January 9, 2008

Hillary - Would You Like to Take That Back?

I watched the New Hampshire presidential debates on 1/5, when it happened. So far I’ve watched every debate from both parties, having certain reactions to candidates the way we all do. But on that Saturday night when Hillary was asked about “change” and her record, the first example she gave was her work on behalf of “special needs children”. I yelled at the TV “No! You’re a liar! How can you say that?!!” This was the very first mention of special education in any debate- and it was not true.

In 1992 I was the keynote speaker for Arkansas’s Learning Disability Association’s state conference in Little Rock. I spent 2 days there one month before the conference, meeting with health officials, school people, foster care agencies, local police and parents. Bill Clinton was still governor and running for President. There was despair everywhere- terrible poverty, miserable schools, no accountability. During several conversations I heard about Arkansas’s First Lady, Hillary Clinton. Some said that she championed the interests of children and families. Since I was there to prepare for a special education conference I asked specifically about her involvement with special education. Here was the answer. I had to remember that I was in Arkansas. Nobody knew much about special education there because the State would not develop any special educations laws after failing federal monitoring. It was trying to figure out what to do about implementing the federal law- efforts starting 5 years before I got there. The desperation of the poverty was such that many children did not have inside plumbing and the most basic of health services. From what people understood, Mrs. Clinton was trying to help that population, but could not specify in exactly what way. Again I asked about special education. Did they think it was the same as health care? They knew it wasn’t but could not explain the difference. The main difficulty was Governor Clinton’s refusal to give them any laws to follow, an opinion shared by every person I spoke with. Several had asked for copies of the special education law from his office and been denied.

Before getting on my plane I decided to get whatever Arkansas laws for special education that existed and went directly to the State House. I introduced myself to Governor Clinton’s secretary and explained what I wanted and why. She told me to wait. I’ll leave out the details. But the bottom line was that these documents weren’t “available”. I said that if Mr. Clinton wanted me to leave his state that day the only way I’d leave his office and get on that plane was with what I asked for- that I’d wait however long it took. Various extremely polite people came to talk to me, promising to “look into the matter.” I wouldn’t leave. After 5 hours I left with the existing Arkansas special education laws, the state Constitution, the federal monitoring report of its special education system, and its Annual State Plan for Part B funds from P.L. 94-142.

The conference a month later was in the Masonic Temple that sits directly in the center of Little Rock. I took a New Jersey school principal, two parent trainers, and an advocate I’d trained to work with conference attendees after the keynote. All had studied the Arkansas documents and developed workshops based on their contents. When I began the keynote speech, I told the above story and assured the audience that they would leave with a copy of the current Arkansas laws governing special education. There was initially a gasp- that sound of many people inhaling at one time. Then there was an explosion of applause. It was an exciting day, but for some reason I was never invited back.

After Mrs. Clinton was elected a senator for New York, she was in the middle of the reauthorization process of IDEA. From 2001-2005 I was as intimately involved with that reauthorization process as anyone. Never, at any time, did her name come up. The prime movers were Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts and Mike Castle from Delaware. So if Hillary was in someway involved, other than a Senate vote to approve the reauthorization, nobody seemed to know about it.

It’s not too late, Hillary. You can take it back and become an agent of change. John Edwards wants to take on the special interests and fight for the middle class, but never says a word about the largest special interest- the lawyer monopoly. No Republican will touch education and special education because of problems with entitlements and support of states’ rights. I’m a registered independent and have never cared as much about an election as this one. So far, Barack Obama is my guy. But I’m open to change…a whole lot of change…an entire sea of change. But it must be true. It must be reasonable. And children must be at its center.