Parents of children with special needs have a complicated path to walk. In public school, the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is a process through which educators and parents design accommodations for the child’s growth and learning.
In 1972, the Arc of Pennsylvania filed suit against Pennsylvania’s Board of Education and Department of Public Welfare of behalf of 13 children who were being denied access to free public education. It was because of this landmark lawsuit that the Commonwealth agreed to devise a plan to identify, locate, evaluate and train all school-age children with intellectual disabilities and developmental delays. This historic action led to the federal law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, which affords a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to all students with disabilities. This law was later reauthorized and is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) (source)
The mission of The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties is to advocate, educate, and provide services and support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.
BASD process for providing special services to special needs students is defined here. https://www.beth.k12.pa.us/Academics/SpecialEducation/faq.lasso
In 1975, they persuaded Congress to pass the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which forbade the practice of barring special needs children from public schools.
Instead, schools were required to evaluate children with disabilities and create programs, with parental input, that mirrored as closely as possible the programs of non-disabled children. This law, which in 1990 was renamed the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), mandates civil rights and due process for these children. (source)
In October 2017, Current Dept. of Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos rescinded 72 guidance documents that protect students with disabilities, 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs and nine from the Rehabilitation Services Administration.
If elected to the board of directors for the Bethlehem Area School District, I will work with the administration, area special needs advocates, and parents to support the civil rights for all students.