Hello! I am a mom in Mason County, Wa. that has special needs child. Because of problems in the special education class rooms, I wondered why we could not ask for a parent access bill in our state. A bill that would give parents access to their child’s classroom if they are in special education without a lot of hassle. I feel as a parent, I should be allowed to see that my child’s needs are being met as I am the expert on my child….My state representative Kathy Haigh has agreed to sponsor such a bill. The following is a rough draft and the final language has not been decided upon yet. I will post when things happen. Please make comments and say what county you are from. We need support for this bill. If you would like to send an email in support of this bill, please send to : Donna Obermeyer @ donnao25@aol.com or Sarah McQuilkin @ my2specialkids@gmail.com The following is a summary of the bill:
To insure that parents of children with disabilities can participate fully and effectively with school personnel in the consideration and development of appropriate educational programs for their child. It shall provide that, upon request by a parent, parents and parent-designated independent evaluators and educational consultants shall be afforded timely access for observations of a child’s current program and of any program proposed for the child, including both academic and non-academic components of any such program. Parents and their designees shall be afforded access of sufficient duration and extent to enable them to evaluate a child’s performance in a current program and the
ability of a proposed program to enable such child to make effective progress. No conditions or restrictions may be imposed on such observations except those necessary to ensure the safety of children in a program, the integrity of a program while under observation, or the safeguarding of personally identifiable information consistent with the requirements of the federal family educational rights privacy act and applicable state laws.
I’m supporting the bill because I think it is a very small step in normalizing the education experience for parents of students receiving special ed services. This is to also ensure that even though, our students (unlike most students) who may be shipped out of their neighborhood and across town or out of district for services, will have the knowledge and comfort of knowing that their parents participate in their education, just like any other parent. We need to, in my opinion, eliminate some of the special treatment we receive as students and parents and become a part of the whole school community.
on Dec. 30, 2009, I rec. an email from Rep. Kathy Haigh saying she does not have time to sponsor the Parent Access Bill in the upcoming session as she is very involved with budget. I will not give up on this bill..Keep supporting it.
Sarah