Lee's Summit R-7 School District

In a district where nonviolent children are regularly sent to Ozanam or Gillis (where Jerry Keimig is on the board) adult behavior is excused or dismissed.  I have seen administrators, teachers, psychologists, and other personnel lie and bully children and nothing is done.  It is dismissed.  Yet if a child with autism, in elementary school, has a meltdown they are handcuffed and taken away.  Really?!! Why does Lee's Summit accept unethical, immoral, and illegal behavior from the adults that are supposed to protect this children?  How long will it's citizens sit back and allow it to happen?  How much longer will the district address this by calling me that "Tucker nut"?  How much longer will you allow this to happen to innocent children and continue to ignore it?

I was talking to a friend today and some things came to mind. Many people want to know why I fight with the school district and the State. I have earned quite a reputation as a crazy mom. There are many people that are happy with the education that their children are getting and wonder why I am not. Well, let me explain it to you. I have known that my son has autism since he was three years old. I lived in a very small town in Illinois with the population of 1,200. I had twin daughters that were 5 years old and were in all day kindergarten. The town was having testing for children 3-5 years of age. I thought it was to see where they were academically and what they needed to work on prior to starting kindergarten. My son was three years old and the only child that I had home during the day. I signed him up for the testing and took him up to the school. I wasn’t sure if he would go through it because he was a screamer. I don’t mean that he screamed every once in awhile. I mean that he...

Reorganized School District No.7 301 NE Tudor Road Lee's Summit, Missouri 64086-5702 Phone: (816) 986-1024 Fax: (816) 986-1160 Jerry L. Keimig Executive Director of Special Services December 22, 2008 Ms. Heidi Atkins Lieberman Assistant Commissioner Division of Special Education Missouri Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education PO Box 480 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0480 Dear Ms. Lieberman: This letter is in response to concerns expressed by OSEP regarding Ms. Tucker. Ms. Tucker has responded to staff in our District with a continual barrage of emails and web postings on a variety of topics expressing concerns, sending general information regarding special education issues, and conducting personal attacks on staff. Ms. Tucker continually voices her concerns regarding educational programming for her son. We would agree that he has specific areas that need to be addressed, but despite multiple District attempts to provide direct interventions for her son, she has refused many o...

Spending Our tax levy is one of the highest in the metro area, yet we spend among the least on our students. Our children can learn in any building. During the last election one of the present school board members said that he would hold up our facilities to any of those in Johnson County. I didn’t move to Lee’s Summit to compete with Johnson County. I moved here because the schools were supposed to be among the best that the metro had to offer. Here is an article from the Lee’s Summit R-VII newsletter: The Kansas City Business Journal recently featured a listing of the top 25 school districts based on enrollments. The information including budget and employee statistics appeared in an October 2008 issue of the publication. Lee’s Summit R-7 ranked seventh in the metropolitan area in terms of total enrollment among the 25 districts selected for the newspaper edition. The R-7 School District’s total enrollment for this school year is 17,137. The six districts in the metro area with ...

Some critics suggested that NCLB created incentives for schools, districts, and states to manipulate test results. For example, schools have been shown to employ "creative reclassification" of drop-outs (to reduce unfavorable statistics). NCLB also may have caused some states to lower their official standards. Because each state could produce its own standardized tests, a state could make its statewide tests easier to pass, thereby increasing test scores. Missouri for example, improved testing scores but openly admitted that they had lowered the standards . Critics also said that punitive measures against "failing schools" created incentives to set expectations lower rather than higher. Critics even said the legislation tended to increase segregation by race and class, to be followed-up by pushing low-performing students out of school altogether. Other critics argued that NCLB caused teachers to "teach to the test", focusing all their efforts on things tha...

Sherri Tucker for School Board Spending Our tax levy is one of the highest in the metro area, yet we spend among the least on our students. Our children can learn in any building. During the last election one of the present school board members said that he would hold up our facilities to any of those in Johnson County. I didn ’t move to Lee’s Summit to compete with Johnson County. I moved here because the schools were supposed to be among the best that the metro had to offer. Here is an article from the Lee’s Summit R-VII newsletter: The Kansas City Business Journal recently featured a listing of the top 25 school districts based on enrollments. The information including budget and employee statistics appeared in an October 2008 issue of the publication. Lee’s Summit R-7 ranked seventh in the metropolitan area in terms of total enrollment among the 25 districts selected for the newspaper edition. The R-7 School District’s total enrollment for this school year is 17,137. The six distr...

Our tax levy is the highest in the metropolitan area and we spend among the least on our students. But, don't worry. We have a $12 million aquatic center and a state of the art Board Room. This was in the R-7 newsletter that was sent out to those in the district. They are proud of how little they spend on our kids. The Kansas City Business Journal recently featured a listing of the top 25 metropolitan-area school districts based on enrollments. The information including budget and and employee statistiecs, appeared in an October 2008 issue of the publication. Lee's Summit R-7 ranked seventh in the metropolitan area in terms of total enrollment among the 25 districts selected for the newspaper edition. The R-7 School District's total enrollment for this school year to 17,137. The six districts in the metro area with higher enrollments are Shawnee Mission, Kan.; Olathe, Kan.; Kansas City, MO; Blue Valley, Kan.; Kansas City, Kan.; and North Kansas City. The Business Jour...

SB 175 Requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to produce "The Parents' Bill of Rights" for parents of children with an individualized education program Sponsor: Schmitt LR Number: 0939S.02I Fiscal Note: 0939-02 Committee: Education Last Action: 2/11/2009 - Hearing Conducted S Education Committee Journal Page: Title: Calendar Position: Effective Date: August 28, 2009 Current Bill Summary SB 175 – This act requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to produce "The Parents' Bill of Rights," to inform parents of children with an individualized education program of their educational rights under federal and state law by January 1, 2010. The publication must contain ten points of information, which are described in the act. Each school district must provide a copy of "The Parents' Bill of Rights" at least ten days prior to the IEP meeting to the parent or parents of a child with an IEP. At the meeting, the pa...

Lee's Summit has been blessed with a high population of children that are high achievers. We live in an affluent suburb with the highest tax levy in the metro area. We have parents that are professionals and children that have access to many amenities that allow them to reach their potential. Is it because they go to school in Lee's Summit or does Lee's Summit look good because those kids attend their schools. If you brought kids from the Kansas City School District out here would they prosper as well? Isn't that the group of students that Lee's Summit is failing? The numbers show that Lee's Summit scores have regressed for black students, free lunch students, and special education students. There is no denying that. Missouri is one of the worst states in the country for education. Lee's Summit likes to announce their awards that Missouri gives them. Is it enough to be the best of the worst? I would like to think that we would strive for more than t...

Some school districts that received federal sanctions this year for not making enough progress are now receiving a state award for distinction in performance . That's because the state looks at a broader range of data, including ACT scores, college placement rates and availability of advanced courses , while the federal government focuses mainly on test scores, holding all subgroups of students accountable. So some districts that received criticism when Missouri Assessment Program results were released in August are now celebrating their state distinction. The state's education department doled out awards to 330 districts out of 523 this year . While students on average met the standards, qualifying the district for the state award, subgroups of students did not . Those subgroups include students classified as special education, black or receiving free or reduced-price lunch. Jim Morris, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, referred in...

Summary of the Truly Agreed Version of the Bill SS HB 2023 -- SPECIAL EDUCATION Currently, a parent of a child with an individual education plan may request an expedited hearing to challenge the disciplinary placement of the child in an interim alternative setting or to challenge a manifestation determination connected with an interim placement for weapons, drugs, or dangerous behavior. This bill replaces the specific reasons for the disciplinary placement with language that permits a parent to request an expedited hearing on any disciplinary change of placement. The bill also revises the appeal procedure for the hearing panel decision, which currently permits appeals pursuant to the administrative procedures statute. Instead, the bill specifies that a court will hear the case without a jury upon the record filed as the resolution conference statutes provide and limits the court's review to a determination of whether the agency's action violates the constitution, was made upon ...

This means that Missouri has lowered its standards so that they won't have to worry about litigation. Wouldn't it have been better to make sure that the standards were lived up to? The Missouri General Assembly has removed language from its special education laws that formerly required schools in the state to maximize the capabilities of students with disabilities . The action came less than two months after the Missouri Supreme Court let stand a state appellate court decision applying the maiximizing standard to a special education dispute, instead of the lesser "free appropriate public education" from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The General Assembly deleted from Missouri Statutes 162.670 a declaration of state policy to provide special education services to all students with disabilities sufficient to meet their needs and maximize their capabilities. The section now states that Missouri public schools must provide all students with disabilities ...

Federal Education Funds Unspent by States (2000-2002): Balance Available and % Not Spent (as of 01/06/2004) Missouri Education for the Disadvantaged: Available Balance 22,631,391 % Not Spent 4.81% Special Education Available Balance 16,970,753 % Not Spent 3.96% School Improvement Available Balance 16,978,135 % Not Spent 8.51% Vocational & Adult Education Available Balance 648,685 % Not Spent 0.61% English Language Acquisition Available Balance 179,659 % Not Spent 4.71% Impact Aid Available Balance 7,476,413 % Not Spent 14.9% Grand Total Available Balance $64,885,015 % Not Spent 5.16%

FILE: AC Critical Portions © 2007 Missouri School Boards’ Association PROHIBITION AGAINST ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT General Rule The Lee's Summit R-7 School District Board of Education is committed to maintaining a workplace and educational environment that is free from illegal discrimination or harassment in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs, activities and facilities. Discrimination or harassment against employees, students or others on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability, age or any other characteristic protected by law is strictly prohibited in accordance with law. The Lee's Summit R-7 School District is an equal opportunity employer. Students, employees and others will not be disciplined for speech in circumstances where it is protected by law. The Board also prohibits: 1 . Retaliatory actions based on making complaints of prohibited discrimination or harassment ...

Once again, the district never acknowledged that this press release was inaccurate. They did, however, remove it from the website. Missouri education officials select Lee's Summit R-7 School District to present program on autism education at state-wide conference Selection based on district's exemplary services for special-needs students This is not only wrong, it is immoral to let people believe that Lee's Summit is doing anything but a poor job with our children. I can give you the names of numerous families that will testify to this. Many have already sent letters to Heidi Atkins-Lieberman about this. The Lee's Summit R-7 School District was recently selected to present information on the district's services for students with autism at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Annual Cooperative Conference for School Administrators, scheduled for early August. Just two districts in the state were chosen for this presentation, and ...

While they finally admitted to me that their press release was less than honest, they never sent it out in the same manner that they sent the original press release. Therefore, many folks falsely believe that Lee's Summit did this all by themselves and that those few families that are fighting with the district have no reason to fight. Why didn't the district newsletter show that the school district got first place with the help of the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group? That is what helped the district get first place. I feel as though the district should share the recognition with us. When team members sign up they have to put what school district that they attend. Then that district gets credit for all members that go to that district. The Alliance stated "If you add the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group to the Lee's Summit School District team, it is very clear they are the winners for the school district." This is the press release from the district: ...

I am the President and Co-Founder of the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group I am a member of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Special Education Advisory Panel ( DESE ) ( SEAP ) I was elected to the SEAP Executive Committee I am the Chairperson for the Monitoring Committee for the SEAP I am a resident of Lee's Summit I have three children attending Lee's Summit High School I am the only candidate that is familiar with NCLB , OSEP , IDEA, and special education. I have extensive knowledge in these areas and I am familiar with the how the district is not following the spirit of the law. I have a 15 year old son that has been diagnosed with Kanner's Syndrome/Early Infantile Autism, Dysgraphia , Inattentive ADHD , and Anxiety Disorder. I just paid a $700 medical bill because school causes my son so much anxiety that he was taking medication to be able to attend school. His liver became damaged, because of the medication, and I have had to take ...

Dear Ms. Tucker: The Lee’s Summit district made this conclusion by itself, by comparing their test results with statewide data. We reported the 2008 state MAP results recently. Here is the report: http://dese.mo.gov/news/2008/MAPandAYP.htm If you click on the “Summary” link in this statement, you will see a page of numbers which includes a column for the percent scoring Proficient or Advanced. It appears to me that Lee’s Summit did its own analysis based on these numbers and drew this conclusion. DESE did not single-out Lee’s Summit for exemplary performance. We issued the results for every district in the state at the same time. Jim Morris DESE Public Information Office

Parents of Autistic Children Address R-7 Board By Brett Dalton The Journal Staff Two Missouri school districts have been chosen to speak at the Commissioner of Education conference in August to share "exemplary practices in the area of autism." The Lee's Summit R-7 School District is one of those districts, according to information released at Thursday's R-7 Board of Education meeting. At the conference, staff members from the school district will conduct sessions for superintendents and other administrators from throughout the state in order to assist them in serving their autistic population of students. However, before that news was announced at the board meeting, a group of parents of autistic children addressed the board and expressed their dissatisfaction with how the district provides for autistic children and students with various other special needs. One of those parents was Sherri Tucker, who lost in her bid to obtain a spot on the board during the April 8 c...

This district has not allowed my son's evaluation scores to be put into his IEP. How is anyone ever going to know his deficits if they don't include those in his IEP? I put them in the parent concerns. They denied my right to have my concerns in the IEP. They decided to edit them. See below the comments that they wrote on his IEP. Attaching 4 pages of parent concerns in PLAAFP without specific test scores and diagnostic interpretations. IEP Goals & Objectives:A Tactics and Strategy Sessionwith Pete & Pam Wright Print this page Question: As an LDA President from a midwestern state, I coach parents about how to write Present Levels of Educational Performance (PLEP) for their children's IEPs. We tell parents that standard scores from evaluations and reevaluations should be included as present levels in the IEP. Some schools resist . They insist on using "teacher observations" instead of using objective information from standardized tests for the present level...