"FAPE" Rhymes With Cape

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FAPE rhymes with cape.  By the way if you haven't seen the new TV series, "the cape," you're missing out on some great television.  I think that every hearing officer and mediator should be issued a cape like the one with the magical powers used in the TV series.  Yes, I'll say it, My Powers Are Beyond Your Comprehension. (Note:  I just learned that like many shows I enjoy, the cape has been canceled. Yikes.)

But I digress...(sometimes the tangent is more fun than the main point!...It isn't easy being green...)  My original point is that FAPE rhymes with cape.  I have heard it pronounced many different ways.  One person said FAPE, rhyming it with cap.  My favorite was a person who pronounced it to rhyme with frappe.  (To be clear: the special education laws do not entitle anybody to a high end coffee infused beverage.)    

All of which was a preface (journalists call this burying the lead.  I am not a journalist!) to my real point which is my recent call for a middle ground on FAPE.  Why should the only choices be the basic floor of opportunity and potential maximization. An education should be more than a floor even if it cannot bring out the greatness in us.  There has to be a compromise position on the contours of a free and appropriate public education.  

What do you think?  I have gotten a lot of suggestions so far from our readers.  Please share your ideas.  I'm going to compile the best ideas and place them into my suggested changes for the reauthorization - when the time comes.  Let me know what you think.

Now then, where did I put my cape?   
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