Shame on you Mitt Romney

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

In Malach's alternate life . .
He works as Director of Disability Services for a very large Non Profit in Southeastern MA. What do I do in a given day? Well as the title implies I direct the operations of the disabilities department. I only have one part timer working for me, so I also do a lot of the work of the department.

This work includes many things, but mainly involves fighting for the rights of persons with disabilities, being a consultant on disability and disability issues, presenting workshops and training, and providing referrals to other services.

I've fought them all, DMR, DMH, MRC, MCB, MCDHH, Social Security, MassHealth/Medicare, churches, businesses, landlords, and most often the public schools, especially New Bedford Public Schools (NBPS). Malach is very good at his job, and rarely loses these battles. Why? Malach is a very good mediator, and can usually mediate an issue where both parties are happy and committed to the plan. Malach also knows disability and education law like the back of his hand.

The company I work for provides extensive housing services for homeless families, so needless to say I end up with a lot of referrals from there. I also get many referrals from the services I fight. It is kind of funny, that NBPS will refer a family to me, so I can advocate for the family against the school because the school likes dealing with me.

Over the past 2 years, things has changed with the Public Schools. My personal experience is mostly with the New Bedford Public Schools, but talking with professionals in other cities, this is occurring all over. Normally, when a student has issue, whether those issues are academic or behavioral, and easy interventions are not working, the schools sets up what is called a CORE evaluations. This evaluation is to set up testing, develop a diagnosis, set up an Individualized Education Plan (IEP, or Special Education services to the layman), or determine if there is no disability finding. In the past this was as easy as calling a guidance counselor to get this done. If there was no finding, you could easily appeal and get and independent evaluation. From there an IEP would be set up to determine what services the student needs, from academic to counseling or after school services. This plan is followed by the school and it's administration, and the IEP could be adjusted as needed.

Well something began to change, first gradually, and over the past couple of years dramatically. The first thing, was Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. The next was Mitt Romney being elected Governor of Massachusetts and putting in the MCAS as a graduation requirement, lastly was the massive cuts to education and redirecting funds that were supposed to be for education by that administration.

What results today from this is NBPS will do anything in their power to get students to pass the MCAS (hence the school get a good rating and not lose funding), graduating students not ready nor prepared to graduate, doing anything to pass the student on, get them to the next level, get the problem out of their hair; and cutting of programming in schools, from art and music, sports programs and "special services". So here is what we are left with. NBPS trying to fund their current disabled student body population, giving parents false or no information on their chidren's rights and the run around to try and get services for their students. So the parents come to Malach, who the proceeds to threaten schools with legal action. It used to be you could sit around a table with a team and get a plan in place that was beneficial to all parties involved. Not any more.

Case Study One: Jack.
(Names have been changed) Jack comes with a family history of psychotic disorders. Jack is from a broken family, father is certified schizophrenic. Lives with Mom and two sisters. They were basically homeless 4 years ago, living in a hotel, where he was also sexual abused by an older boy. He was diagnosed with ADHD as a 6 year old (who wasn't) and after the abuse Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He came into one of our housing programs, and I immediately noticed marked psychotic behavior. Psychotic episodes, violence, animal noises . . . All which he would not remember doing. Severe Obsessive Complusion with germs, eating, and people touching him. He was set up in an IEP through the NBPS, before I met with him. His disability on the IEP was listed as an "Unspecified Intellectual Disability". He was labeled as so because he was 2 grades behind in math, and the had not yet gotten diagnostic testing done on him. This was done by his school to get him on a IEP, mainly to address his behavior in the classroom. A Psych eval was requested at the time.

Through this IEP they were able to transfer him to another school, a school with better behavioral accommodations. Needless to say the behavior got worse, the psych eval was still never done, and by the end of the year he was put into a substantially separate classroom, with 5 other behavioral students (this without a real diagnosis that would legally allow the school to put him there). The IEP review came up the next year, and once again a psych eval was agreed upon, once again, this never occurred. Jack's behavior became extreme. The school began suspending him (illegally I might add), and began to threaten him and Mom with Court. I once again reminded the school of the agreement to the psych eval, they once again ignored the request.

At this point, I did it the legal way. I sent a letter to the Director of Special Services (sadly, this is the only way that the school legally has to respond to a request, in writing). A month later, the testing was agreed to. Unfortunately by that time, Jack had been referred to juvenile court as a "truant", "a threat to the school". Police were also called into the school for one incident. He was also referred to Youth Court, instead of juvenile Court, and part of his sentence was for "bootcamp". He finally got a psych eval done, but we still have yet to receive the results. That was 2 months ago. I called to NBPS offices today for an update.

Case Study Two: Andy
Andy is a 4 year old client on mine. He presents extreme violent behavior, wildness, and severe delays in speech, ambulation, and toilet training. He was put on a IEP, through NBPS early intervention at age two. He is the youngest client I have ever seen who was not born mentally retarded approved for SSI (at age 2). He has been diagnosed (again very young but you can see how severe it is) with Explosive Mood Disorder. NBPS transferred him from one daycare situation to another, not a specialized day care, but a day care for typical children. The longest he lasted at one was three months. So what does NBPS do? They send him home. "We can't handle him." They never tell mom he would qualify for a program for kids with severe disabilities (there are several good ones in the city). Why? It would cost them too much money to send him there (about 5x more than a normal daycare). Well another one Malach had to threaten to sue to get him the services he needed.

Case Study Three: Don
Don is a 20 year old with Down Syndrome (don't pay attention to Wiki saying it is also "Down's Syndrome", that is not the name and Wiki should know better). Because Don has a "obvious" disability he has had services since being a baby. He has had good school experiences and good expresses with his collaborative school. The problem. Don will qualify for DMR services when he hits 22. Romney cut huge amounts of money out of DMR's budget. Now, unless you are a person with MR who was part of the class action lawsuits against the state, you can no longer get funding for a 5 day a week program, most everyone is getting three days a week. What is a working parent supposed to do quit their job to care for their child with MR 2 days a week?

And this is just the tip of the iceburg.

Summary.
This state, it's schools and services have fostered an environment of pass-the-buck. They are also encouraged to assume a child is a "behavior problem" without addressing the real issue. I find now, to get services for my clients, I have to threaten legal action, or let the client end up at court. The schools are using court to get students services, because if the court orders them, the tax payers pay for it and not the school. Court should be the final option.

In an effort to balance the states budget, Romney has cut DMR services to a point, where the can no longer provide full services to new clients. How does the state save money if parents need to take on a reduce or work roll to care for a person with a disability, how much does the state lose in payroll taxes? I am sure AV can weigh in on this also . . .

I am Malach and I am mad!