The Trump Administration’s February 2017 reversal of an earlier Obama decision ensuring that transgender students under Title IX should be allowed to use the school restrooms of the gender to which they identify has thrown school policies with regards to gender identify into flux. The February 22, 2017 “Dear Colleague Letter” stated that the earlier Obama position had wrested the primary responsibility of devising education policy from the states and local school districts. Despite its unhappy conclusion, the letter reiterated the need for protecting transgendered students from both bullying and harassment. It is highly questionable, however, if those words have any actionable meaning.
Absences from School A Criticial Factor for Students with IEPs
A recent report from Chicago found that absences from school are one of the most critical factors for
success or failure for special education students, and concluded that ""once
we take into account the fact that students with disabilities
miss many more days of school, their course failures and grades are
similar to those of students without disabilities." [Download CCSRSpecialEdWMS-Final].
