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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Act Now to Advocate for Children with Disabilities

You can make a difference! The House Ways & Means Committee has just heard three of Disability Rights Maryland's priority bills and will be voting on them soon. We need YOU to let the Committee members know you support these important bills!
 
HB 331 (Luedtke) strictly limits the use of physical restraint and seclusion against students at school, practices that disproportionately target students with disabilities and students of color, and are highly traumatizing and dangerous. The bill would also require data collection if such practices are used.
 
HB 425 (Lierman) bans out-of-school suspension and expulsion for young children in Pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade - another discipline practice that inordinately targets students with disabilities and students of color, and pushes them toward academic failure and the school-to-prison pipeline. Young children need to stay in school and learn.
 
HB 456 (Kaiser) requires the development of a dispute resolution process to ensure that children with disabilities and their families have access to child care services.
 
PLEASE CALL THESE COMMITTEE MEMBERS ASAP - THANK YOU!

 
Anne Kaiser (Chair)
 
Frank Turner (Vice Chair)
410-841-3246
 
Sheila Hixson (Chair Emeritus)
410-841-3469 
 
Kathy Afzali
410-841-3288
 
Bilal Ali
410-841-3268

Darryl Barnes
410-841-3557
 
Jason Buckel
410-841-3404
 
Eric Ebersole
410-841-3328
 
Kevin Hornberger
410-841-3284
 
Carolyn Howard
410-841-3919
 
Robert Long
410-841-3458
 
Eric Luedtke
410-841-3110
 
Nick Mosby
410-841-3520
 
Edith Patterson
410-841-3247
 
Teresa Reilly
410-841-3278
 
April Rose
410-841-3070
 
Haven Shoemaker
410-841-3359
 
Meagan Simonaire
410-841-3206
 
Jimmy Tarlau
410-841-3326
 
Jay Walker
410-841-3581
 
Alonzo Washington
410-841-3652
 
Mary Washington
410-841-3476
 
Jheanelle Wilkins
410-841-3493
 
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2017 at 10:17 PM

    Thank you Parent’s Coalition for this important post!

    I called every single representative on the list (members of the Ways and Means Committee) and told them of my enthusiastic support for these three bills. I am especially interested that HB-331 is passed, as our child was subject to excessive restraint and seclusion at an early age. Our child was held in bone-crushing restraint (by as many as 5 teachers /administrators) and placed in seclusion (for an hour or more, completely alone) for being noncompliant, NOT because our child was “an imminent danger to themselves or others.”

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