H.R. 1-Education Bill,
Norwood and Sessions Amendments

Dear Rep. Hastert:

House Bill 1, the education bill, should leave no student behind, but the amendments offered by Senator Sessions and Rep. Norwood will deprive many students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) a public education by changing the expulsion rules. A uniform discipline policy may sound good, however the policy will actually result in the unjustified expulsions of many students. Schools districts must be held accountable for using a system that works. School districts are supposed to educate disabled kids in the least restrictive environment to prevent them from being segregated into second-rate programs. Unfortunately, schools fail to apply the existing procedures which would prevent the misunderstandings which may result in a disciplinary matter.

As an example, consider the girl with dyslexia where the school has chosen a "whole-language" approach to teaching reading instead of a phonics-based program. The school's poor choice affects the child with the disabilities the hardest. The girl falls further behind and then cannot follow along during other lessons in grammar and spelling. She acts out her boredom and frustrations. Under the Sessions amendment, she would be removed from school with no requirement to find an alternate or effective setting, as is presently the case. Instead of holding the school accountable under its duties to educate every child, the school shirks its responsibilities. Many schools do not want the disabled in their classrooms, and if the legislative amendments become law, school officials who do not want "those kids" in their classrooms will be able to place students in class rooms without sufficient support, resulting in suspensions, during which the schools will not have to pay for an education. A teacher, deliberately or unintentionally, can easily provoke a child with autism into a tantrum. Under the amendments, the student will be removed instead of the school informing the teacher how to avoid provoking a tantrum. Any law which facilitates depriving any children of the education they need is short-sighted and bad public policy. The probability of abuse of this amendment by school officials eager to remove children with "troublesome" disabilities, such as autism, from classrooms can not be ignored.

Some schools do not want the embarrassment of keeping students whom they do not know how to educate. While Sen. Sessions mentioned violent anecdotes to support his amendment, these stories could never have arisen if the 1997 IDEA law had been followed as it was written. The 1997 law requires schools to use procedures such as discipline plans, removals and assessments to prevent such stories. The allegations that these stories happened only proves that the schools disregard the discipline procedures of IDEA as much as they disregard the other parts of IDEA. The General Accounting Office found that discipline among students with disabilities was not a problem, and the White House National Council on Disabilities found none of the 50 States was in compliance with IDEA. Columbine did not involve students with disabilities.

The IDEA is up for renewal in 2002, and it makes sense to craft a discipline procedure which will work hand in hand with the discipline and behavioral provisions in the IDEA as a whole. Neither the Norwood nor the Sessions amendments is compatible with the present IDEA structure.

Please work to prevent the damage to our children's education as result of these amendments.
 

Very truly yours,

[a parent]

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