TO: NDSC Members and Affiliated Parent Groups
FROM: Susan Goodman, Director, Governmental Affairs
DATE: September 20, 2005
As expected, states are beginning to alter their state special education regulations to conform with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act amendments of 2004. Last week, for example, New York 's Commissioner of Education issued amendments via an “emergency action”. Those changes, which affect such important sections as Individual Education Programs (IEP) and due process procedures, will now go through a 30-day comment period. New York parents are urged to review these regulations and comments at http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/idea/amendannounce.htm to ensure that their children's rights are not compromised further.
Parents in other states are urged to contact the office of the Director of Special Education to find out when state regulations are going to be issued. The contact information for your state director may be found at http://www.nasdse.org/directors.cfm. If you would like to review the comments made by the NDSC in response to the proposed IDEA amendments, please contact Susan Goodman at Susang1961@aol.com.
NDSC is a member of a coalition representing more than 55 national organizations, including other organizations and federally funded regional and technical centers. The mission of the partnership is to improve outcomes for students and youth with disabilities by joining state agencies and stakeholders through shared work and learning. The IDEA Partnership is funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and located at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE).
The IDEA partnership has launched a new website which discusses its work. You may visit this website at www.ideapartnership.org
The responsibility of school districts to serve children with disabilities is receiving a great deal of attention because of the relocation of so many Louisiana and Mississippi residents. Below is a memo from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education to school districts regarding information on displaced students with disabilities.
SUBJECT:
IEP information for displaced students from Mississippi and Louisiana
Many of you are dealing with the enrollment of students with disabilities from other states and districts. SEAS (Special Education Automation System), a web based data management system is used in a majority of the Districts that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. Since Computer Automation (the maker of SEAS) currently hosts the data for a large percentage of the displaced students, we would like to inform Local Education Agencies (LEA) around the country that we can transfer the IEP information to the receiving LEA (since in most cases the departing LEA is still not back in school). Computer Automation is currently working with the Departments of Education in MS and LA to allow this information to be available upon request of the receiving LEA.
Emily Sanders
Regional Coordinator
Emily@seasweb.net
877.221.7327
The National Council on Disability has written to Michael Chertoff, the Director of Homeland Security urging him to address the additional hardships faced by people with disabilities. This letter, which is reprinted below, is an excellent summary of the impact of the tragic consequences of the hurricane and flood.
September 19, 2005
The Honorable Michael Chertoff
Secretary of Homeland Security
Naval Security Station
Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues, NW
Washington, DC 20528
Dear Secretary Chertoff:
Just as you are, the National Council on Disability (NCD) is concerned about disaster relief, recovery, and reconstruction efforts in the Gulf Coast areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. A disproportionate number of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees and survivors are people with disabilities whose needs for basic necessities are compounded by chronic health conditions and functional impairments. Katrina has caused tens of thousands of people with disabilities to be evacuated or displaced by Katrina. People with disabilities affected by Katrina may not ever be able to return to their communities-of-origin.
People with disabilities have had to leave behind their homes, circles of support, service networks, durable medical equipment, service animals, and assistive technologies. Many have spent years putting their networks of supports services in place.
Many evacuees and displaced individuals with disabilities will need to relocate several times from region-to-region and state-to-state over the coming months. As a consequence, they will not be able to easily recreate the life-sustaining service/support networks they need to survive each day. For these reasons, NCD believes there is a dire need for urgent action by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assist people with disabilities affected by Hurricane Katrina. NCD offers you and your
agency the following recommendations:
For the next several months:
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Establish a Point Person on Disability who reports directly to the Secretary and who interacts directly with the DHS senior leadership team and vested with the responsibility, authority, and resources for providing overall day-to-day leadership, guidance and coordination for emergency preparedness, disaster relief and recovery operations of the federal government on behalf of Americans with disabilities. |
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The Point Person should be a qualified senior-level person, and should be in regular contact with other members of the DHS senior staff as well as the members of the Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities, state and local authorities, and citizens, as necessary. |
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Develop and then implement a coordinated Federal Disability Recovery Plan for Hurricane Katrina that focuses particularly on people with disabilities. |
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Establish a Hurricane Katrina Disability Access Advisory Group, made up of qualified people with disabilities and others with disability-specific disaster experience, who meet regularly with senior officials to help craft the Katrina-recovery plan, share real time information from the Gulf Coast region, as well as to discuss events and challenges and progress. |
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Use all available on the ground personnel available to provide funds and target resources that specifically meet the identified and critical needs of Katrina survivors with disabilities, including: |
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assisting with the restoration of the organizations that serve them;
identifying accessible temporary and permanent housing and addressing the specific requests being made by leaders in the devastated areas and those in the areas that people with disabilities are being evacuated to; |
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ensuring the effective coordination with social services,
health services, education services, and other human service providers
and agencies throughout the recovery and restoration process; |
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ensuring the use of accessible communications technology for
people with disabilities during the regions recovery from this disaster
to help assess damage, collect information, and deploy supplies; and, ensuring that the response to and the recovery from Hurricane
Katrina complies with Federal law requiring nondiscrimination and
accessibility, including the requirements of the Americans with
Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. |
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Recovery, rebuilding and resettlement operations must have the appropriate resources, medical equipment, supplies, and training to address the needs of people with disabilities. Many individuals with disabilities will require accessible housing, appropriate health services, and assistive technologies. At the very outset and during all its phases, these operations should include in an integral way people with disabilities with experience and expertise on these matters. |
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Recovery, rebuilding, and resettlement personnel must be educated and trained in the field, on how to support the independence and dignity of persons with disabilities in the months and years following Hurricane Katrina. People with disabilities should be included in the development of the response personnel, and should be supported by the appropriate accommodations. |
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A universal design approach should be followed to meet the needs of people with disabilities affected by recovery, rebuilding, and resettlement efforts in the Gulf Coast region affected by Katrina. The Federal Government should mandate universal design and full accessibility for all new construction in the region affected by Hurricane Katrina. |
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Disability organizations must be joined with all Hurricane Katrina recovery, rebuilding, and resettlement government (and non-government) operations and be relied upon for ongoing advice, guidance, and leadership. |
NCD is deeply concerned for all of the citizens who are now homeless as a result of Hurricane Katrina devastation, many of whom have disabilities and who are older Americans who experience a high rate of disabling conditions. NCD continues to offer our support and assistance to all branches of government in their ongoing work to help people rebuild their lives.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We appreciate your personal commitment to insuring the recovery of all those affected by this catastrophic disaster, including those with disabilities.
Sincerely,
Lex Frieden
Chairperson
National Council on Disability
cc: Claude A. Allen
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If you have questions or comments about the Newsline, please contact Susan Goodman at Susang1961@aol.com. |
