Image via WikipediaFAPE 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?
