Dear Governor Bush, I am writing to you as a concerned parent. I have to say that I am very disapointed in your office and the new legislation concerning blanketly retaining children in 3rd grade who are having difficulties reading. First off please let me beg you not to respond to this e-mail with a form letter telling me about the FCAT and it's creation and importance. I am all too aware of all that since I teach 3rd grade here in Florida. My concern as I said is the blanket retention in 3rd grade. Let me tell you my story. My son is 10 years old and he is in 3rd grade. My son has a severe language processing disorder that makes learning to read very difficult for him. He is in the Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program at his school and has been for a little over a year. We started the process to have him tested and placed in ESE when he was in 1st grade and it took until the middle of 2nd grade for it to finally happen. Anyway my son was retained once in Kindergarten and he is going to be retained again this year because of your new laws. My son has an identified learning disability and is being punished for it by being retained yet again because he hasn't been receiving services long enough to qualify for one of the good cause exemptions. My son will most likely drop out of high school because he will be 18 years old in the 10th grade. He will be able to drive while in middle school all because he has a disability. Would you do this to a child with a physical disability? Would you tell a child in leg braces or a wheelchair they have to run a race against "normal" children and in order to pass from one grade to the next they have to do just as good as the "normal" child? Of course not because that wouldn't be right, then why do you expect it of a child with a learning disability. My son is being held to the same standards as a child without a disability and it is not fair. My son has made tremendous progress this year. He started 3rd grade a non-reader, he was "reading" on a Pre-K level, he is now reading on a middle 1st grade level. That means my son has made the equivalant of almost 2 years progress in just 1 year. The "average" child is only expected to make a year's progress each school year, my son has surpassed that by making 2 years growth but that isn't good enough. You are telling my son that all the hard work he has done this year to become a reader is worth nothing because he has to stay in 3rd grade all over again for something he has no control over. Your new laws discriminate against children with learning disabilities, you wouldn't do this to a child with a physical disability why are you doing it to so many with learning disabilities. I do not believe in social promotion either, if a child has reached 3rd grade and is not able to read and does NOT have a learning disability then by all means they do not need to go any further, but why must those who are doing the absolute best they can be punished? As I said this would not be acceptable if we were talking about a physical disability but the discrimination is all the same. My son's IDEA rights are being violated and someone has to do something to stop this. I can't, for a minute, believe that you would purposely discriminate against Learning Disabled children but that is how it appears. I am not trying to get my son out of taking the FCAT by any means I feel that retention based solely on FCAT is unfair for children like my son, and there are many of them, because it takes none of their growth into consideration it just tests them on the 3rd grade level and if they aren't there then too bad for them. My son was retained once and retaining him in 3rd grade will not make him a better reader, it will however make him not like school and it will most likely lead him down the road to a GED instead of graduation. How can you take that away from these children? They are the ones who are working twice as hard as the average child and you are telling them that all that hard work was worth nothing. As a parent would you have wanted that for your children? I understand your "reading by nine" initiative and I agree with it for a child who is NOT disabled.  It is not fair or right for those who are. My son may be just a number to you and your law makers and the Reading By Nine initiative may be your "baby" but I am talking about my baby, he is a living breathing 10 year old with blond hair and big brown eyes. He wants to be an animator when he grows up and he doesn't understand why he can't go to 4th grade with the rest of his classmates when he has learned to read this year. He isn't just a number to me. Again PLEASE do not send me a form letter in response to this, please take 10 minutes out of your day to show that you truly care about these children and give me a response relative to my concerns.

Thank you
Cindy Foreman
Orlando, FL



Letter #2 (after this letter is when I got the phone call from the Governor's office)
Dear Governor Bush, I wrote to you back on the 28th of April and I have yet
to receive a response. I have to say I'm not really surprised but I am very
disappointed. I thought maybe you did care and you just didn't understand
what you were doing. Obviously I was wrong. Tonight I had to tell my son
that he will not be going to 4th grade despite the fact that he has made 2
years progress in just one year. I have been crying all evening because I
feel like I have failed him but I have come to the conclusion that it is
your administration that has failed him and 55 other 3rd grade students at
his school and countless others around the state. My original letter to you
is below and nothing has changed. My son is still being punished for having
a disability along with countless others. My son has to go to sleep tonight
with the understanding that his best just isn't good enough, that no matter
how hard he tries he just can't reach the standards that the state has set
for him because he has a disability. Fortunately, I am a better parent than
that and my son won't go to bed thinking that, because I won't allow it. I
won't allow your administration to take anything else away from him. My son
has been told how wonderful he is and how smart he is and how proud we are
of him no matter what grade he is in. My son has been told that he can do
and become anything he wants. My son is a victim of your administration's
discrimination. As for "No Child Left Behind" how do you explain that
concept to my son who will be 15 years old in the 7th grade and 20 years old
when/if he graduates high school, and to the countless number of other
learning disabled children who will be "left behind" in 3rd grade this year
and possibly next year too. I don't know why I am bothering to even write
again. You didn't care enough to respond the first time and you don't care
about the children you are effecting, they are only numbers and dollar signs
to you and the lawmakers.  As I said before my son is not just a number he
is a little boy with feelings, hopes, and dreams and your administration is
doing everything they can to crush all of those. You should be ashamed of
what you are doing to these children. I wonder what's next, children in
wheelchairs have to master all the physical education benchmarks before they
can be promoted? Oh of course not that wouldn't be right, that would be
unfair and unethical but yet doing the equivalent to a learning disabled
child is perfectly all right in your book.

Cindy Foreman
Orlando, FL