"My six-year-old child needs special education services. Yet, we've been told there's no room in the class recommended for him. While I'd like to work with the school to get him help right now, I don't know what my child's educational rights are. Hiring an attorney is out of our family budget. We're frustrated and we don't know what to do."
As of February 15, CASE has moved but not too far. CASE has changed suites. Our new address is 1550 Bryant Street, Suite 735, San Francisco, CA 94103. Our telephone numbers remain the same. All written communication to CASE should be sent to our new address. Thank you.
Written By
Community Alliance for Special Education (CASE) and
Disability Rights California
Announcing the availability of the all new 10th Edition of Special Education Rights & Responsibilities (SERR), with updated Questions & Answers on Special Education Rights & Responsibilities including these topics: Basic Rights, Eligibility, Assessment, IEP Rights, Due Process, Discipline, Infant & Toddler Services, Preschool Services, and more …
IT ALSO HAS THESE NEW FEATURES:
Two New Chapters: Information on District-Wide Testing/Graduation Requirements and Rights of Students with Significant Health Needs
Sample Letters — Records Request, 10-day Notice, Referral Request, Due Process Request, Assignment of Rights and More Appendices.
My name is Lucia Kanter St. Amour. I am a mother of an autistic child and president of the Board of Directors of the Community Alliance for Special Education (CASE). As a parent, I know how much CASE has helped our family. CASE's consultation, representation and training services have made a tremendous difference in the life of our child. Thankfully, we found CASE and our son is getting the kind of support in school that he would never have had otherwise. As a CASE Board member, I am joining Joseph Feldman, our Executive Director, in contacting current and past CASE donors, CASE clients and others who know CASE's value to the community to ask for your help.
These are difficult times. In this challenging economy, the demand for CASE's services is greater than ever. CASE is seeing more students with unmet needs; more parents calling in desperation with more complicated issues; more referrals from other disability organizations; more questions from community professionals; more unnecessary barriers to services from poorly informed school staff; and more serious and flagrant school district compliance violations than CASE has faced since it opened its doors in 1979. CASE is needed more now than ever.
CASE is the main source of assistance to low-income and indigent families in need of special education advocacy in the Bay Area. CASE never turns away a family due to inability to pay. Over the past 32 years, CASE has provided amazing services to the special education community in the Bay Area. Each year, CASE provides representation to 140-150 families as well as 500-600 FREE consultations to parents and professionals. CASE cannot reduce its high quality advocacy services when so many need CASE so desperately.
That means that CASE needs your help more than ever. The current economy has hit us all hard and CASE is no exception. Government funding reductions, intense competition for foundation funding, and unprecedented economic pressures on families in need of CASE's help all result in CASE's immediate need for increased private support in order to serve its very deserving clients.
I volunteer, and give my time, energy and what financial contributions I can so CASE can help children with disabilities and their families most in need. So do all of our Board members. On behalf of all of us on the CASE Board of Directors, I am asking you to contribute to CASE so CASE can continue to help our children and their families in the Bay Area. If you have donated before, we thank you and ask for your continued assistance. If you are considering a donation to CASE for the first time, we welcome your support. CASE and the children and families we serve need your help now!!
You can make a secure donation using your credit card right here on this very web site! You can also send your donation to CASE at 1550 Bryant Street, Suite 738, San Francisco, CA or contact CASE at 415/431-2285 and we will take your credit card donation over the telephone.
Thank you for helping CASE and the children and families we serve!!
Sincerely,
Lucia Kanter St. Amour, President, CASE Board of Directors.
Joseph Feldman, Executive Director
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, was passed into federal law in 1975. For children with disabilities, it guarantees a specially designed program to meet the student's unique needs in the least restrictive environment with access to the general curriculum. Other legal protections include the right to necessary related services, such as psychological counseling, behavior management programs, and parent training. Nevertheless, families are still often unaware of their mandated rights and available services. Unfortunately, school districts still often fail to live up to the spirit and letter of the law.
The Community Alliance for Special Education (CASE) was formed in 1979 to protect the lawful educational rights of children with disabilities by fostering the fair and just implementation of IDEA and state special education law. CASE advocacy staff, thoroughly trained in special education law, helps families and school districts work together when designing appropriate special education programs for students with disabilities, who are at risk for school failure, so they can succeed in school, get a job and become productive members of their community.
CASE provides these basic services:
Technical assistance consultations to families and professionals on special education rights, responsibilities and services regarding specific special education students or issues;
Direct representation at Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings, due process mediations, and administrative hearings if necessary on behalf of students with disabilities and their parents; and,
Training on special education rights and services to parents so they to can better advocate for appropriate special education programs and services on behalf of children with disabilities.
CASE supports families by going with them to IEP meetings as a primary service. The CASE service model is based on the premise that the special education process is first and foremost an educational process. It should be collaborative, non-adversarial and student oriented. CASE methods empower parents so that they can effectively advocate for their children in the educational process. CASE services strive to prevent disagreements between parents and school districts from escalating to the need for court intervention.
The development of the CASE model of special education advocacy over the years has resulted in the attainment and maintenance of a remarkable success rate with our clients.
90% of the children represented receive appropriate educational services in school.
90% of parent clients participate more effectively in their child's educational planning.
95% of client/training participants learn and apply basic legal special education rights.
90% of clients increase negotiation and self-advocacy skills.
95% of clients are connected to local parent networks that assist them to address other family needs.
Generally, CASE provides over 1,500 consultations and directly represents about 150 children per year. In addition, CASE provides training to about 1,000 parents and education professionals each year. Over the last 25 years, CASE has provided over 25,000 consultations to parents and professionals, directly represented over 3,000 families and trained more than 25,000 people from all over California.
Organizational Highlights:
CASE was incorporated February 2, 1979.
CASE receives two $10,000 grants from the San Francisco Foundation and the Gerbode Foundation in 1981.
CASE receives funding from the United Way of the Bay Area in 1987 and becomes a member in 1989.
CASE becomes a member of the CDBG family in San Francisco in 1992.
CASE opens a satellite office in Hayward in 1994.
CASE becomes a member of the MOCYF family through the Open Gate Collaborative in San Francisco in 1994.
CASE receives funding from the Social Services Commission - City of Hayward in 1997.
Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County opens a CASE to serve the South Bay in 1998.
CASE opens a satellite office in Fremont as part of their Family Resource Center in 1999.
CASE opens a satellite office in Santa Rosa in partnership with the California Parenting Institute in 2001.
CASE moves to a new main office located with The Arc San Francisco at 1500 Howard Street in 2002.
