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Feature Article
NCD #00-287
April 19, 2000
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov
BACK TO SCHOOL ON CIVIL
RIGHTS
by Martin Gould, Ed.D.
WASHINGTON--The National Council on Disability's (NCD)
report Back to
School on Civil Rights looks at more than two decades of
federal monitoring and enforcement of compliance with Part B of
IDEA. Overall, NCD finds that federal efforts to enforce the law
over several Administrations have been inconsistent and ineffective.
Despite the important efforts of the current Administration to be
more aggressive than any of its predecessors in addressing these
compliance problems, failures to ensure local compliance with Part
B requirements continue to be widespread and persist over many years.
Enforcement of the law is too often the burden of parents who must
invoke formal complaint procedures and request due process hearings
to obtain the services and supports to which their children are
entitled under law. The report includes recommendations for the
current Administration--as well as future Administrations--and Congress
that would build on the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA.
NCD's work has not ended with the release of Back
to School on Civil Rights on January 25, 2000. Since its release,
NCD has:
- mailed 8,000 copies of the report upon request;
- worked with key stakeholders in identifying follow-up
strategies to the report's findings and recommendations;
- identified and/or contributed to over 600 newspaper
articles that focused on the report's findings;
- identified and/or contributed to over 910 radio
broadcasts dealing with the report's results, reaching 17 million
listeners;
- responded to queries from NBC-Dateline, ABC World
News, 60-Minutes, and Time magazine about the report;
- presented speeches about the report at the January
25th release date news conference, the Council of Parent Attorneys
and Advocates national conference, and the Council for Exceptional
Children national conference; and
- doubled the number of hits to its Web site during
the month of the release of the report.
In addition, NCD will include Back to School on
Civil Rights findings and recommendations during the conduct
of 15 community briefings on critical issues for people with disabilities.
These briefings will occur from July through September of 2000,
and are designed to focus on NCD's "Unequal Protection Under the
Law" series of independent analyses of federal civil rights enforcement
for Americans with disabilities. The briefings will also give communities
the opportunity to provide input on a consensus document produced
at NCD's Civil Rights Retreat. In addition, the report will be highlighted
at NCD's Think Tank 2000: Coalitions for Advancing the Civil and
Human Rights of People with Disabilities from Diverse Cultures that
will take place May 18-20.
For more information, contact Mark S. Quigley at 202-272-2008
or visit NCD's award-winning Web site (http://www.ncd.gov).
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