if they do not provide an appropriate education. We also need to stop asking the education system to feed(other than lunch), counsel and placate our children. They need to educate them.