children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

Bureaucratic Excuses for Inaction
You will meet endless excuses by those who do
not want to act. You should consider them as starting
rounds in negotiation and not as final obstacles
that will be permitted to deny services excluded
children need. Among the most common litanies
you will hear to justify inaction are:
1. We're the Experts
"You do not understand the complexities
of the problem. We educators know best."
If they are such experts, the problem should not
exist. Parents must begin to assert themselves more
into the educational lives of their children. Regarding
your child, you are and should be second to none
in expertise. Nothing is more crucial than that parents
gain the confidence to act and understand their
right to hold school officials accountable for minimal
standards of performance and fairness. School officials
are supplements to, not substitutes for, parents.
They should not be permitted to exclude your child
without a valid legal and educational basis for doing
so. Demand that they give you such reasons in
writing. Keep records of all contacts and conversations.
If you have questions about the validity of
the action, seek help to challenge the decision keeping
your child out of school.
2. Agency Denial
"I deny that children are being excluded
from school in my community or that we
are incorrectly labeling them or classifying
them in schools. You prove it."
You should make clear that they are the school
officials who are responsible, and they should know.
The plain fact is, however, that they often do not
know. Most state and local educational officials still
have not made sufficient effort to identify the children
in their states and communities who should be
in school or who have special needs. This burden
has been left up to parents and others in the private
sector to find these children and to bring them in.
Try to find out beforehand or ask school officials
whether state or local law or regulations require
them to conduct a general school census or a census
under a special education law or other provision. If
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they do, ask them how they went about conducting
their census and what were its results. If they have
not conducted the required school census, ask them
why they have not complied with the law and when
they intend to do so. Query them about their efforts
to enforce compulsory attendance laws and to reach
parents and children who are likely to have attendance
problems. Ask to see the discipline and special
needs data they submit to the U.S. Office for Civil
Rights as well as ESEA Title 1 applications that may
indicate what they are doing on behalf of poor
children. Ask them how much money the district
is losing or how many teachers will be dropped because
of poor average daily attendance.
We should begin to force school and other social
agency officials to assume their rightful burden to
help get and keep children in school. But it means
that an extra amount of homework will be required
at the beginning to have enough facts to show them
they cannot get away with denying the problem.
3. The Exception
"The examples you gave me are exceptions.
You prove to me that these are widespread."