Email Correspondence

Questions I have received via email over the last week or so:

Q: I know you are really (district employee). Why don't you stop blogging and get to your new job? Everyone knows you are just trying to start trouble for (insert group name here).

A: No, I am not an employee, of any kind, of MARSD. I am, as I stated, a parent in the district. I would also emphatically state that my intention here is not to "start trouble" for anyone. It is purely to create a forum for "non-partisan" discussion about special services in the district and special education in general. I also hope to create a resource for parents who are looking for special education related information.

Q: Do you have any information on what's going on at the middle school? I wrote to the superintendent to request that my case manager be changed from Helen Rappaport to someone else. I haven't heard back from him. My child's IEP meeting will be coming up soon, and I don't even know who my case manager is!

A: If it were me, I'd start by contacting the school's principal. Always try to follow the "chain of command" if you can. It shows that you are a team player. And, if it should ever be necessary, it will show in court that you follwed the "correct" steps in trying to solve your issue with the district. Call and ask who your case manager is. I've heard from several people that they are busy at MAMS shuffling things around, but no one seems to have been assigned a new case manager that I've heard. Parents in this situation need to start making some noise. No one should be without a case manager, and no one should be forced to accept a case manager that they truly do not feel is working for their child. Of course every CST member is, at least to some extent, working for the good of the district as much as for the good of the students. But in this case, I think many parents feel that there is no chance at all that their child will be represented, given the circumstances.
If you aren't able to get an answer, send a letter to Dr. Lake and ask. He needs to know if there are children who have no case manager representing them.

Q: The Aberdeener (http://www.aberdeener.com/) already has a blog devoted to shaking down the district. What's the point of yours?

Web address added by me.

A: First of all, I think "shaking down" the district isn't quite the phrase I would use to describe the Aberdeener's blog. It makes him sound like he's a mobster looking for hush money! Mr. Warren, aka Aberdeener, has proven himself to be a voice for many people in the Matawan and Aberdeen communities when it comes to the district, among other subjects. He has shared much information with the public and digs for the truth. However, I feel that there is room for my blog, which is geared specifically towards the special needs area. Not just for discussing issues, but for sharing information.

Q: Doesn't POSP have all this information on their blog?

A: Though they do have a great many resources listed on their blog, my goal is to not link to other web pages as much as give links to pages that are downloadable, and give specific information. There are tons of web pages that have tons and tons of information on special education issues, and you can find them by typing "special education" into your search engine. The links I give go to specific pages with specific information. Also, the blog mentioned gives information in it's posts that are more group specific or activity specific. My goal is to sum up information that might be handy to parents, and archive it in a way that it is easy to find. In an area with parents who seem to be, more and more, finding out how the district has failed children and taxpayers, I'm sure there is enough room for two or three blogs that hope to share information and lend a helping hand.