30 | AUGUST 19 • 2021

EDUCATION

F

or most people “back to school”
might mean new pencils and new
books. For one Franklin woman, it
also means new state special education and
civil rights complaints.
Marcie Lipsitt, 62, is a special education
advocate who spends her time fighting for
students’ rights.
Every child in the United
States is entitled to a free
appropriate public education
(FAPE), regardless of race,
ethnic background, religion,
sex, economic status and
disability. When a child has
a disability, they may need
support in order to learn in
a typical classroom as suc-
cessfully as their able-bodied
peers.
Enter the Individualized
Education Program (IEP), a
legally binding document crafted for each
student to provide access to an education.
When parents hire Lipsitt, it means their
child is not succeeding or reaching their
potential in school. Parents are often unfa-
miliar with the laws and what their child is
legally entitled to.
Lipsitt’s schedule is hectic; she spends her
time answering emails and phone calls in
between attending several meetings daily.
“Every day of the Michigan school year, I
have meetings,
” said Lipsitt, who started her
advocacy work when her son Andrew, now

32, was in elementary school. “I don’t keep
track of how many students I’ve advocated
for because the number would probably
frighten me!
“I’m the Michigan Department of
Education’s worst nightmare,
” Lipsitt said,
who describes her job as “going to the U.S.
Department of Education and their office
of Special Ed and basically
ratting out Michigan for
some pretty bad behavior.
”

FIGHTING FOR BETTER
EDUCATION
When Gov. John Engler
stripped the authori-
ty of the elected state
board members of the
Michigan Department
of Education and gave it
to the non-elected state
superintendent in 1996,
Lipsitt said it made education in Michigan
much worse.
“We’ve had five of these non-elected state
superintendents, who have all the authority
of a dictator,
” Lipsitt said. “There’s no trans-
parency; no one holds them accountable.
”
One example that always gets Lipsitt
riled up is the Highly Qualified Teacher
Provision in the then-named No Child
Left Behind Act. The provision stated that
teachers were required to pass the state
teacher licensing exam in the subject that
they teach.

“In 2008, Michigan was the only state in
the nation that was allowing people to teach
high school special ed after simply passing
the test to become an elementary teacher!”
Lipsitt said. “What can a student with a
disability learn in a resource room from a
teacher who can’t understand algebra him-
self? Kids were being taught by teachers
who weren’t trained.
”
In 2009, Lipsitt filed suit against the state
of Michigan, and the U.S Department of
Education found Michigan in formal viola-
tion of two national laws and required them
to rectify the matter immediately.
In 2016, the Highly Qualified Teacher
provision was removed altogether, which
Lipsitt said broke her heart. “That’s the end
of pushing teachers to be better trained.
”

PERSONAL LIFE
Lipsitt has lived in Michigan her entire life,
with the exception of her first two college
years in California. She and her husband,
Eric, are affiliated with Temple Israel.
“My mother said I was born carrying a
soapbox,
” Lipsitt said.
Without laws in place, school was very

Marcie Lipsitt fi
ghts for the rights of
impaired and disabled students.

Special Ed’s
Ardent
Advocate

continued on page 32

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Marcie Lipsitt

COURTESY OF MARCY LIPSITT

COURTESY OF MARCY LIPSITT

Marcie Lipsitt with her son Andrew at the Capitol
in Lansing advocating for Individualized Education
Programs (IEPs).

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