On Wed, 3 Mar 1999, Kathleen Puckett wrote:

> Carter:
>
> IDEA stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and is the
> legislation governing access to a free appropriate education (usually
> interpreted as preK-12) for students with disabilities.  This legislation
> covers students of all disabilities from birth to the age of 22.
> Individuals who may be interested in this teleconference would include
> those involved in Pre k-12 schools, teacher preparation, especially (but
> not limited to) special education, and persons interested in school law,
> legislation, and the development of regulations from the legislative
> process.  It would also be useful for parents of students with
> disabilities, and for parent or disability advocacy group members.
>
> This teleconference is the first  in a series in which the federal
> officials finally present their regulatory interpretation of legislation
> passed in 1997.  Up to that date, school districts were left to fend for
> themselves on regulatory interpretation of the legislation.
> We are offering this down lilnk site as a service to our UTC and regional
> school based communities.
>
> Kathleen Puckett, Ph.D.
> University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
> 615 McCallie Ave
> 310 Hunter Hall
> Chattanooga TN 37403
> (423) 755-4122
>
Thanks, Kathleen.  I've probably heard of your IDEA before, but since I've
been involved with another project using that acronym, didn't recognize it
at first.  I find it helps in general to risk repetition to explain almost
any acronym used in e-mail to many people.   And if this has served to
give more publicity to a good cause, I'm glad.
                                                Carter Pate