January 22, 2012
An Opinion On “Wealthy Seek Special”
Dear Ms. Martinez,
Would you please stop blaming the parents and advocates for the many shortcomings and failures of the DOE to provide ALL children with a qualifying disability a free and appropriate public education as guaranteed under the federal law IDEA and its progeny in state law and regulation?!
As an elected parent member of The Citywide Council on Special Education (CCSE) and the mother of a public middle school student with an IEP for learning disabilities, I must object to your article in the WSJ today, Wealthy Seek Special-Ed Cash. Not only here but also in other recent articles — Klein Loses on a Charter (WSJ 8/14/10), and Private-School Tuitions Burden DOE (WSJ 7/10/10) — you betray so little understanding of special education history, policy and practice in the NYC public school system and so great a reliance on DOE sources that your work could hardly be called news reporting. It’s indeed stunning how quickly your editors at the WSJ have succumbed to the low journalistic standards observed at FOX News and the NY Post that are also controlled by your paper’s new owner, Mr. Murdoch’s News Corp.
I urge you to get better informed and to broaden the universe of your sources. You can start by attending the next calendar meeting of the CCSE which will be held at MS 51 in Park Slope, Brooklyn on September 16 starting at 6 pm. The featured topic for this meeting will be Phase 1 of the DOE’s latest and most radical special education reform initiative to date which will be addressed by a panel composed of the following senior officials from the DOE and UFT as well as a representative from the city’s leading coalition of special education advocates.
Carmen Alvarez, Senior VP for Special Education
The United Federation of Teachers
Maggie Moroff, Coordinator
The ARISE Coalition/Advocates for Children
Laura Rodriguez, Deputy Chancellor
NYC DOE Division for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners
Saskia Thompson, Deputy Chief Schools Officer
NYC DOE Division of School Support and Instruction
I will forward to you our official meeting notice/agenda once same is finalized.
Yours truly,
Patricia Connelly
Treasurer, The Citywide Council on Special Education
See more: patricia azarcoya arce.
