California School Rules: A SchoolSmart Parent's Guide to Advocating for Your Child,Used

From the Publisher The questionanswer format provides an easy entry to the otherwise complicated laws that govern schools. The author's conversational style and the 150 questions she answers will make for an interesting read. This book has been a joy to publish. Our greatest pleasure has been hearing from our customers. Parents write us. When the author appears on radio shows that encourage callins, the switchboards light up. Educators have found the book useful for clarifying legal issues with their staff, and have used it to help settle disagreements with parents. One school board member from San Francisco, Jill Wynns, wrote that the book "... is filled with useful information which wellintentioned administrators often presume to be too complex or technical for most parents." And a high school student, Nick Rodriguez, who's an officer with the California Association of Student Councils, called the book "the perfect tool for selfadvocacy ... should be required reading for every student." Product Description Parents who are puzzled by the policies governing California schools now have a selfhelp law book to guide them. The author wrote the book to help parents answer the question: "Hey, can they do that to my kid?" It explores the legal side of problems that parents of schoolage children often encounter: choosing schools, learning English, how to keep good teachers (and avoid bad ones), creating safer and more disciplined schools, contesting unfair grades, and more. From the Author One of my greatest frustrations came from not knowing the rules of the game. Some educators can hide within a bureaucracy that relies on rules and parents' ignorance of them as excuses for not helping our children. It's this single frustration that I hope this book will remedy. My purpose is to enable parents to play the school game smart. This book lets parents know their school rights, the conflicts that are likely to arise, who has the legal authority to decide their outcome, what parents can do to influence the result, and, if need be, how to appeal these decisions. From the Inside Flap About the Publisher School Wise Press is dedicated to helping parents get smart about California schools (K12). Toward that end, we publish school profiles designed to help parents choose schools with facts in their hands. In addition, we publish reference books and "howto" guides like this one which we hope will encourage and enable parents to play the school game wisely. Our Web site offers a wealth of information and ideas about schools, including a virtual library, news articles, a legislative alert, and comparative rankings of schools in every county in California. In addition, the Web site includes a regular school law column by Judy Goddess, the author of this book. She welcomes you to visit her there weekly. Your Responsibility When Using a SelfHelp Law Book Please understand that the book you're holding is as accurate as the author and publisher could make it as of the press date of August 1998. But laws and administrative policies change frequently. In addition, the Education Code, like the Bible, is interpreted differently by many experts. If you are willing to follow the advice and guidance offered by the author, please also be willing to accept the responsibility of choosing to interpret your situation independently. If you prefer to get legal advice from an outside expert that's specific to your situation, please consult a lawyer. The author is a parent advocate, not a lawyer, and does not wish to practice law. From the Back Cover "Hey, can they do that to my kid?" When California parents wonder what the ground rules are that govern the schools their children attend, they will be able to find quick answers here. In an easytoread, questionanswer format, author Judy Goddess puts over a decade of parent advocacy experience to work and clarifies the California school laws that parents and te