FW: ESY - Miami Herald Article 4/7

[Guest guest]

-----Original Message-----

From: Hawk

S

----- Original Message -----

> FYI. The article fails to say that if indeed " 44 of the 67 counties do

> not pay for extended school years for students with disabilities " , they

> are violating federal statue (IDEA), since Extended School Year (ESY) is

> a federal mandate. ESY is not a " gift " or a privilege. ESY is not summer

> school. ESY is an entitlement under the law for those students that call

> for it in their IEPs. ESY doesn't constitute the offer of " more services

> than might be required " , it's offering what the IEP committee recommends

> to be necessary to prevent the student regression and recoupment time.

>

> Berthy

> ===============

>

> Published Saturday, April 7, 2001

>

> Cut in school program prompts suit threat

> BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

> cmarbin@...

>

> Aubrey met for three hours last month with special education

> officials to agree on a curriculum for her 17-year-old daughter, Ashlie,

> who is learning disabled. Now, Aubrey believes that school officials made

> promises they did not intend to keep.

>

> When Aubrey left her daughter's Individual Education Plan meeting March

> 30, she believed Ashlie was entitled to six weeks of special education

> during the summer, part of an ``extended school year'' program offered by

> the Broward school district.

>

> Later, she discovered the plan called for only a three-week extended

> program when the School Board approved a six-week session for disabled

> students -- but only those in special centers. But the majority of

> disabled students, who like Ashlie attend mainstream schools, are

> eligible only for three-week summer school.

>

> Some advocates insist Ashlie and other disabled students in mainstream

> schools must be included in the extended summer program. In a letter to

> Superintendent Till on Friday, the director of Florida's Advocacy

> Center for Persons with Disabilities claimed that the board's decision to

> cut the extended school year for some disabled children violates federal

> law -- and could result in a lawsuit.

>

> ``We are obliged to demand a prompt (and equally public) retraction of

> these recently and publicly threatened abridgements'' of disabled

> children's rights, wrote Blumenthal, the advocacy center's executive

> director.

>

> ``We prefer that no one be forced to litigation, but (as you may know or

> can readily confirm) the center is no stranger to the federal courts

> within Florida,'' Blumenthal wrote. ``If we have not reached a mutual

> understanding by April 13, we will be forced to infer that litigation is

> required.''

>

> The School Board last month voted to shorten the regular summer session

> from six weeks to three weeks -- a move that will save the district $6

> million. School Board member Judie Budnick voted against the changes, but

> chafes at the suggestion that Broward school officials are shortchanging

> students with disabilities, who make up about 10 percent of the

> district's population, or about 26,000 children.

>

> Statewide, 44 of the 67 counties do not pay for extended school years for

> children with disabilities, Budnick said. Because Broward has

> traditionally offered an extended school year to disabled students,

> parents have come to view the service as an ``entitlement,'' Budnick

> said. ``In fact, they've been given a gift of a lot of money -- which I

> certainly believe they deserve. But they have been given it.''

>

> ``In some respects, through this proposal, Broward is offering more

> services than might be required,'' said Fay , executive director of

> student support services and exceptional student education.

>

> In 1998, however, federal education officials faulted the state for

> failing to offer extended school year programs for disabled children.

> Children should be offered the service, according to federal law, if they

> will be unable to retain important skills while away from school.

>

> Florida school officials ``must ensure that students with disabilities

> receive extended school year services, if necessary, to ensure that the

> student receives a free appropriate public education,'' the U.S.

> Department of Education's Office of Special Education Services wrote in

> the 1998 report.

>

> Goldstein, whose 9-year-old daughter, , attends a Broward

> special education program, is most critical of the timing of the School

> Board's action. Board members, she said, did not give parents enough time

> to make arrangements for their children, some of whom simply will not fit

> into most summer programs.

>

> ``Parents are just beside themselves over this,'' said Goldstein, who is

> the vice president of the state Autism Society. ``When you see the look

> in some parents' eyes, you see the tears coming. They have nowhere to

> turn, no help from anywhere. I don't know what they expect parents to

> do.''