Daily Archive for June 22nd, 2005

Paper covers IDEA hearings

“Local education professionals are giving their input on a reauthorization of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and some of the proposed changes are causing controversy,” according to Courtney Craig of the Bowling Green Daily News (KY, US). The proposed changes for identifying students with Learing Disabilities is one of the issues identified in Mr. Craig’s story.

According to Johnnie Grissom, associate commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Education, a major concern for the state lies in identifying learning disabilities. Districts currently follow a model to identify special-needs students, but the federal draft would take away that model, leaving each district with its own criteria for identification.

“That could be a big problem because kids could be (learning disabled) in one district and not in another,” Grissom said. “We have to come to some agreement in the state. … That’s a huge issue. You can imagine transferring from one district to another, being considered learning disabled in one and not in the other.”

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LD and a racial slur

The Connecticut Board of Mediation and Arbitration reversed a six-month suspension of Carole LaCroix of East Haven, according to a story on Newsday.com. Ms. LaCroix, who is a firefighter, was orginally suspended after she used a racial slur when introducing the United Negro College Fund.

The AP story quotes her attorney as saying, “She has a learning disability and people in the fire department leapt to conclusions and crucified her,” [Norman] Pattis said. “This clears her name and we are very happy.” It also quotes Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Greater New Haven NAACP, as saying, “The NAACP has been fighting prejudice for years. The only way to eradicate it is to fight it thoroughly and decisively and have zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”

What do you think?

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