Various Links
> Education Advocates (serving Berks County)
- Trish Luberda
- Mental Health Association of Berks County
- Community Prevention Partnership ( Spanish speaking child advocate)
- COPAA.org member parent advocates in Pennsylvania, as well as attorneys practicing special education law.
- PEAC or Pennsylvania Education for All Coalition (Parent Advocates)
- Michele Ford
Your School District Website
You should find all school-board adopted policies pertaining to all district enrolled students, including your child. Your focus can be particularly on policies about; discipline, visitation, requests for an IEE, conditions for accessing special activities (sports, Honors classes, Gifted Education etc) and audiotaping your IEP meeting. Any school policies should be uniformly applied to all 'similarly situated students' and may not supercede federal or state laws. You should also find the school's public document declaring the programs they offer, including RTI, and a description of them, a docement that is required by and submitted to the Pa Dept of Ed.
If your child attends a private, non-public or for-profit charter school, those school systems are also required to have established certain policies as well, that also must be uniformly applied. You should be familiar with them.
> Understand Indicators of a Quality Education Opportunity
Good Schools PA offers an excel or pdf spreadsheet of spending by school district and other information. Find out for example, how your district's per student spending compares to surrounding districts, and the state average. Join their e-list and see what they are doing to equalize special ed funding in Pa. (2010).
School Matters Compare student to teacher ratios, test scores and other data between school buildings, or districts here, using their online database.
Safe Schools. Compare data on incidents, suspensions, expulsions and detentions for your school district over time, by age, grade and exceptionality. Studies have shown that children with disabilities are disproportionately receiving more discipline than non-disabled peers.
> Learn More about Special Education Law
WrightsLaw
This comprehensive site is written in plain language about special education issues. For instance, In special ed law you will run across many words and phrases that are often defined by the person using them, but mean something else, or mean something differently to your child. For example; appropriate. progress. least restrictive. comprehensive. independent. challenging. disability. Attorney Pete Wright offers you a lawyer's perspective on what special ed law (and its 'words') can mean to your child. Read, read, read.
> File a Complaint with Pa Department of Education, Bureau of Special Education, Division of Compliance.
Use the form to properly file a complaint regarding implementation of an IEP or failure to meet timelines or other such 'procedures'. Fax that complaint to 717-783-6139 (don't wait for mail). Completing their form ensures you will likely provide all the information, and not hold up the investigation (by forgetting something). This complaint is different from a due process complaint. PaTTAN page with Link to form and info packet as PDF.
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Read this helpful document (pdf) on resolving disputes with your school from DRNPA.org.
> Links to Resources in Skill Sets and types of disability