As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I am so frustrated and angry right now I feel like crawling out of my skin. Perry, who's Autistic, goes to middle school and is in a separate class because of it. He will never be mainstreamed (with non sped. kids). His school likes to mainstream spec. ed. kids for specials (art, gym etc) and for a myriad of reasons I told them I did not want Perry mainstreamed for these and made sure it was in his education plan and it was very, very clear to his teachers, aides, principal et al. Perry comes home today and tells me he's been going to mainstreamed tech ed. and gym. They deliberately went behind my back and did what they wanted to do even though they had to legally commit to the agreements in his ed. plan. I am furious! I called our advocate and she and I are calling the school tomorrow and dealing with this and requesting a meeting. I am currently waiting on a pro bono lawyer b/c Perry needs to be transferred to a private school which will meet his needs better and I can't believe they'd pull something like this knowing that's going on! I am so sick and tired of dealing with all the dog doo from the school system! I just had to get that out, thanks for listening!!
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Last edited by Christine43; 03-10-2010 at 09:32 AM..
Reason: update
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It's in his IEP and they totally disregarded it? That's not right I'm glad you have the advocate working with you to address it tomorrow. I hope you are able to get it straightened out right away.
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Speaking as a person who does middle school scheduling (please dont hate me) and as a mom to a child on the spectrum...could it have been an oversight, easily corrected with a phone call? For much of the schedule, kids are "mass assigned" to classes. Then an individual has to go through and "tweak" it. Sometimes, the person who knows the IEP the best is not the one doing the tweakings. Often, a knowledgeable guidance counselor will know as much (or more) about her (or his) student needs and know the particulars. But ultimately, the case manager is responsible for communicating that information. Is has also happened in my school, that a principal, or someone else not familar with the kids, goes through the schedule to balance things, often reversing the particulars that we planned. (That is frustrating!). If its in the IEP that he cannot have mainstream classes, then he cannot. That is final.
Is is possible that they created an adaptive section (we have adapted PE, and Art) and many of the kids feel like they are going to a "regular" class like all the others. Hang in there and good luck to you and your son.
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It's in his IEP and they totally disregarded it? That's not right
It's not right, but it happens a lot! We were always fighting the school to keep to the IEP. The schools here found that most parents wouldn't fight them, and it's easier and cheaper to mainstream.
I'm sorry the school is doing that to Perry. How is he feeling about being put in a "regular" class? Many, many pixies for you and Perry. I hope you find some resolution.
[...] for a myriad of reasons I told them I did not want Perry mainstreamed for these and made sure it was in his education plan and it was very, very clear to his teachers, aides, principal et al. Perry comes home today and tells me he's been going to mainstreamed tech ed. and gym. They deliberately went behind my back and did what they wanted to do even though they had to legally commit to the agreements in his ed. plan. I am furious! I called our advocate and she and I are calling the school tomorrow and dealing with this and requesting a meeting.
This is very very unfortunate, and I can fully understand your frustration. However, even though I am not an attorney, I think I know what they're going to wave around as justification for their actions:
603 CMR 28.06(2)(c):
Quote:
Least restrictive environment (LRE). The school district shall ensure that, to the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities are educated with students who do not have disabilities, and that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of students with special needs from the general education program occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in general education classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily.
If they do, what you need to respond with is:
603 CMR 28.06(2)(d)(2):
Quote:
The school district shall not delay implementation of the IEP due to lack of classroom space or personnel, shall provide as many of the services on the accepted IEP as possible and shall immediately inform the parent in writing of any delayed services, reasons for delay, actions that the school district is taking to address the lack of space or personnel and shall offer alternative methods to meet the goals on the accepted IEP. Upon agreement of a parent, the school district shall implement alternative methods immediately until the lack of space or personnel issues are resolved.
Their lack of immediate and written notice to you is a violation of the law. And yes, CMR = "Code of Massachusetts Regulations", and since you're in Quincy Massachusetts, they have full force of law over your school district. You can review these provisions of law [url=http://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr28.html?section=01#start]here[/urlk]. That is, in fact, a government website; it doesn't get more official than that, on the internet.
Quote:
I am currently waiting on a pro bono lawyer [...]
I presume you've contacted your local Legal Aid Society?
Regardless, your next step will (from what I am reading) involve contactign the Bureao of Special Education Appeals for either a mediation, or a Hearing. Again, I am not a lawyer ... but I suspect you iwll need the added force-of-law inherent in going for a full Hearing, and thus, having the ruling of an Administrative Law Judge in place - rather than them (again) agreeing out one side of their mouth, and then when your back is turned, again ignoring the provisions of your son's IEP in favor of their own convenience.
I found this list of resources for parents with special-needs children who need legal or other assistance; calling one or another of them may speed up your efforts to get the assistance and advice of an attorney:
Disability Law Center, Inc. Mass. Advocacy Center
11 Beacon Street, Suite 925 100 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02108 Boston, MA 02116
(617) 723-8455 (617) 357-8431
Federation for Children with Special Needs Department of Education
1135 Tremont Street, Suite 420 Problem Resolution System
Boston, MA 02120 350 Main Street
(617) 236-7210 (ph)Malden, MA 02148
(800) 331-0688 (in MA) (781) 338-3737 (ph)
(617) 572-2094 (fax) (781) 338-3394 (fax)
TTY:
N.E.T. Relay 1-800-439-2370
Bureau of Special Education Appeals
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148
(781) 388-3300
Massachusetts Bar Association
Lawyer Referral Service
1-800-392-6164
Lastly ... does your school district have a PAC (Parental Advisory Comittee) ...? They'd better have one, because it's required of them, by law. They too can be a good source of information, referrals, and advice. Get in touch with them - or make careful note of the lack of such a body, if there isn't one; your attorney will be certain to bring that omission up as some very damning evidence against the school district. And will probably thoroughly enjoy it, too.
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I'm glad you have the advocate working with you to address it tomorrow. I hope you are able to get it straightened out right away.
I'm glad you have the advocate going with you! Mainstreaming is NOT the answer for every child!!!
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