Children with disabilities have many struggles to deal with. Public officials should do their best to remove the obstacles these children confront, not add to them.
This is a statement written by Bianca Tanis, a parent of a child with disabilities.
Here is an excerpt:
“As of Tuesday, 2/11, Members of the NYS Assembly completed interviews of both new and incumbent candidates for the 4 positions that are up for re-appointment on the NYS Board of Regents. In light of the failure of the Board of Regents to heed parent concerns, coupled with a Regents Task Force Report that is at best misinformed and at worst duplicitous, the legislature must elect new leadership to the Board. When the legislators vote to decide who will fill these 4 spots on March 11th, parents and educators will be watching.
“Parents of students with disabilities have been vocally opposed to not only the flawed implementation of the CCLS, but also the deep flaws within the standards themselves and the ways in which they promote poor instructional practice for special education students. One of the Regents up for reappointment is Christine Cea, the Regent from Staten Island who calls herself the “voice of disabilities.” You can watch her interview with members of the Assembly Education Committee here.
“There is little doubt that as a parent of a child with a disability and a researcher for the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities , Regent Cea has the best intentions. However, after watching her interview, it is difficult to believe that she is the most qualified person to represent the educational needs of students with disabilities in New York.
“Regent Cea side stepped questions and gave vague, general answers. When asked where in her opinion, special education is going and what direction it should take, Ms. Cea offered the less than insightful response, “We are seeing great strides in getting people independent and doing more and more.” When asked what she hopes to accomplish in her next term if elected, Regent Cea responded, “I moved very comfortably into the spot of being the disability voice and I just hope to do more…I hope to take this transition piece (transition to the CC) and make it into something special.” Special?
“Perhaps most disturbing was Regent Cea’s complete and utter lack of understanding of the ways in which the CCLS are impacting students with disabilities in the classroom.”
Tanis then reprints the interview.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In NYC, I would like to see a spot on every SLT reserved for the parent of a child with disabilities, i.e. IEP/504. I would also like to see IEP and 504 services combined under one umbrella, with a focus on the whole child rather than on the particular form of paperwork that child with disabilities has.
But yes, I think a voice on the regents for students with disabilities is an awfully good idea. And….it should be either a parent or a teacher with special ed certification.
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I agree with you. a student should be viewed as a whole with a focus on his or her strengths rather than weaknesses. Regent Cea has a child with a disability (she has discussed this publicly) but that does not make her the voice of students with disabilities. She is signing off on educational policies without understanding the ramifications or doing the appropriate research and due diligence. Regent Cea’s comments make it clear that she does not understand the effect of the reforms or the construct of an IEP. She has also failed to work to safeguard the privacy of students with disabilities.
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While Regent Cea states she’s looking to “do more” in her role as “…being the disability voice”, I cringe at the thought of her doing more to harm our students. Regent Cea has failed to serve students with disabilities and has instead ignored their needs while forcing through an unfunded reform agenda without so much as a thought to how that agenda is impacting students with special needs. Reformers attempt to distract us by implying that if we do not comply with the one size fits all demands of the reform agenda that we are somehow disadvantaging students with disabilities. In reality, the opposite is quite true. We can hold high expectations for all students, including those with disabilities, but what Regent Cea doesn’t understand is that in order for students to find success, those high expectations must be driven by the student, not the one size fits all corporate reform agenda that relies upon standardized testing. Let us not forget that it was under Regent Cea’s watch that the IEP diploma was eliminated and students with disabilities are now left with the Career Development and Occupational Studies Commencement Credential-a credential, not a diploma.
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Students with disabilities must be represented on appointed and elected State Boards of Education in every State across the United States. Michigan is a prime example of what happens to the educational conditions for students with disabilities when only a non-elected State Superintendent holds dictatorial authority.
Former Governor John Engler stripped the MI State BOE of its elected authority through two executive orders in 1996. Since these orders were signed and executed, children with “Individualized Education Programs (“IEP”) have watched their right to specialized instruction and meaningful education benefit erode, year after year.
In 2002, MI Superintendent Arthur Ellis, created a state-imposed rule that has allowed our 57 Intermediate School Districts to override all of our special education programs, program sizes, teacher caseloads and student age spans. This “rule” has allowed school districts to explode special education programs and teacher caseloads; along with creating “cross-categorical mish-mash warehouses.”
Speed up to February 13, 2014 and the MI Dept. of Ed unleashed the most regressive and dangerous revisions to the MI Admin Rules for Special Ed in the past thirty-seven year history of our state law. These revisions include giving local control to school districts to determine special education staffing annually; eliminating our “multidisciplinary evaluation team”, requiring only a high school diploma for paraprofessionals, requiring parents to give written consent for special education prior to an IEP team meeting, and exiting students from high school at the end of the 12th grade as long as they complete our MI Merit Curriculum and who cares if they are prepared for Post Secondary or an ever-growing global workforce. Further, the public comment period is short and will end on March 13, 2014. Public comments will only be accepted through U.S. Mail and a convoluted online submission system. Public comments for the first time in over twelve years will not be accepted by email or fax. There are only two Public Hearings scheduled for March 10th in Detroit and in Lansing. These locations are prohibitive for thousands of families, teachers and disability stakeholders. This is what you get when there is no elected authority and no one is watching the special education-hen-house.
New York disability stakeholders and parents need to fight for the kids and for elected authority to guide and govern their special education laws, rules, policies, and yes that includes the Common Core State Standards.
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