Seems Zvi Greismann, attorney for the Montgomery County Public Schools has been taking stand-up comedy lessons from George W. Bush. Or perhaps vice versa. Bush's performance at the Correspondents' Dinner last week, where he jokingly searched under Oval Office furniture for missing WMDs, incited strong criticism from family members of soldiers killed or injured in Iraq. Greismann's own brand of comedy indicated a similar lack of conscience, as he mocked the school systems' purported opponants, families of special needs children seeking the system's compliance with federal disability law.
According to the WaPo, here are a few examples of Greismann's brand of humor, fully funded by state and local tax dollars:
[J]oked that Cuisinart has come up with the Due Processor, which "shreds, dices, cuts, blends, frappes and otherwise destroys" unwanted applications for due process hearings, where schooling disputes are resolved. Showing a photo of elated children, he said, "In Boulder, Colorado, a group of students took to the streets in celebration of their due process victory, where the judges awarded them new sets of parents."
With a John Madden display of arrows and circles, he gave a play-by-play of how a school system used its skill to deny a family the placement sought for a child.
...[G]oals for special-ed students derived by the "National Association of Underachieving Smartypants Educators and Administrators," or NAUSEA: "You will complete the entire homework assignment without your parents' help" and "You will sit in your seat with your big fat mouth shut for at least five minutes without attacking anyone."
Parents who later learned of Greismann's satire at the expense of disabled children and their families were understandably angry:
"I was horrified," said Marcie Roth of Rockville. "It made me feel awful that a roomful of people were having a good laugh at something that my family and I have found so difficult."Seeing a meeting for a student's individualized education plan (IEP) portrayed as a sports play-by-play riled Selene Robinson of Rockville. "It just confirmed my feeling of what we went through in Montgomery County," she said. "You always felt after an IEP meeting they must be laughing their tushes off."
I tend to be the kind of person who tries to approach adversity with at least a semblance of humor, and will often joke about life as a POA. Dwight does as well.
But this crosses the line of laughing "with" to laughing "at"; The glee is derived from denying the most basic of American rights, to a free and appropriate education, to our most vulnerable children. If the parents of special needs kids in Montgomery County have their way, they'll have the last laugh, with the firing of attorney Greismann.
[note: Thanks to Emily for the WaPo head's up]
Posted by MB Williams at March 31, 2004 02:09 PM | TrackBackI try to approach our situation with a sense of humor. I hope that shows in some of my autism posts. Finding the humor is important to be able to keep going.
Nonetheless, making fun of the myriad of ways to use the system to deny special needs kids the placement their parents think is best is seriously not funny. It would be funny only if it was not true.
As you said MB, he is laughing at us, not with us.
Even more depressing is that his "act" played to rave reviews at the conference for lawyers for school systems.
Posted by: dwight meredith at March 31, 2004 06:41 PMListen, let them have their little bit of fun. As far as I'm concerned, every IEP I've been to has been a joke, anyhow...Except for the ones that were headed by a mother of an autistic child, a PhD who headed the preschool program. Come to think of it, my son also received every possible therapy the school had to offer without a fight.
You know, there is nothing we can do to help them to walk in our shoes. Ignorance is bliss, and this shows a real callousness. Makes you wonder how good the ass is at his job...
That's an idea! Find a picture of the guy and transpose it on the rump of a horse!! Make copies and give them out at the convention!! Those parents could take the wind right out of his sails with just a little cartoon!!!!
Ah, what the heck....
Word, Dwight and MB. The jokes depend on shared assumptions about parents and disabled kids. It's the same kind of cr*p people pull when they use any kind of hostile, putdown humor.
Posted by: emily at April 1, 2004 08:52 PMThat's just ick
Posted by: Leila at April 2, 2004 03:38 AMOur Administrative Law Judges, who are trained by Zvi Greismann, Esq., also attended the LRP Conference. How unbiased can they be?????
Selene Robinson
Rockville, Maryland
I'm a wee bit late here, but I wanted to also add my two cents.
I also look at a lot of what my son does and just everything overall with a sense of humor. Life is much less stressful that way.
But knowing first hand what it's like to have your child denied services makes me want to smack this man upside the head. As a matter of fact, I just posted on this very sort of subject this morning. I'm going to go do another and track back to your post in about two minutes.
I do really bad Photoshop, anyone got a picture of this guy? ;)
Posted by: Moi ;) at April 7, 2004 01:31 PMBTW did you guys know he printed an apology?
Posted by: Moi ;) at April 7, 2004 01:41 PM"All Kids Count" March: 4 p.m., April 26
Join us in a march and rally to affirm the rights of disabled children to a
public education and to protest the school system's support of Zvi Greismann,
Senior Attorney, Montgomery County Public Schools. Mr. Greismann exemplifies the
school administration's pervasive bias against fair treatment for disabled children.
4 p.m. PRESS CONFERENCE: Gather at the Montgomery County Council building, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville (a few blocks from the Rockville metro station, on the red line).
4:30 p.m. MARCH: From the County Council building along Rockville Pike/Hungerford Drive about 1 mile to the Carver Educational Services Building, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville.
5:30 p.m. RALLY: Make your voices heard in support of fairness in public education for disabled kids.
6:30 p.m. GREET: School board members as they arrive to attend their regular bi-monthly meeting.
8 p.m. "The Activists Post-Rally Party" - TESTIFY before the Board of Education.
Sign up to testify by calling the Board of Education office on 301-279-3617 at 3 p.m. on Monday, April 26 - call right at 3 p.m. because the slots go quickly. You will have 2 minutes for your testimony.
HELP US SPREAD THE NEWS! BRING YOUR KIDS AND YOUR FRIENDS!
You can participate in any or all events -- join us at any time!
More details on the logistics of the "All Kids Count" March to follow . . .
Contacts for Further Information:
Barbara Fichman - barbara.fichman@verizon.net
Reda Sheinberg - rjsheinberg@yahoo.com
Jeanne Taylor - FRTJMT@aol.com
WHY ARE WE MARCHING?
In May 2003, at LRP's National Institute on Legal Issues of Educating Individuals with Disabilities conference, attended by more than two thousand
school administrators, school attorneys, and administrative law judges from
across the country, Mr. Greismann ridiculed and demeaned special education
students and their parents in a "comedy" performance. His idea of a good
accommodation for disabled kids who are struggling to stay in school and earn a
diploma: "Sit in your seat with your big fat mouth shut for 5 minutes without
attacking anyone."
Those in attendance thought this was funny. Many citizens in Montgomery County
do not. And we question spending state and county tax dollars to send
administrative law judges to a conference such as this one.
MCPS told concerned citizens that Mr. Greismann was exercising his First
Amendment rights. The president of the school board told complainants that they
needed to use MCPS Form 270-8 to have their views considered. Six weeks and
dozens of complaints later, not one administrator or school board member has
stepped forward to defend disabled kids against the bigotry shown by Mr.
Greismann. Their silence condones his actions.
LRP wants Mr. Greismann to return for a repeat performance of his "stunning
debut" in May 2004. LRP is actively promoting the denigration of disabled
children.
There is no room in Montgomery County, or any county or State in our country, for
the kind of contempt displayed by Zvi Greismann, promoted by LRP, and condoned by
MCPS administrators and school board members.
CO-SPONSORS OF THE MARCH (TO DATE)
MCneeds
SpecialEdVoters.org
Maryland Statewide Independent Living Council
Emotional Disabilities Action Group
Capital Area ADAPT
Independence Now
Gifted and Talented Association of Montgomery County
Spinal Cord Injury Network of the Metropolitan Washington Area
DIRECT Action, Inc.
ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights
Access Information, Inc.
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County