Missouri Families Need To Unite and Stand Up and Say, "We're mad as heck and we're not going to take it anymore."

Missouri Families Need To Unite and Stand Up And Say, "We're mad as heck and we're not going to take it anymore."

Aren't you tired of playing the game by the rules when the other side doesn't? The odds of winning a due process, in Missouri, are little to none. The odds are stacked against you before you start filling out the papers. There are three hearing panel officers. One the district picks, one DESE picks, and one the families pick. There are only two or three family friendly officers on the panel.

There are people on the hearing panel that have been dismissed because of misappropriation of funds. They aren't hearing cases, but they are taking up a spot so that a family friendly person can't get on.

The SEAP panel is made up of mostly school district employees. There are only a few people on the panel that are parents of children with disabilities. The rest are district employees that might have a child with a disability. Do they ever advocate for our children? Nope. They advocate for DESE and their school districts. I know! I'm on the panel. I was told that the panel runs best when parents aren't on there advocating for children.

It's time to make Missouri do what is right. Why should our children receive less just because they live in Missouri? Why should our districts get away with whatever they want just because the system refuses to hold them accountable?

I know of two families that tried due process. One spent $12,000 and the other spent $13,000. Neither one of them made it to the hearing. One had an attorney that quit a week before the hearing (with no explanation) and the other got a stay put that lasted one year. They had the same issue the next year and ended up putting their kid in a private school. Attorneys don't even want to take cases in Missouri because they know that they can't win.

Are you as tired of all of this as I am? I tried OSEP. They keep saying to file for due process. Hello?!! I just told them that you can't win.

Let's hold our legislators accountable. They need to do something about the education in Missouri. Heck, Missouri ranks 47th in 4th grade reading and 48th in 8th grade reading. And that is regular education.

Come on. Let's get together. Let's take an army of tired parents to Jefferson City and let DESE and the Capitol know that we are through being pushed around. Let's let them know that we are willing to fight for our kids and they can join us or they can face our wrath.

Who is with me?