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Dr. Michele Meredith
Dr. Michele Meredith, head of the Department for Special Education at The Mico University College, is calling for a review of the 1980 Education Act and Regulations to protect the interest of students with special needs.
She says the legislation is outdated and does not adequately serve students with special needs, highlighting, among other things, the very language of the statute, such as the section that specifies what must be done in response to a determination that a child is "suffering from a disability or condition that makes him a candidate for special educational services."
Under the law, that diagnosis must be made by a medical practitioner, but Dr Meredith noted that "not all medical practitioners uderstand disabilities in the lived experience of the person living with the diagnosis."
Dr. Meredith, speaking at the recently held 12th Annual Special Education Conference & Workshops at Church Teachers' College in Mandeville, also pointed to outdated fines to further drive the need for a review of the Education Act.
She disclosed that the law still specifies that if a parent or guardian fails to take the child for determination of the disability, that parent or guardian "is to be fined all of four dollars (a sum set at the time of the passage of the bill in 1980); and... for every day (thereafter) that the parent does not comply, it's an additional two dollars."
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