Today’s New York Times carries an interesting story about the upcoming referendum in Idaho dealing with public schools and teacher unions. Some of the issues are unique to that state–others are echoes of what we have seen elsewhere. The dispute sounds rather fierce….
The line that stuck with me is this, “Some district administrators say they fear that in their bloodletting both sides are forgetting the students.”
Ah, that seems to be going on in lots of education disputes.
As I’ve written many times before, I fear that is going on in special education disputes, hearings, mediations, etc., between schools and parents. Where are the adults who keep the focus on teaching and learning?
About Miriam
Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, JD, MA—an expert in public education, focused on special education law— is a lawyer, author, speaker, consultant, and reformer.
For more than 35 years, Miriam worked with educators, parents, policy makers, and citizens to translate complex legalese into plain English and focus on good practices for children.
Now, she focuses her passion on reforming special education, with her new book, Special Education 2.0—Breaking Taboos to Build a NEW Education Law. Presentations include those at the AASA Conference, Orange County (CA), Boston College (MA), CADRE (OR), and the Fordham Institute (DC). Her writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Education Week, Education Next, Hoover Digest, The University of Chicago Law Review on line, DianeRavitch.net, and The Atlantic Monthly on line.
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