ATTENTION: YOUR ATTENDANCE IS VITAL!

Hello,

Tomorrow evening (Tuesday, June 8th, at 7:oo p.m.) at the Gilbert Public Schools board meeting, the school board will be voting to approve, alter, or reject the Senate Task Force Recommendations on Best Practices in Special Education and Behavior Management. In case you are unfamiliar with this Task Force, it is about seclusion and restraint on special needs children in the school setting. Holly Reycraft, one of the co-founders and co-facilitators of EVAN, is a member of the Task Force and helped create the recommendations. Holly has worked with a number of families around the valley, but particularly in GPS, whose children have been secluded, restrained, and harmed by the lack of training and bad practices surrounding these issues in school districts. The final Report with the task force recommendations has been attached.



If you are not a GPS family, this still applies to you and everybody in this state with a special needs child. Find out if and when your school board has held or will hold this public meeting: it is required by law. If they have not scheduled it, inform them and apply heavy pressure to hold a public board meeting and APPROVE the task force recommendations.



The recommendations are on BEST PRACTICES. It recommends, among many other things: prohibiting certain holds (prone restraint); when and only when restraint and seclusion should be used; types of training; behavior management training; guidelines of notifying parents; debriefing the staff and more. This is the task force created by Senator Huppenthal, EVAN and a few others to come up with best practices to protect our children and the staff. Many school districts have zero common sense when it comes to seclusion and restraint--and especially autism. The injuries, deaths, and problems nationwide are shocking. Unfortunately, this Senate Bill (SB 1197) has no teeth: even if districts vote to adopt all recommendations, there are no consequences from the state if they violate them. (However, please note that they would be violating their own policies if they adopt the recommendations and then go against them; this would give families some leverage with their school board, etc.)

 BTW, all school districts in the state (charter schools included) must hold a public board meeting to vote to  approve/amend/reject the task for recommendations by June 30, 2010. Large showings at board meetings will give board members a clue that this is a serious issue--in EVERY district. We need to pass a bill with penalties for violating best practices, etc. This will be a fight because every district will resist. Too bad. Sorry Tom Horne refused to do ANYTHING about this issue. He doesn't give a crap--never did, never will (remember that when you are choosing the next Attorney General this fall...). Hopefully, Senator Huppenthal will do a better job. GO TO THE BOARD MEETING, PLEASE, TO SHOW THE BOARD YOU WANT THEM TO ADOPT THE TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS. THANKS!  WE CANNOT DO THIS BY OURSELVES: IF WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR YOUR CHILD, HELP US TO MAKE THINGS BETTER.

Here are some links to recent Arizona Republic Articles you might find interesting (EMILY GERSEMA, YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!!):
Mom alleges Gilbert school abused autistic daughter, 5
Diagnosis of Gilbert boy's autism pits doctors vs. schools  (not seclusion and restraint, but check it out)
Gilbert couple requests new restraint policy for autistic children
Changes to Gilbert special ed worry parents, expert (again, not seclusion and restraint, but check it out)