When we finally decided to put up an advocate website for those parents who were having trouble with the Apollo-Ridge school system in regard to their children, we envisioned a much different site than what resulted at the Unofficial Apollo-Ridge Open Forum. The site was designed as a community awareness/support/venting/advocate site, to be used as a last resort by those who were/are being oppressed and persecuted by the school system (in any/all of a variety of ways). Its stated purpose was to bring the school system to account to the taxpayers of the community, and to keep it there. We are NOT disappointed by what the site has become, and we realize that there is a need for a venting forum to remain accessible to the citizens of this and other communities.

What we found in the Apollo-Ridge School District was much like a serious disease that affected not only the immediately involved students and parents, but the surrounding community. The more deeply we researched the situation, the more deeply we were sucked into an involvement that took on a life of its own. The cancer within the system had metastasized, and was infecting the entire body (including the police and judiciary) in ways that many people are still unwilling to accept and/or believe. We refuse to be responsible for the ultimate consequences of such an ostrich and/or uncaring attitude -- but we DO seriously accept the responsibility we have as watchmen to sound the alarm to the citizens who are affected by, and pay for, the destruction caused by such a systemic disease.

As with any sickness, it must first be identified to be effectively treated. A major part of the identification process depends upon the ability of the one with the disease to accept the truth of the situation. Denial is a stage which must be overcome in most cases of serious illness. It ranges from "hurt feelings" to anger and a resentment toward the one(s) who communicates the truth of the situation. Once the evidence becomes so overwhelming that denial is no longer possible, then the treatment can begin in earnest. Sometimes, though, it is fear of the treatment that brings about the most vehement protests.

Generally, when a disease has progressed into advanced stages before being uncovered, damage control is the immediate necessity. The present ravages of the illness must be dealt with BEFORE the deeper causes can be treated. Once the present symtoms are brought under control and stabilized, causal treatment may be applied and preventative measures can be taken.

We are not going to insult your intelligence by a detailed explanation and/or defense of this analogy. We do assert, however, that this is EXACTLY what we early realized we were facing within the school system. The deeper we tracked the disease, the more malignant, widespread, and tightly-rooted it manifested itself to be. The UAROForum found itself caught up in the identification/denial/damage-control stages of the treatment. The disease has proven extremely resistant to identification and corrective treatment, convincing us of the need for the Forum to remain relatively in its present form.

We are, therefore, pleased to announce the creation of a NEW SITE -- ARPTA (Arming Responsible Parents To Act). This site is intended to take up where the Forum was initially intended to go, before it took its needful sidetrack -- the education and empowerment of parents with special needs children, to help them to force the schools from the EARLIEST POSSIBLE MOMENT (in regard to each individual case) to conform to the disability and special education laws that are so often flouted by the public government school systems.

It is our belief that the earlier parents identify the needs of their children, and "persuade" the schools to actually obey the law, the more successful the prevention phase of our disease control will be. ARPTA will deal directly with the root of the problem.

As stated previously, the Forum shall remain as a public service. We, and members of the community, have enjoyed venting and enhancing public awareness on this site. It is an effective tool in the battle to bring under control the disease of the unaccountable, arbitrary, arrogant behavior of what should be public servants. Old habits die hard, and we certainly expect the school to remain adamant in its resistance to our message. Even though we have witnessed some ostensible housecleaning since the inception of this site, there is STILL much to do. WE SHALL NOT REST until we are absolutely certain that the school administration is working TOTALLY in the PUBLIC interest, rather than just to cover their own behinds.