Familes helping Families of Greater New Orleans Holding Rally on May 8

This group's mission is:

"Our mission is to enable and empower Louisiana families of individuals with disabilities through an effective coordinated network of Resources, Support, and Services. Our vision is to ensure all individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to attend school, live, work and recreate in their community with typical peers."

I have spent some time this week reading about the difficulties facing parents trying to find educational resources for their children in the New Orleans area - those who are trying to return there to resume their lives and those who are relocating there as part of the effort to attract talent and needed help.

I am concerned for all of the children from New Orleans who are behind in their school studies as a result of the hurricane. Many face "make up time" and need high quality teachers to help them catch up on their studies to get to a proper reading level. Teachers are badly needed in the area, especially those who are experienced. And there are children waiting to get into school which is putting them further behind in their studies.

This is an even greater difficulty for parents of children with special needs children. Parents are finding it difficult and sometimes impossible to find the resources they need.

Families Helping families of Greater New Orleans is holding a rally called Disability Rights Day on May 8 at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge about The Right to Receive Services between 2 - 3:30 p.m. (For information about Transportation to Baton Rouge, contact Families Helping Families of Greater New Orleans 504-888-9111 or 800-766-7736)

As New Orleans is rebuilt, a priority needs to be put on the education of all children.

U of Delaware student - New Orleans teachers have no resources for special needs students

[visual description: A young African American girl peeks out of the glass doors of a yellow school bus while perched on the steps of the bus.}

Students recently went down to the post-Katrina area in the Recovery District to offer hands on help to educators during their Winter session service learning sojourn.

"The UD groups were associated with the John McDonogh Senior High School in the Recovery School District.

The high school needed volunteer help in a variety of areas, Alvarez said. There were no records or transcripts. Students were self-placed in the classroom. Another issue involved student ablilties in reading and writing, with some students unable to read or write a complete sentence. “The teachers were on their own,” she said. “There were no resources for special needs or special education students.”

I found this information on the U of Delaware website in an article about the students' service learning experiences.

However, the impact of Katrina on education needs to be brought into focus so that even more citizens (and educators )around the country can assist recovery efforts. Children who fall through the gaps leaving them unable to read and write will feel the impact of Katrina in ways that can be avoided by action now.