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Save the Date for Padre-a-Padre - Saturday July 20th & 27th!
We are excited to share that our annual Parent to Parent Leadership Institute for Spanish Speaking families is coming up on Saturday July 20th and 27th!
Families will hear from speakers from Early Stages, DCPS, Marys' Center, the DC Officer for Human Rights and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Please share the save the date graphic below, and
for more information see our complete flyer here.
Parents can register by calling Berta Mata at 202-678-8060 ext 208, or emailing her at [email protected].
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Federal Update - DC Still Needs Assistance with Special Education.
AJE families will remember that IDEA is the federal law that creates and funds special education.
State Education Agencies report how Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are performing to the federal government and the federal government in turn tells the State Education Agencies how they are doing according to the data provided.
DC's State Education Agency is OSSE, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. OSSE aggregates and reports information from all of DC's 50 plus LEAs, which include DCPS and all the charter schools, to the US Department of education.
You can see that data here.
The US Department of Education just issued their evaluation of DC's implementation of IDEA and found that DC continues to need assistance meeting their obligations under IDEA. Areas where DC did particularly poorly include -
Percentage of Children with Disabilities who Dropped Out
Percentage of 8th Grade Children with Disabilities Scoring at Basic or Above on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Reading and Math
Percentage of 4th Grade Children with Disabilities Scoring at Basic or Above on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Reading and Math
DC earned no compliance points in those 5 areas because DC's performance was so poor that it did not achieve the minimum level require to score on the matrix for that area. "Needs assistance" is an improvement from last year's determination, where OSSE was told that DC "needed intervention" regarding Special Education. When you look at
last year's result matrix, and
this year's results matrix you see that DC was able to move up from "needs intervention" to "needs assistance" because of improvement in two areas -
Increasing students with disabilities' participation in the PARC exam from 88% to 93% and
Increasing the graduation rate for students with disabilities from 54% to 66%.
We were wondering if readers felt that kind of improvement between 2017 to 2018? Do these numbers make sense to you? Do they feel accurate based on your experiences?
Take our quick survey and let us know!
Y
ou can
read DC's State Performance Plan here
, which details how OSSE proposes to remedy these areas of noncompliance.
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AJE Testified at
the D.C. Council Committee Joint Hearing on School Transparency
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DC Free Summer Meals Program Began on June 17
The District has a Free Summer Meals Program open to all kids and youth under the age of 18. The program makes FREE breakfast and lunch available to all children and youth 18 and younger across the city all summer long.
The program runs
from June 17 - August 23
.
These sites serve breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday to any student up to and including age 18.
Breakfast will be served from 8 - 9:30 am and lunch will be served from 11:30 am - 1 pm.
Children and youth are welcome at any school or site to receive a meal; they do not need to be in a summer school program and they do not need to show ID for a free meal.
Here is the
full list of DCPS Free Summer Meals
locations. For additional sites, text FOOD to 877-877, call 1(866) 3-Hungry, or
check out the location map
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Lots of Great New Webinars Added!
We have recently added great new webinars to the
Special Education Thursday library, including three webinars that address important health care issues for families. As always, Special Education Thursday host, Molly Whalen, keeps it practical, parent-friendly and positive in these short webinars you can listen to anywhere.
UNDERSTANDING HSCSN AND YOUR RIGHTS AS A FAMILY
Guests: Zenia Sanchez-Fuentes, Attorney, Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP
We also have a new webinar with a guest from the
Public Charter School Board, Patrick Pope. Host and AJE board chair Molly and Patrick talked about what happens when a parent calls the PCSB with a complaint or concern.
Finally, we have webinar that starts parents off on the right foot when thinking about long term planning for their children with special health care needs and disabilities.
Also, if there is something you think we should cover, let us know at 202-678-8060 or [email protected]!
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Summer is a Great Time to get that Back to School Paperwork Done!
Don't have health insurance? Check out
DC Health Link, or the
DC Office of Healthcare Finance to apply for Medicaid programs. Did you know that in DC
Medicaid expansion covers: Adults without Dependent Children (ages 21-64), Children (0-18), Children aged 19-20, Parent/Caretaker Relatives and Pregnant Women? You might be eligible for coverage and not realize it.
All of DC's programs to connect uncovered families with health care can be found
here.
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Is your child's school closing? Do you have a child who has aged out of their LEA? Here is everything you need to know!
AJE's mission is to increase parents' knowledge of their children's rights within the District of Columbia educational system and to increase school accountability.
We recently published
a long blog post where we hoped to provide you with all information you will need should you find yourself in one of two positions:
- your child's LEA has issued a notice of closure, or
- if you have a child with a disability who attends a non-public school who has reached the maximum age served by the LEA, or whose LEA is closing.
You can find that post with links and related documents on our website.
Remember, a
ll District of Columbia students have a right to choose DCPS to be their LEA and all District of Columbia students also have a right to enroll in any public charter school with open slots in the grade for which they seek admission. This includes students who are currently attending a nonpublic school whose LEA is closing or who are aging out of their LEA.
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My School DC - post-lottery information
Even though the lottery is over for school year 2019/20, parents may still want to go to My School DC for information and help finding a school. You can still apply to public and public charter schools for school year 2019/20 at
MySchoolDC.org and the
My School DC application is here:
https://apply.myschooldc.dc.gov/login.aspx
Things to know:
- You can enroll your child directly at their DCPS in-boundary school for grades K-12 without submitting a My School DC application. Don't know your DCPS in-boundary schools? Find it here!
- You must submit a My School DC application if you want your child to attend a public PK3 and PK4 program even if it is the program at your DCPS in-boundary elementary school.
Need help applying?
Contact the My School DC Hotline for support at (202) 888-6336. They are open Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm.
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We want to thank the amazing donors who have helped us serve DC families and empower DC parents; your support has helped DC students stay in school, learn and thrive all across the District of Columbia!
Individual
Donors
Amanda Borher-Thomas
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James Fisher |
Molly Whalen |
| April Robinson |
Jennifer Sauter-Price |
Patrice Wedderburn |
Arianna Scavetti
|
Karen A. Newton Cole |
Rochonda Hiligh-Thomas |
| Brian Tate |
Katherine Arrington |
Tara Emory |
David Hill
|
Lara Bollinger |
Tina Nelson |
Elio Trabal
|
Marci Edwards |
Todd Miller |
Emeka Njoku
|
Maria Blaeuer |
Vanita Snow |
Jane Brown
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Mary & Willie Cook |
Anonymous Facebook Donors |
Funders
DC Bar Foundation
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Education Forward DC
|
Meyer Foundation |
Dignity in Schools Campaign
(National Economic & Social Right Initiative)
Pro Bono Partners
Community Partners & In-Kind Supporters
Association for Positive Behavior Support
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Garden Bros. Circus |
Practising Law Institute (PLI) |
| Barbara Rutland |
Harriet Tate
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Thank you!! We appreciate all of our families, supporters and volunteers!
Help our small staff continue to have a big impact for DC families and youth and donate today!
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About AJE:
Advocates for Justice and Education is the federally designated
Parent Training and Information Center and the Health Information Center for DC.
AJE seeks to empower families, youth, and the community to be effective advocates to ensure that children and youth, particularly those who have special needs, receive access to appropriate education and health services.
Our passion is empowering families by equipping parents and students with disabilities with the tools they need to be their own advocates.
Have questions? We are here to educate, advocate and empower. Contact us today!
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Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.| (P) 202.678.8060 | (F) 202.678.8062 |
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