My thoughts and prayers go out to all of , those whose lives were lost 39 years ago and their families who still are grieving the loss of their loved ones.
In 1979, May 25th, was also a Friday, and the beginning of a Memorial Day weekend.
Transgender student Charlie Zielinski https://www-dailyherald-com.cdn.ampproject.org/
An interesting Schiller Park School District 81 and East Leyden High School Story
Transgender student: I am mad, I am upset, and I am invalidated
So Norridge SD81 Administration has worked diligently with the Illinois legislature to ensure the continued enrollment at Enger only to encounter Amendment 2 To SB 2344 introduced at the request of Leyden and Norwood Park area Superintendents to frustrate the efforts of this continued enrollment at Enger
At the same time the Norridge SD 80 Administration has pursued an earnest negotiation to attempt to secure that their seven students would have the opportunity to complete Enger School, only to be recently told LASEC’s lawyer quit and LASEC is suspending negotiations, for an indeterminate time.
This latest quirk makes absolutely no sense because LASEC has a major Chicago area law firm retained with whom they spend ten’s of thousands of dollars.
So why this latest move to frustrate Norridge SD 80 Administration and parents and deny special education children access to Enger ?
Is it possible that the partner representing LASEC at the major school law firm quit to start their own firm and now LASEC is delaying any further negotiations until this attorney is able to maneuver their law firm into position to secure this lucrative representation ?
Or has LASEC seen this as an opportunity to further frustrate the special education students’ families and the Norridge SD 80 Administration and Board of Education?
Since, this partner is also doing work for Mannheim SD 84 and Pennoyer SD79, are they also without representation as they scramble to hire the partner’s new law firm.
“Oh what webs these people in special education weave”!!!
The games, people play with our children’s education
It truly is all about the money !!!
But these challenges will be overcome by the Norridge SD 80 Board Of Education and Administration with the support of the parents, because they are pursuing a sound education decision.
My fellow Americans and friends around the world: We do not fully understand how or why the ancient civilizations destroyed each other.
Upon the testimony of the ancients, corroborated by history and modern discoveries we know that there was only the yawing for power and wealth. This aspect is a very important point to learn from the old civilizations.
We should learn how we can avoid disasters and ruins.
I note more and more: Now is a fabulous time during which the human mind developing itself in every direction and triumphs in all directions. All of us can create masterpieces, which spring from the same magic of the universe…. Let us walk together, hand in hand in Peace and Freedom around the World – Have a Happy Week :*
My thoughts will be with everyone who lost a loved one this week…39 years ago, especially this week. I will visit the Memorial in Lake Park this week to honor those lost and the first responders who served.
God Bless the Flight Crew and Passengers of Flight 191 and the two people on the ground.
God Bless all the emergency personnel who were there to help on that day and the weeks that followed.
Hard to believe 39 years ago I and many of my Fire Department Brothers were walking the crash site picking up remains and bringing them to the American Airlines hanger set up as a temporary morgue.
The years may pass, but the memories are locked in our brains and our hearts.
The popularity of e-cigarettes among younger Americans should pose a great concern to parents and is drawing mounting scrutiny from federal regulators.
Citing a wish “to better understand the youth appeal of these products,” the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that four manufacturers of e-cigarettes have until July 12 to hand over documents related to their marketing strategies and product designs.
“Too many kids continue to experiment with e-cigarette and vaping products, putting them at risk for developing a lifelong nicotine addiction,” Scott Gottlieb, a physician and FDA commissioner, said in a statement. “We’ll explore all of our regulatory options, including enforcement actions, based on what we learn from the information these manufacturers are required to provide.”
Introduced as a means of helping smokers kick the habit, or at least switch to a nicotine-delivery vehicle containing less deadly tar and chemicals, e-cigarettes have instead become the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth, who are more likely than adults to use e-cigarettes.
Made to look like regular cigarettes, pens or USB sticks, most e-cigarettes have a battery that heats a liquid usually containing nicotine. Using them is referred to as “vaping.”
A 2017 study found about 50 percent more high schoolers and middle schoolers vape than smoke cigarettes. Earlier research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in 2016 that more than 2 million middle and high school students had used e-cigarettes, including 4.3 percent of middle school students and 11.3 percent of high school students.
The FDA’s action follows a warning sent by the agency in May to 13 companies selling e-cigarette liquid in child-appealing packaging resembling juice boxes or candy.
The FDA, which did not regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products until 2016, earlier this year also requested internal documents from Juul, the biggest player in the American vaporizer market, as part of a government crackdown on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
The agency in April sent warning letters to 40 retailers that sell e-cigarettes, including 7-Elevens, Circle Ks and vape shops.
The companies contacted by the FDA in its latest action include: J Well, of Paris, France; YGT Investment and 7 Daze of Baldwin Park, California; Liquid Filling Solutions of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; and SVR of Las Vegas.
To grasp an understanding of where the District is with LASEC today, one must go back to the origin of the issues.
The matter started with the issuance of a report during the 2016-2017 School Year as to the status of Enger School as an educational institution which is run by Leyden Area Special CoOp (LASEC). That report was shocking as to the status of the educational and special education programing at Enger School; and the lack of quality special education services and programing. See this link to review the report : Enger School Review Executive Summary Mannheim School District 83 2017 .
I wrote about this in December, 2017, see the link :
What raises a grave concern is that this review was actually written by “friends” of the Superintendents of the CoOp and the administrative leadership of LASEC. The lead reviewer, was Dr. Judy Hackett, who is also the current superintendent of Northwest Suburban Special Education CoOp (NSSEO) and who is operating under the company name of TJ Consultants , clearly to mask her identity . The review was conducted by a member of the “Club” and revealed a poorly focused and managed educational environment. What the review failed to disclose was that Enger has been a “revolving door” in reference to principals, teachers and staff.
Clearly, a truly independent review would have revealed much more serious deficiencies at Enger. But considering that this review was conducted by a “buddy” and reveals critical deficiencies, everyone should be quite concerned.
A number of governmental research groups have noted that Dr. Judy Hackett is one of the top ten highest paid superintendents in Illinois, earning in excess of $300,000 per year ; yet at the same time running several private consulting groups and companies where she has billed other Districts for program reviews, such as LASEC and Glen Ellyn SD 89 (where she billed $20,000 for the program review).
What is more astounding is that Dr. Judy Hackett has been operating her consulting practice using her email address at NSSEO as well as conducting her private practice on NSSEO time. This has been substantiated by Freedom of Information Requests (FOIA) to both NSSEO as well as LASEC.
Issues related to Dr. Judy Hackett and TJ Consultants I will explore in future blog postings. These issues depict the heart of the problems that are growing in Special Education. The “so called” special education experts are all about the money and not about the needs of the special education children which are a population at risk.
The real heroes in all of this are the leaders of Norridge SD 80, Dr. O’Malley, Srbo Radisavljevic, Board President and the School Board members of Norridge SD 80. They have struck a chord to improve special education services not only at SD 80 but also for the entire region, at the same time of pursuing the best use of taxpayer funds.
Once they became aware of the deficiencies they first tried to work within the system to rectify the matter, upon finding that the LASEC apparatus was resistant to improvement they elected to should the responsibility of establishing their own credible special education program. This required a withdrawl from LASEC, for which the establishment has attempted to obstruct at every step of the way.
Time and time again it is clear this is about the “money”, maintaining status quo as a comfort zone for the Leyden and Norwood Park Superintendents , and jobs; all at the taxpayers’ expense and not for the good of the special education students.
Sadly some parents have not understood the enormity of the issues and want their children to remain at Enger until they complete grammar school. In many instances they have not separated the school “is being nice to the student” from whether they are receiving the services and education that they deserve. Norridge SD 80 has to consider the long range needs of their students, not just 7 current students; but recognizing that these concerns of the parents need to be addressed, Norridge SD 80 leadership have diligently pursued the “grandfathering” of these students at Enger School as an alternative.
The NSD 80 leadership team has pursued direct negotiations with LASEC to no avail; and has now pursued a legislative solution which the Superintendents have opposed and obstructed. Senator Mulroe has worked diligently in the best interests of the NSD 80 special education students, but now the State Representatives of the area seem to be putting campaign donations above the interests of special education students. REMEMBER IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!
State Representative Robert Martwick needs to stop being a politician in this matter and provide the leadership in achieving a just solution for the special education students and taxpayers of NSD 80.
Representative Martwick’s failure to provide leadership has resulted in an injurious stalemate.
The current status of the matter is that they have a stalemate regarding a legislative solution and NSD 80 appears to be continuing a sincere effort to reach a negotiated solution; which continues to be frustrated by unreasonable responses angered that NSD 80 has attempted to reform the system.
Current tuition at LASEC’s Enger School is $46,000 a student. NSD 80 has offered to continue to pay the tuition with a 10% administrative fee since they are withdrawing. LASEC has rejected such a reasonable position in favor of a complex algorithm is illicit large sums of money from the taxpayer’s of NSD 80, clearly to punish them for their withdrawl and support their extravagant expenditures on administration and bureaucracy. The algorithm establishing the billing position of LASEC is that if one student were to attend Enger it would cost NSD 80 the “princely sum” of $300,000.00.
LASEC wants to keep getting the administrative sum of $250,000 from NSD 80 for their bloated administrative operations to maintain their bureaucracy rather than as NSD 80 leadership wants to invest this money in the education of Special Education services and education for the most needy population of the District.
This argument has devolved to an attempt by the Leyden and Norwood Park Superintendent’s establishment to maintain “status quo”, which is to continue to support a bloated bureaucracy, politicians continuing to collect campaign contributions, local government officials refusing to stand up for the special needs population and parents becoming used by the “establishment” to protect their fiefdoms.
What is happening in LASEC is a microcosm of what the Illinois State Board of Education has recently cited the Chicago Public Schools regarding their special education programs.
It is all about the MONEY !!!! Let’s make it truly all about the children and demand the accountability of the politicians and the entrenched educational establishment that is opposing a retooling of our local special education system; they are trying to preserve a bloated bureaucracy, jobs, political donations and a deficient special education program without clear goals.
The community needs to continue to support Dr. O’Malley and the NSD 80 Board of Education as they pursue a just solution for the special education population of Norridge School District 80. Their leadership will set the tone for a visionary program that will serve the area for decades to come.
Please follow these links too support SB 2344 and House Amendment 1 To SB 2344:
File as a proponent to SB 2344:
File as a proponent to House Amendment 1 To SB 2344
UPDATE as of May 9, 2018 at 5:30 PM: Please show your support of SB 2344 in the Illinois House committee by going to this link and filing as a proponent:
When the House Amendment 1 is discharged to this committee from the Illinois House Rules Committee we will ask you to file as a proponent for that Amendment-as well
UPDATE: The committee meeting for May 9 has been canceled and the next meeting is May 16th. SB 2344 has been put on that agenda.
SB 2344 has yet to be assigned a hearing date and time in the Illinois House even though the committee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, May 9, 2018, SB 2344 has not been included on the agenda for hearing.
The SD 80 parents and proponents need to contact Representative Martwick as well as the committee members to include SB 2344 on the committee hearing agenda. Phone calls and emails can emphasize the importance of moving this bill forward to the House floor in the Illinois General Assembly .
As a special education attorney, I frequently receive calls from parents who want to know whether their children with special needs are entitled to any services or accommodations at private schools. Unlike students in public schools, students with disabilities in private schools are generally not entitled to an IEP under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), however, there are a few options available that parents may want to explore.
Individual Service Plans: The IDEA does establish a “proportionate share” arrangement between school districts and private schools. This means that public school districts must utilize a certain share of their funding for children attending private schools within the district’s boundaries. Through the proportionate share arrangement, private schools and the local districts conduct annual meetings and discussions regarding what types of special education and/or related services they will provide. The local school district will then draft an “individual service plan” or “ISP” for the child. An ISP is less detailed than an IEP, but will document the types of service provided, as well as the location and frequency of the service.
To find out what type of service a school district will be providing to a private school student, a parent should contact the district administrative office of the school district in which the private school is located. If your child is not yet eligible for special education, the district in which the private school is located is also responsible for conducting the initial case study evaluation for potential eligibility.
Part-Time Attendance: In Illinois, we have a unique section of our School Code, 105 ILCS 5/14-6.01, which allows students with disabilities in private schools to also enroll part-time in their local school district of residence to receive special education services. A request for part-time attendance must be submitted by a parent to the school district where the child resides.
If a parent chooses part-time attendance, the resident district of the student is responsible for all evaluations and IEP services. However, the actual IEP services depend on the amount of time the student attends the public school and is generally determined by the public school, in conjunction with the IEP team. For example, if the child needs a specialized reading class for a learning disability, the public school has the discretion to determine what class the child will attend. The public school is not required to create special classes or services to accommodate the part-time attendance schedule.
Section 504/ADA Accommodations/Services: Children with disabilities in private schools are entitled to receive reasonable accommodations/ modifications through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, if the school receives federal funding, and under the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADA) even if the school receives no federal funding. While many private schools may also offer special services for children with disabilities, to attract new families and keep families together, they are not required to provide actual services under Section 504 or the ADA, just accommodations/modifications. Some private schools will create an “accommodations plan” for the child to document the accommodations, however they are not required to do so.
Roy F McCampbell as a boutique law practice focuses on the representation of children and families, individuals with disabilities, medical and mental health practitioners, private schools, and other non-profit agencies in the greater Chicagoland area and throughout the state of Illinois. If you are interested in learning more about services at private schools for children with special needs please contact me at 708/878-7957
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