Lies, Damned Lies and IEPs

We had an IEP meeting for my son yesterday. As I predicted, Knox County Schools had a plan drafted and ready to sign to dump him to KAEC, but in the end, the school district wanted a time-out to rethink their position. Mostly the meeting went well, but it wasn't hard to notice that KAEC personnel was not accustomed to parents who knew their rights and who had done their homework. Round two will follow in a couple of weeks.

News From The Kallenberg Case

In the Powell High School sex-scandal-that-wasn't, ousted vice principal Kimberly Kallenberg, who has been on paid leave for almost a year, has applied "to be considered for any position for which she's certified" for the upcoming school year. Her discrimination lawsuit against the school district is still pending, and is scheduled to go on trial next spring. The school system maintains that even though the investigation still has not been closed, Kallenberg remains an employee in good standing. This is a smart move on her behalf: If she doesn't get hired, or gets hired at a lower pay, it strengthens her case for discrimination. If she is hired in a position equal to one from which she was removed, she will have vindicated herself.

When You Become Tolerant To Caffeine...

The thing about having a 20/20 vision and losing my mind is that I can see exactly where I went wrong.

SCOTUS Ruling Augments Parents' Rights

The Supreme Court handed down a 6-2 majority ruling today that is a big time victory for parents of disabled children. The Federal law that governs special education is the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which mandates that children with special needs must be granted free access to appropriate public education. If parents disagree with the education plan a school district provides for their special needs child, parents have right to seek judicial review and, if all else fails, bring a civil suit against the school district on behalf of their child.

However, under the existing lower court rulings, parents have not been considered beneficiaries under IDEA, but instead merely guardians of their child. Hence, parents have had no standing to sue the school system themselves. Instead, they have had to hire a lawyer for their child. This has undoubtedly been cost prohibitive for many parents who otherwise would have had a legitimate case.

The Supreme Court found that rights described in IDEA apply equally to the parents and to the special needs child. This makes parents full legal partners to their child under law. Thus, parents are able to bring a civil suit against a school district while representing themselves without an attorney pro se. The case is Winkelman v. Parma City School District (05-983).

Jerry Who?

Having no faith in Heaven or Hell, it is my belief that once one passes from this world, one's immortality is measured by the legacy he leaves behind. On that account, may the name of Jerry Falwell be but a smudge in the margins of the annals of history. AMF.

Jails: If You Build It, They Will Come

Apparently, there's a chronic jail overcrowding problem in Knox County. DA Randy Nichols and Sheriff J.J. Jones lament that they have to let criminals loose because there is no space in county jails, and, according to Nichols "jail is no longer a deterrent to violating the law". Sounds to me that Knox County jails are far too cozy for scofflaws. Maybe time is ripe for our own Joe Arpaio: For the inmates, you want to eat, you'll have to work. You want out, you pay your fines with work. A couple of weeks clearing brushes in Tennessee summer oughta make the jail a little bit more of an inconvenience.

The root of the problem is rampant drug and alcohol abuse. Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz and others seem to believe that substance abuse treatment is the real key. Maybe so, but I believe that if being in jail is not enough of a deterrent, these individuals will not be sufficently motivated to undergo rehab either -- it would be throwing good money after bad. The real key, I would claim, would be to prevent drug and alcohol abuse in the first place by breaking the cycle of poverty, where children are doomed from the moment they pop out of their momma's womb. But there's not going to be enough political will for real solutions, so the sheeple will continue to build more jails, just to occasionally vote off a public official when an inmate let loose kills a nun on the parking lot of a newspaper.

National Foster Care Month

May is the National Foster Care Month. There are over 500,000 kids in foster care in the United States. If you want to help children in foster care, the Tennessee L.I.F.T mentoring program desperately needs volunteers. Individuals interested in applying to be a mentor can call 1-866-519-LIFT (5438) to receive an application.

Duck And Cover

Was anything learned from Hurricane Katrina? How thin is our military spread? This pretty much sums it up:

The governor of Kansas said the rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone. She said not having immediate access to things like tents, trucks and semitrailers will really handicap the rebuilding effort.

The emperor still has no clothes.