"My son has severe learning disabilities. When he was young,
we enrolled him in a public school program. But the
experience was a disaster. The other children made fun of him
because of his yarmulke and his unfamiliarity with the
television programs they were always discussing. Even his
teacher told him he had to remove his tzitzis for
supposed hygienic reasons. He was quite miserable and did
very little learning.
"Finally we took him out of the public school and placed him
in a Jewish school, where he was happy and doing a lot
better. And yet, when we tried to point out to the special-
ed people at our local school district that their
recommendation of a public school placement was clearly
inappropriate for our child, they refused to listen. They
insisted he would do just fine in public school if only we
would allow him to fit in."
This was but one of many poignant stories that were relayed
to educational policy makers in Washington over the course of
an extraordinary one-day advocacy mission organized by
Agudath Israel of America on Wednesday, July 24, as an
adjunct to the organization's 2002 National Leadership
Mission to Washington on the following day.
The advocacy effort brought together some 40-50 activists in
the field of Jewish special education from thirteen states --
parents, educators and advocates who are deeply involved in
efforts on behalf of Jewish children with special needs in
their respective communities across the country.
Explaining the importance and timing of the advocacy effort,
Agudath Israel's executive vice president for government and
public affairs, Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, noted that "Congress is
in the process of 'reauthorizing' the federal special
education statute, which is known as the IDEA. When it last
reauthorized the IDEA, five years ago in 1997, a number of
changes were made in the law which adversely impacted the
rights of special needs children enrolled in yeshivos and
other nonpublic schools. We are determined this time around
to make sure that the interests of those children will be
given proper consideration as the reauthorization process
moves forward."
Toward that end, the Agudath Israel group convened a series
of meetings over the course of the day with White House
domestic policy staffers and U.S. Department of Education
officials, as well as with Senators, Congressmembers and key
Capitol Hill staffers currently involved in the
reauthorization process.
At each of the meetings, they presented a detailed position
paper prepared by Agudath Israel associate general counsel
Eytan Kobre, outlining a range of problems facing special
needs children in Jewish school settings along with proposed
solutions for those problems.
The meetings were highlighted by a number of moving oral
presentations.
The federal officials heard from several parents, like the
mother quoted above, whose children felt totally out of place
in a public school setting; from other parents whose yeshiva
children were offered publicly- funded special education
services, but only at some "neutral site" away from their
religious school premises, thereby necessitating major
interruptions in their yeshiva school day; from yeshiva
principals who emphasized the importance of early
intervention programs that would help identify and assist
children with special needs even before they enter school;
from Jewish program administrators who described the total
failure of many local school districts to comply with their
existing statutory obligations to special needs children in
nonpublic schools; and from advocates who suggested that the
IDEA reauthorization include programs designed to expand
parental choice through special educational vouchers.
"It was an extraordinary day, but our work has just begun,"
said Dr. Irving Lebovics, Agudath Israel of California
presidium member and one of the organizers of the advocacy
mission.
"The reauthorization process is likely to extend over the
next several months, into the next congressional year, and it
will be up to us to keep knocking at the door to make sure
that our voices are heard on behalf of our precious special
needs children."
