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Accomplishments
INCREASING PARENT ACCESS TO BASIC EDUCATION LAW INFORMATION
Parents whose children are having problems with the school system many times feel isolated, frustrated and unsure about their legal rights. Lacking familiarity with the legal/bureaucratic process, parents are often confused about how they can work with a school to ensure that their child gets the resources and support that they need. Surveys at our five 2007 Parent Empowerment Workshops found that more than 90% of parents were eager for more information on legally-related topics ranging from schools’ zero tolerance and suspension policies to Special Education.
Our Parents’ Access to Legal Information project responds by developing and providing legally-based but clearly-written informational guides. The project also includes “Ask a Lawyer” forums where related questions will be answered in order to help parents feel more positive about their ability to navigate their educational system and work with the school on their child’s behalf. The booklets are:
In Spanish:
Pro bono attorneys at Day Pitney LLP and Robinson & Cole LLP spent more than 300 hours researching, writing, and editing these five booklets. Distilling complex information on educational law into easy-to-understand guides for parents is an ideal task for Appleseed’s pro bono partners. Additionally, we were able to secure pro bono assistance to translate at least two of the booklets into Spanish.
After three rounds of review that concluded with participation by parents, community members and experts in the education field, we are confident that the final documents are parent-friendly, comprehensible and easy to use. We are finishing the formatting and printing processes this summer in order to have booklets ready to go for the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.
Our “Ask a Lawyer” parent forums, conducted in partnership with school districts and parent-leadership/support groups, will provide low-income and minority parents with a chance to get accurate and useful information on their legal rights and emphasize ways for parents to work with – rather than against - their school district. The combination of Appleseed’s handbooks and forums will thereby provide parents with both written and in-person legal resources to answer their questions, while capitalizing upon the parent-serving organizations’ abilities to connect with the interests of parents and mobilize forum attendance.
We are currently in the process of reaching out to, and building partnerships with, the major parent organizations in Connecticut. Appleseed will try “to get the word out” to as many parents as possible by distributing the guides widely to community groups and churches to help ensure good attendance at the forums.
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