Federal Issues and Bills

Morning thoughts: came across the term "learning boundary" instead of learning disability. It's an interesting paradigm shift. Part of me likes the shift away from dis--ability. But struggling with the idea of boundary being a limit/line you can't cross and thinking "can only go this far". On the other other hand... part of me thinks teachers would have a better idea if we used the word boundary... basically this is how far the kid can go on his own and he needs your help from there. (A softer line in the sand perhaps not a hard boundary. ) I'm just thinking about the accountability piece with teachers as well and how to bring that in. Like disability absolves them someh…

I wasn't sure where to put this. The back story is that the policy in my school district on IEP & 504 complaints recently changed. They dropped the contact info for the local Civil Right Office that was recently closed - one of the many changes made by DOGE. I started digging. My quest was to answer the question: Who do you call if you have a civil rights issue with a school? The answer is: The USDOE. Yep, the department of education is who now handles civil rights issues. This is the web page with info on filing complaints: https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/file-complaint

Contact your legislators here to show your support for federal bills that can help end harmful, traumatic crisis management practices in school. Here's a link about several bills from Lives in the Balance: https://livesinthebalance.org/take-action/

One of the many hats I wear is that I am on the EPAC for the Epilepsy Foundation. EPAC=Education Policy Advisory Committee Sharing something they shared with me today: Dear Lisa, Happy National Epilepsy Awareness Month (NEAM)! After the mid-term election next week, members of Congress will return to Washington, D.C., and will need to finish working on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget. Now is the perfect time for you to reach out to your elected officials and ask them to support increased investments in critical epilepsy-related programs and research in the final FY 2023 budget. The Epilepsy Foundation and many grassroots advocates have been meet…