Lee's Summit R-7 School District

Feds urged to better track sex abuse in schools - KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo - WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal agencies aren't doing enough to track incidents of sexual abuse committed by school personnel and should better educate districts and states about how to handle such cases, congressional investigators say While the breadth of the problem is unclear, the Government Accountability Office noted there have been numerous media reports of such cases and referenced a 2004 Education Department report that estimated nearly 10 percent of students are victims of sexual abuse by school personnel sometime during their school career. One of the most high-profile sexual abuse cases was in Los Angeles, where a once-respected teacher was sentenced in November to 25 years in prison after entering the legal equivalent of guilty pleas to 23 counts of committing lewd acts on children. In January alone, teachers have faced sex crime charges in P

D.C. chancellor was informed of cheating claim - Washington Times An  elementary school  principal’s claim that she saw teachers erasing answers on students’ test sheets had reached D.C. schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s desk within 24 hours of the alleged incident in late 2010, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request. Ms. Henderson was notified about the alleged cheating by two officials with the Washington Teachers’ Union, the emails show. However,  school  system officials did little to investigate the specific claims and never interviewed the principal about them, largely because possible cheating at the school was already under investigation, school officials said. The former principal, Adell Cothorne, said the emails show the school system essentially ignored her allegations.

Lawsuits Threatened Against Mehlville, Kirkwood Districts « CBS St. Louis ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -  The transfer of students to accredited districts has quickly turned to lawsuits and threats of lawsuits. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) says it already plans to sue Mehlville and Kirkwood for turning down some students. In a separate move, three parents have given the Mehlville School district a Thursday afternoon deadline to come up with more space. Mehlville told 300 students there was no room. Kate Casas with the Children’s Alliance of Missouri doesn’t think Mehlville is making every effort to take in more transfers. “In 2006 [Mehlville] had a thousand more students than they had at the end of the last school year, in the same buildings, in the same amount of space.” Casas told KMOX News. Three parents from the Riverview Gardens School District are threatening the lawsuit against Mehlville. They put Mehlville on notice that if action isn’t taken by

Teachers Should Never Bully Their Students! - The Autism Site Sponsored by:   The Autism Site Most people can say they were bullied at one point during school years. But most of us might not be able to claim that among our experiences with bullies, teachers also joined in. That's what happened to a little boy with autism named Akian. Following complaints from Akian that he was being treated poorly by his teachers, Akian's father sent him to school with a tape recorder. What the tape revealed was nothing more than shocking: the teachers can be heard taunting Akian and telling him to shut up. No child should go to school in fear of the leaders who are supposed to help guide their futures. We must send a message to teachers that bullying students won't be tolerated by creating federal anti-bullying laws that address not only peer-to-peer bullying, but also teacher-student bullying. Ask for the swift implementation of federal anti-bullying laws!

Senator questions timing of Herschend's donation to auditor | Springfield News-Leader | news-leader.com JEFFERSON CITY  — A state senator says she is concerned that State Board of Education Chairman Peter Herschend gave $25,000 to Auditor Thomas Schweich’s campaign committee days after Schweich recused himself from an audit of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Deputy Auditor Harry Otto, instead of Schweich, is conducting an audit of how the department contracted with an Indianapolis-based company to create a plan to improve Kansas City public schools. The company, Cities for Educational Entrepreneurship, offered a higher bid than other firms that competed for the contract. It ultimately won a $385,000 contract. State education commissioner Chris Nicastro, who reports to the Board of Education led by Herschend, has spearheaded the project. Herschend — the Branson entrepreneur whose family owns Silver Dollar City — has been a strong supporter of Nicastro and has

Angry parents say the Lee’s Summit School District leaves its autistic students behind | Feature | The Pitch Missouri school officials consider the Lee's Summit district to be among the state's best for autism education. At the fore of its program is Jerry Keimig, the district's 55-year-old director of special education. He's had the job for eight years. Before that, he spent six years employed at a Kansas psychiatric hospital and nine as director of special services for the Grandview School District. The number of autistic children in Keimig's district is small but growing. Stacy Martin, who was appointed the district's first autism education specialist in the early 1990s, says that when she started at Lee's Summit 32 years ago as a special-education teacher, only a few students qualified as autistic. Today, out of the 17,000 students who attend Lee's Summit's 17 elementary schools, three middle schools and five high schools, 98 kids meet the educ

How to Avoid Special-Ed Lawsuits | The Fast Pitch | The Pitch Last week,  I reported  on how parents of special education students in the Lee’s Summit School District were ready to picket a state education conference on autism because they were upset that Lee’s Summit’s Director of Special Education, Jerry Keimig, had been selected to give a presentation. I was never able to confirm this, but as near as I can tell, the last time Missouri school administrators heard a presentation on autism was ten years ago. The point of that program? To help them avoid lawsuits filed by parents who are angry about their autistic children’s education. Back in 1998, the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA) annual law seminar included a section titled “Special Education for Early Childhood Autistic Students -- How to Avoid Parent Demands for LOVAAS/TEACH Methodologies.” (In this case “TEACH” is a typo; it’s supposed to be TEACHH, an acronym for Treatment and Education of Autistic and C

Beth Sigall brings a very interesting article to our attention.  "In Deal v. Hamilton County -- [Ron Leaf] was paid $48,000 to testify on behalf of school district in ABA/autism case.  School officials basically said they were willing to pay millions in legal fees fighting this to "teach parents a lesson" Evidently school system paid for 1st class flights for the outside law firm they hired (The Weatherly firm). Total legal bill for the school thru the 6th Cir decision issued in Dec. 04 was 2.28 million (whew, that could buy a lot of ABA therapy). It's still being appealed.  http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_63675.asp   Atlanta Law Firm Charges To County Schools Top $1.7 Million  posted March 14, 2005  An Atlanta law firm that specializes nationwide in special education cases has charged the Hamilton County Schools over $1.7 million on a single case that is still ongoing.  The bill thus far from the Charles Weatherly law firm in the Deal autism case is at

www.specialresolutions.com/images/Vitae.JJW.2013.pdf Read how many seminars she has done

www.mo-case.org/fileadmin/mocase/home/Newsletters/EBrief-January_2011.pdf Look our former Special Education Commissioner and a member of the Weatherly Law Firm had a conference to help our Special Education Director's win law suits against parents. 2011 Spring Law Conference Distinguished Speakers Series MO-CASE, along with the Thomeczek & Brink Law Firm will once again sponsor the Spring Law Conference. The date is Friday, March 11, 2011 at Lodge of Four Seasons. The morning keynote is Kathleen Sullivan from Colorado. The afternoon session will be presented by the Thomeczek & Brink Law Firm and will feature presentations from Jim Thomeczek, Bo Thomeczek, John Brink, David Willard and new partner, Heidi Atkins-Lieberman. Heidi has joined the firm after 20 years at DESE and will offer a new and exciting perspective to the conference. On-line registration is now open on the MO-CASE website at www.mo-case.org or you can find the registration form below. Space is

Wrightslaw - Congressional Hearing: Special Education: Implementation of IDEA (Feb 28, 2001) pecial Education:    Is IDEA Being Implemented as Congress Intended?” Congress of the United States   House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform February 28, 2001 Prepared by Lilliam Rangel-Diaz   Center for Education Advocacy Miami, Florida 33156   305-279-2428, Ext. 211   E-mail address:   lillyrdiaz@aol.com God blessed me with the opportunity to attend the Congressional Hearing on IDEA with a 24-hour notice!  I encourage every child advocate and every parent to contact Congressman  Burton’s office with recommendations to improve IDEA implementation and enforcement. The record will remain open until  March 15, 2001 .      Congressman Burton’s Personal Experiences   Congressman Burton is deeply committed to this cause, as he has been personally touched by a child with disability, his grandson, Christian, who has autism.  He related the struggles of his daughter in obtaining educ