CALLING All My FellowTEXANS 2 Action!

TheOnlyMe

Relentless Warrior Mom
TEXAS ZERO TOLERANCE LAW

Texas House Committee on Public Education Heard House Bills 171 & 172

Rep.Olivo's two major reform bills were heard before committee on Tuesday, March31. The hearing was pushed up from the expected April 7th date.

I was at the TALAC Conference from TAMU-Difficult Child. My son and I spook to Debbie Riddle's Chief of Staff about this situation. I know of 8 and 10 year old under IDEA with inadequate BIP's or none at all, getting criminal records from this LAW!

My own son got four tickets when he was in medication changes; I advocated for him and educated the attorneys; in two different JP courts, which had a reputation for no mercy. He turned 18 with a clean record. He now has a Homeland Security Clearance job, even though he has been in a relapse for 6mths, they have understood! This is very important for our children not to have criminal records and our rights as parents NOT be violated in the process. I had a responsibility to check criminal records as mandated by Federal Regulations for the position I processed applications and juvenile records DO SHOW up AND CAN AFFECT THEIR FUTURE EMPLOYMENT AND FURTHER EDUCATION!

I am just asking if you have a Half of a thought about doing it; please don’t hesitate to holler for our Texas Youth!

Thanks from the Future of Texas!


PS ======>Sorry I haven't been on but I been dealing with a Medicaid, SSI, OAG, SD, Dars, gone to two scholarship conferences, and outpatient at the Hospital for treatments for my son three times a week. But I been standing in the corner watching :) (YOU NAME AND I am going thru it right now to the point; you cant even imagine! I haven't even been able to advocate or been to one ARD in March!) I will update the ECT as soon as I meet some deadlines in the next few days. SS....it has awaken his mind, but we had bureaucratic issues in the middle for two weeks.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Sadly, a child can be ticketed and sent to court, given a record which will follow them for LIFE for kicking someone - but a teacher who has the entire class "vote" a child out of the room is not able to be held accountable by parents at all.

Laws like this are why husband and I refused to even consider several jobs that would have had us moving to TX. I LOVED living in Austin, but would NEVER live there while I had children.

I hope schools everywhere take zero tolerance out and replace it with common sense and good judgement and appropriate training and interventions.
 

TheOnlyMe

Relentless Warrior Mom
Thanks Suziestar! for the confirmation of how horrible it is!

I got to speak at a rally at the conference and used some of what ya'll say about TX and Title 1 on the steps of the Capital. I don't remember all I said cuz the passion just FLEW out my mouth but I did say TEXAS is the second largest state in the Nation and The biggest laughing stock for still receivng Title 1 funding! One of the main reason's is we have increased our Prisons in the last 25 years from 30 to 171, and then instead of paying for an education with our tax $'s they get paid over approx. 15.8 BILLION a year in CJ money!! THE Crowd was RILED! It felt like to me I was at a 60's rally in the future{if that makes sense}
 

Steely

Active Member
Can you give us Texans a form letter of sorts to send? I went on the website, but I do not have time to compose a letter - yet I want to make an impact.
 

marianna37

marianna37
Short story... My son M was arrested last year at school by the police on campus. He was questioned, searched, and arrested all without my being notified or present. He was 14 years old. He had marajuana in his possession. He is a type one Diabetic very unstable, and has Bipolar type 1 and was going thru a medication change. (which the school was aware of ). His insulin was not provided by me for several hours due to the delay in my being notified. His blood sugar was not checked.

New story...Dear Chief of Police,

I found your name on the police website. I am sorry that I have found it necessary to contact you personally. I made three calls to the campus police officer and have not had my calls returned. I realize the officers have been at training but I spoke to one officer twice who would not pass on my message and request to someone able to answer my questions and concerns. I am very unhappy about that because my concerns are of an urgent nature, which I communicated clearly to the officer I spoke to. I usually take notes of the person's name but I failed to do so.

My son is a 9th grade student. He left campus on Wednesday April 2. He left campus at 10:45 a.m. He was missing from campus for two hours before they noticed. I was not notified until 2:45 p.m. M is a Type 1 Diabetic who is very unstable medically. In fact he was just released from a children's hospital 3 weeks ago when he went into DKA. The school knows this. He is also Bipolar 1 and is in a manic state at this time. We are trying to get him stabilized on a new medication and he is not yet a therapeutic level. The school knows this. M is a special education student and is vulnerable and "at risk" for committing suicide. He is actively experiencing suicidal ideation. All of the above, singly, or in combination are excellent reasons why I should have been immediately notified of him being missing. M has a pattern of this behavior. Two weeks ago, my husband requested that M should be accompanied to the clinic, classes, etc. by a responsible adult. This was not implemented by the school campus.

The principal I spoke to yesterday tried to put the blame back on M by saying that some students had commented that M had said that he was going to walk over to the senior campus, eat, and smoke pot. He did not do so as he walked to the public library and was there all this time. Isn't their assumption that he was off smoking pot an even better reason to contact his parents immediately. When I finally was contacted by the school, they still had no idea where M was. I feel that the sherrif's department should have been involved and invited to help locate M in this life threatening and dangerous situation. Do you know what effect using marajuana could have on a Diabetic child with high blood sugar? And the effect this could have by interacting with the anti-seizure medication he is on? M could have been in a coma or worse but yet the school failed to notify me of this situation.

I am requesting from you to provide the CISD procedure to locate a missing student. The principal acted like there isn't a specific protocol for the school to follow. If there is not there certainly should be. I find it difficult to believe that the district does not have such a procedure in place.
This was also forwarded to the superintendant of CISD.

Another new story:

M's blood sugar was over 500 at school on Thursday and He called to be picked up about 9:50 a.m. When I picked him up, he told me that he had been given three injections in an hour and a half. This was done under the supervision of the school nurse without the direction of his pediatric endocrinologist which can be reached on the diabetic emergency line number at any time. He was just released from the hospital three weeks ago after going into DKA. At the time I picked him up, the nurse told me she had seen him once and had one insulin correction. When I later requested documentation through phone and email of her written documentation of M's visits to the clinic on this day, she wrote me that he was there one time at 9:48 a.m. and left in a good mood. This is a serious discrepancy from M's account. I had him write out a statement documenting times he went to the clinic, teachers who sent him there, corrections he took, amounts of insulin administered, who was in the clinic, who authorized and supervised these injections.
Please, does anyone know the law in Texas about clinic records, logging visits, times, actions by nurse, etc. Once again, M has been placed in a life threatening situation by the school and his health plan was not followed or procedures implemented. I want to file a charge with the Police but do not know if the school will have opportunity to change or "lose" his clinic records by the time they investigate this. I have called this situation and previous ones to the attention of the director of special services, director of health services and the asst. and head superintendant of the district. No response from anyone. No acknowledgent.

One more thing:

I am sending this email in order to express my deep concern with the decision to change M's placement for 5 days to the DAEP school. This is a dangerous situation due to M's hyperglycemic (very high blood sugars which can lead to DKA) condition. School officials are well aware of the condition of M's health. They are also aware that M is in a manic episode with unstable moods manifesting symptoms such as irritability,
verbal aggressiveness, short temper, and rage without an obvious trigger. Also, racing thoughts, restlessness, impulsivity, over talkative, and grandiose thoughts such as M expressing his superior knowledge as compared to his teachers. He is taking a new medication which must be slowly increased incrementally in order to decrease the risk of life threatening side effects. My understanding is that there is not a registered nurse assigned to the school and present during school hours. Matthew was just discharged from a children's hospital last week when we had an emergency situation of his blood sugar escalating very quickly and he went into DKA. One of his teachers had called me to let me know that M was sleeping in class throughout the day. M was experiencing symptoms such as extreme fatigue, sleepiness, irritability, thirstiness, frequent urination, and nausea/vomitting. These symptoms were unrecognized for what they were and were misunderstood to be non-compliance and defiance on the part of M, when in fact, they were a warning sign. When ketones in the blood raise too high and insulin cannot clear them out DKA occurs. Because of the preceding very serious situations, M needs to have supervision by a knoledgeable person such as a nurse who could intervene in an emergency situation perhaps if M became unable to speak and give directions to the staff on what they should do. I provided the emergency number of the diabetic clinic at the hospital but in an emergency the response time would not be quick enough to effectively intervene.

M is trying hard and at least making an attempt to attend DAEP in spite of his medical problems. He still has one day to complete because two days were not counted due to his unrecognized hyperglycemia. He is being penalized for a condition of which many factors are beyond his control.

His suspension and placement at DAEP was actually a result of his manic symptoms which his BIP does not address and are misclassified by his home campus staff and administrators as his discipline referrals clearly show. My request for an emergency ARD were ignored and we didn't meet until several days after the incident. I never received any paperwork or Order of Placement Change. The school said it sent the paperwork home with M. As I have told her in the past this is a very unreliable way and correspondance should be mailed to our home. I have still yet to receive this paperwork although she told me she would get it in the mail over two weeks ago. During the ARD meeting on 2/13 M was continually blamed for his Hyperglycemia. Once again this in not the issue. M has very complex issues he has to deal with through no fault of his own and is functioning to the best of his ability at this time. He needs an atmosphere of support rather than condemnation and blame. He needs to grow in the skills to make good choices in his diabetes management. Blaming him is not helpful.

A much better alternative would have been for M to be assigned ISSP so he could have access to the nurse who has knowledge of M's needs and is able to effectively assist M in an emergency situation and to keep me appraised of his need to come home to handle things here under the care of his pediatric endocrinologist support and direction. We would then be able to ascertain when M has a need to get to the emergency room and/or be admitted to the hospital.

We are working closely with his diabetes care team, his psychiatrist and therapist to stabilize M's conditions and allow him to attend school in a healthy state.

The school continues not to recognize the difference between truancy and necessary illness-related absences for Diabetes and mental health care. (When medications effects make it impossible for him to be in school such as a recent psychotic state which lasted for two days.) It is difficult enough to support and care for M without the added stress of the school filing truancy charges. Perhaps a thorough review of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act would assist in this case. Students with a chronic illness such as Diabetes and Bipolar Disorder cannot be penalized for absences needed to care for their illness.

I am expecting this situation to be remedied and the school staff, teachers, and administrators to recognize the situation for what it is. M is being discriminated against for his disabilities and meets the criteria for this under the standards of Section 504, ADA, and OCR. This situation must be addressed before I see a lack of voluntary cooperation and file complaints with the necessary agencies to insure that Matthew receives the rights and protections under Federal Law.

Thank you,

M's Mother

I have since found out that there are specific laws for the required care of diabetic students in texas. These procedures were not followed. I have also found out that his home campus failed to fax over to the DAEP his health plan and physician's orders. M also told me that on his first day a nurse from another campus came to the DAEP when his blood sugar was over 500, large ketones, nausea, vomitting, blurred vision, fatigue. She said when he requested to call me to pick him up that she remarked, "he can sit up so he can do his work".

I'm sorry this was so long.
 
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