Parental Rights & Responsibilities
“POSITIVE” involvement! Great choice of words. It shouldn’t matter what political party a person belongs to – when they are right, they are right.
To Parents from a Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983, p.35)
“You have the right to demand for your children the best our schools and colleges can provide. Your vigilance and your refusal to be satisfied with less than the best are the imperative first step. But your right to a proper education for your children carries a double responsibility. As surely as you are your child’s first and most influential teacher, your child’s ideas about education and its significance begin with you. You must be a living example of what you expect your children to honor and to emulate. Moreover, you bear a responsibility to participate actively in your child’s education.”
This presidential commission on education was charged with studying secondary schools (middle, junior, and high schools) and making recommendations for this often overlooked and misunderstood age group. They had much more to say to secondary school parents:
“You should encourage more diligent study:
► monitor your child’s study;
► encourage good study habits;
► encourage your child to take more demanding rather than less demanding courses;
► nurture your child’s curiosity, creativity, and confidence;
► be an active participant in the work of the schools;
► exhibit a commitment to continued learning in your own life;
► help your children understand that excellence in education cannot be achieved without intellectual and moral integrity coupled with hard work and commitment.”
Exercise your rights; fulfill your responsibilities.
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And…one impactful way in which parents can participate is approving measures at the ballot box that move us closer to full funding.
I was surprised by the statistics on the percentage of people who have kids of school age when I first heard it. With only about 23% of the population having kids in school, parents need all of us to help them out at the ballot box choosing politicians that actually know or are willing to listen and learn about education policy.
I agree with you, Todd, but it has taken me a lot of years to realize that you can’t change education for the better strictly by working within the education system. The system (because of its politics) currently remains unresponsive, too slow to respond, irresponsible, or responsive ….depending on where you live. That’s been the problem.
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…My daughter has an IEP I set up in 2nd grade due to issues associated with ADHD I THOUGHT I was doing the right thing… Now I am excluded from participating in her IEP, regardless of the U.S. Department if Education and DESE… It is run like a circus Believe it as it is quoted in all advocacy books They are teachers Teachers who need their income and will lie to keep their jobs… TAPE RECORD EVERYTHING Recently in a legal Medical Record an M.D. Wrote
“She has an IEP. She rides the ‘little’ bus to the ‘little’ school”
Amazingly no one in the State of Missouri has a problem with this but ME
I can guarantee you that you are not the only one. It sounds like you ran into the same thing that many parents do; you are treated like you are the only one with the problem and there is no “evidence” to prove otherwise.
There is no parental feedback mechanism at the federal level. Where do we go to see how many parental complaints were lodged on the same issue in the same state?………….But THE overriding federal role in education is to “ensure equal opportunity.”
How do they do that when there is no transparency or accounting for how well THEY do their jobs….That needs to come first and we can get it into law if we band together.
You need to contact the U.S. Department of Education first by phone 1-800-872-5327. Explain your situation to the person answering the phone AND take notes as you talk. Write up your conversation and submit it to them through your website.
It helps to have a specific question ready.
They should be able to tell you who in your state is responsible for handling your problem. PARENTS are part of the solution! Don’t let them shut you out.
I just got off the phone w the U.S. Department of ED/ OCR They informed me as you predicted ” the state mandates that” When I asked ” what are the policies and procedures for emergency medical care vs urgent medical care” They responded “I don’t know” I asked “wouldn’t they have to comply w AMA standards of care” And they responded ” No, they are a school, they can determine medical standards themselves” ??????
When we discussed ” who has the authority to change or alter my daughters attendance at school via her IEP” They responded “34CFR 104.35(c) stating ” any group of people w knowledge about the child can…”
How ridiculous!!! So a group of Kindergarteners whom have known my child since age two can alter and change her IEP????
I am appalled at the complete and total lose of focus by the schools just to obtain Federal Funding I am on appeal w the U.S. Department of Ed and DESE just informed me anyone regardless of education can alter an IEP The child’s Doctors and licensed Medical Professionals DO NOT override a Social Workers “opinion” in the State of Missouri A child may be actively suicidal and actively self harming to a potentially lethal level and in the State of Missouri can be ” safely” managed by school personnel w/o requesting Emergency Medical Care regardless of a licensed physicians ORDER to do so!!
And it is elective on their part to report this to DFS and/or the other parent Even if the child has done this repetitively for 2 years It is their option to just continue to call the abusive parent “to come pick up the child” and for 2 years not seek medical care THIS IS WHO IS CARING FOR YOUR CHILD!!!
Welcome to my world
You need to find an advocate within the system to help you and your child. Ask your school counselor and at your state department.
I couldn’t agree more strongly I am working with Missouri Protection and Advocacy and my prior Attorney Susan Mello Both have been working very diligently and are GREAT!! But it is difficult to fight a corrupt system without unlimited funds
I am trying to obtain a Government grant or private non profit fund to assist me. The State of Missouri is the only State I am aware of whom a Domestic Relations Worker for the 21st Circuit Family Court St Louis County ” forgot” to mention to the Judge a DFS report and request for criminal charges against an abusive parent from the State of Texas and Baylor University Behavioral Health Professors ” It’s said ‘don’t mess with Texas’ for a reason”
I have repeatedly written to Governor Nixon to address the actions ( or lack thereof) of DFS and Child Advocacy w/o response The new Chief Justice, Honorable Mary Russell, in her acceptance address to Missouri Supreme Court stated ‘ congratulations to the Children’s Services in the State of Missouri on what an outstanding job they are doing in our state for abused and neglected children…”
The 21st Circuit Family Court is the most overturned family court in the U.S. , yet Missouri fails to recognize or investigate this statistic
Thus the school districts, hospitals, medical providers are NOT held accountable for their failure to advocate or report blatant child neglect and abuse ( and it lends itself to GREAT statistics) Everyone’s happy right?
A citizen in the State of Missouri cannot speak or contact a politician, you talk to a ” constituent” whom decides whether or not the elected official is interested in your issue. I do not recall electing a ” constituent” in the polls
I took my 84 y/o mother to court on one occasion and when we left the Courthouse she turned to me with tears in her eyes (I’ve never seen my mother cry) and said ” Honey I want to support you with this situation w my granddaughter, but I have no idea where they get the things they say in there! I can’t believe what that woman said to me. (Same DRS worker) Please sweetheart I want to die believing in our Justice System Don’t bring me here again”
I didn’t
She did
Missouri Protection and Advocacy has finally gotten a portion of my daughters hospital and school records after 3 years One institution issued records which the physician of record did state “are entirely fraudulent, he never saw or treated my daughter” This same non-medical non-behavioral health agency whom “treated” my daughter w/o medical personnel on staff was the same institution who “her IEP team determined competent to change her placement in/via SSD”
I am committed to LETTING THIS STORY BE TOLD, so it never be repeated
I have not begun to describe the horrors and indignities my daughter and I have been subjected to…
It sounds like you are doing everything you are supposed to do. Makes me feel helpless as I’m sure it has you too.
My hope has always been that communities will wake up and support all children…don’t want to wake up from that dream myself just yet……Take care and you will be in my thoughts. Wishing for the best.
Thank You!!! I agree about waking up…. It is easier and healthier to know the wolf is out there and stay comfy on the couch…. I don’t mean that sarcastically IM SERIOUS!!