NOVEMBER 8 & 9, 2003

WEEKLY WEBSITE REVIEW - THE SENATE BILL IS OUT!

The long-awaited Senate bill (S.1248) and its accompanying report are out! 
You can read the bill and report yourselves by linking to them from our
Breaking News Page (www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/2/index.htm).  We also
have
the first analysis by a major advocacy group, DREDF, posted on Breaking News. 
This is the "substitute" bill we have been talking about, and its release from
the HELP committee to the full Senate paves the way for the full Senate to
consider and vote on the bill, possibly within the next few weeks before they
adjourn for the year. 

As you will notice, we have also updated the "target" audience on our
Resources Page (www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/5/index.htm) - now that the
HELP
committee has concluded their proceedings, our new "targets" are all of our
Senators.  Please keep visiting, calling, and writing them (fax or email),
telling them (as we do in one of our Home Page articles) to Just Say No to H.R.
1350 and its devastating provisions.  Please remember that H.R. 1350 is alive
and
well, and will meet up with and be reconciled with S. 1248 in conference
committee. 

As promised, we are conducting our own analysis of S. 1248, along with the
major advocacy organizations.  Please compare our analysis to those of the other
organizations, as well as your own observations, so that you can form your
own opinions regarding this bill.  This week on the Home Page
(www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/1/index.htm) we have analyzed Section 615
of the bill.  In
"What Is And What Shall Be," we provide our thoughts on the discipline
provisions of Section 615.  And in "Due Process Review - Do or Due," we analyze
the
rest of Section 615 (the procedural protections for parents and children).  We
will continue to work on this bill, and urge you to send us your thoughts as
well!

Also on the Home Page (www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/1/index.htm), in
"Connecting with Others," we follow up on our "Networking" theme and introduce
you to several of the many good Internet listservs out there that deal, at
least in part, with IDEA reauthorization.  Listservs are a good way to get
involved and stay involved and to share ideas with others. 

Finally, on the Home Page (www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/1/index.htm),
in "Whose IDEA-Related Money Is It Anyway?" we share a letter from a young
visitor (a 12 year old boy with autism) that poignantly illustrates why money is
not the answer to IDEA's problems and why this reauthorization needs to be
about the value of children, not the value of money.  We also have an inspiring
letter posted on the Grapevine page
(www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/4/index.htm) that echoes this theme and
reminds us that All Children Can Learn.

Also on Grapevine (www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/4/index.htm), we have
Dee Alpert's (publisher of www.specialeducationmuckraker.com) analysis of one
provision of S. 1248, the new child-find provision as relates to private
schools, that could work to our advantage. 

The Grapevine (www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/4/index.htm) also features
the schedule for live discussions with Democratic presidential candidates
that took place this week, conducted by the Washington Post.  Our own Debi Lewis
posted her questions to these candidates on our Message Board
(www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com/pages/4/index.htm) - now let's see if we get some
answers!  The
Message Board also has a Muckraker Alert on proposed revisions to NCLB that
could harm our children.

These next few weeks will be critical since this is when the Senate will
consider its IDEA bill, if it considers it at all this year.  Please keep those
visits, calls, faxes and emails coming, and please let us know what you're
thinking and hearing!

Sandy Alperstein, today's parentvolunteer@...




Sandy, Illinois (alpy2@...)
Volunteer Co-Webmaster, <A
HREF="www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com">www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com</A> (IDEA
reauthorization)


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