Margaret Spellings Is Confirmed As New Secretary Of Education
Yesterday afternoon, the Senate confirmed Margaret Spellings as the new Secretary
of Education. The voice vote approving her nomination followed her approval by
the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, before which she
appeared on January 6. Spellings, a former domestic policy adviser to President
Bush, played a large role in drafting of the No Child Left Behind law. She replaces
outgoing Secretary of Education Rod Paige.
CEC congratulates Ms. Spellings on her Senate approval to serve as the new Secretary
of Education. CEC looks forward to working with her and will be meeting with her
in the near future to discuss special education issues.
Additional Dates And Details Announced For New IDEA Regulation Meetings
As you know, the Department of Education (ED) will be conducting a series of meetings
to allow anyone interested to provide comments and recommendations on the writing
of the regulations for the new IDEA law. The meetings will be town-hall style
meetings where anyone who attends and wants to provide input on the regulations
will be given approximately 2 or 3 minutes in front of a microphone to provide
comments on how the new IDEA law should be implemented. You do not need to register
to attend or speak at the meetings; just show up! If you attend these meetings,
also try to have your comments in written form as well for submission to ED.
There will be six locations for these meetings:
Newark, DE, January 28
Columbus, OH, February 3
Boston, MA, February 7
San Diego, CA, February 11
Atlanta, GA, February 15
Laramie, WY, February 18
Washington, DC, February 24
The first public meeting will be held Friday, January 28, 2005, from 3:30 PM to
5:30 PM and from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.
The address for this meeting is:
University of Delaware
University of Delaware Conference Center
John M. Clayton Hall
Room 106100
Pencader Way
Newark, DE 19716
The second public meeting will be held Thursday, February 3, 2005, from 3:30 PM
to 5:30 PM and from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Ohio State University in Columbus,
Ohio. The address for this meeting is:
Ohio State University
School of Education
384 Arps Hall
1945 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43210
The third public meeting will be held February 7, 2005, from 10:00 AM to 2:00
PM and from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.
The address for this meeting is:
Sheraton Boston Hotel
Prudential Center
39 Dalton Street
Boston, MA 02199
The fourth public meeting will be held February 11, 2005, from 1:00 PM to 5:30
PM and from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Lindbergh Schweitzer Elementary School in
San Diego, California. The address for this meeting is:
San Diego City Schools
Lindbergh Schweitzer Elementary School
Schweitzer Campus
6911 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111
The Department of Education will release detailed information on the other meetings
in the near future.
CEC is encouraging all its members to attend one or more of the meetings and to
provide their recommendations on the regulations for the new IDEA law. CEC is
also requesting that its members provide written recommendations to ED before
the February 28 deadline. In addition, CEC is soliciting comments and recommendations
from its members by January 28 so that by the middle of February we will have
CEC recommendations that all its members can send to ED. If you would like to
send your comments to CEC, please send them to danb@cec.sped.org
no later than January 28. If you would like to send your comments and recommendations
directly to ED, you can do so either at www.regulations.gov
or comments@ed.gov. Remember that the deadline
for submitting your comments to ED is February 28.
Congressional Research Service Analysis Of New IDEA Now Online
The Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress that serves
as the research arm of Congress, has published its analysis of the new IDEA law.
You may access this document from CECís Website at: http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/docs/CRSAnalysisofNewIDEAPL108-446.pdf
.
Reminder: CEC To Conduct One-Day Workshops On The New IDEA
As we first reported to you on January 7, CEC will hold five one-day workshops
around the country to provide information and implications of changes in the new
IDEA law. CEC will be in Providence, Rhode Island on February 11; San Francisco
on February 18; Chicago on February 23; at CECís Arlington, Virginia headquarters
on March 4; and Miami on March 11. For more information on these workshops and
to register, go to http://www.cec.sped.org/conventions/maryland_2005/pdfs/IDEA_workshops.pdf
. Please share this information with your colleagues or anyone else you think
may be interested.
© 2005 ConnSENSE Bulletin
