Way too many challenging kids are still poorly understood and are receiving treatment that is inhumane and ineffective.  Lives in the Balance has several ways for you to be a part of the solution...with lots more in the pipeline.

ACTION PLAN B

Your first step is to sign up for Action Plan B, the Lives in the Balance call to action.  Every 2-3 months, you’ll receive an email from us letting you know about how you can help move things in the right direction.  Don’t worry...we won’t fill your Inbox with meaningless information or vacant initiatives...but we will keep you abreast of things you can do now to really make a difference.  Sign up for Action Plan B here.

You can also read prior editions of Action Plan B:
January, 2011
May, 2011
March, 2012

LET US KNOW!

Have you seen a story in the local or national media about kids being treated in inhumane and ineffective ways?  Perhaps about a child who’s been removed from school in handcuffs?  Or about kids who are on the receiving end of physical, chemical, and mechanical restraints, locked door seclusion, or corporal punishment?  Or about parents who are being unfairly blamed for their child’s challenging behavior?  Or about classroom teachers who are trying to work with behaviorally challenging kids under impossible and unreasonable conditions?  Or about current or proposed policies and procedures that are a step in the wrong direction and are bound to make things worse? 

LET US KNOW! Email our Associate Director, Lauren Lapat at lauren@livesinthebalance.org, and be sure to include links to the articles or other media describing the situation.  Lives in the Balance will research the problem and, if we think we can make a difference, we’ll take action.  We won’t be confrontational but rather collaborative…our goal is to advocate, educate, and lend a hand to make things better.

RECENT ACTION TAKEN

Here are some of the ways in which Lives in the Balance has been Taking Action recently:

Teachers Suspending Students in Arizona

As reported on ABC Arizona, Arizona State Representative John Fillmore has proposed an amendment to HB 2011 giving teachers the authority to remove pupils from the classroom and suspend them.  In the bill, the teacher’s decision to suspend is not subject to review or appeal by any other person or entity.  The Arizona Education Association and Arizona Federation of Teachers are opposed to the bill.

The Problem:  Allowing teachers to suspend kids would give teachers more authority but it wouldn’t give teachers the tools they need to figure out why students are acting out, what skills they are lacking, or how to collaborate with them to solve problems.  Suspensions don’t solve problems...they merely remove the problem temporarily.  We think keeping kids in school and solving the problems that are interfering with their progress and setting in motion their behavior problem makes a lot more sense.

Action Taken: Lives in the Balance has reached out to Representative Fillmore and provided and provided him with an LITB Care Package.  We asked him to review the resources we provided and let him know we're here to help. If Arizona wants to give teachers more power, we suggest giving them the tools to better understand and meet the needs of students with behavioral challenges.

Parent Involvement and Accountability in Florida Public Schools 

As reported on CNN and elsewhere, Florida State Representative Kelli Stargel has sponsored House Bill 255 proposing set standards for parental accountability, specifies causes for student underachievement, and requires that teachers in pre-K through grade 3 assign parental involvement grades on student report cards based on whether parents send their kids to school well fed and well rested, whether they adequately supervised homework and whether they responded to teachers’ requests, among other items.  And Florida State Senator Ronda Storms Stargel has sponsored a bill in the Florida senate (Senate Bill 1680) with a similar requirement.  

The Problem:  While both lawmakers have admirable intentions, we believe their solutions are misguided. Having teachers grade parents isn't conducive to the collaborative process required for solving the tough problems facing many students and their families.  

Action Taken: Lives in the Balance has reached out to Representative Stargel and Senator Storms and provided both with LITB Care Packages.  We asked them to review the resources we provided and let them know we're here to help. If Florida wants to improve student achievement and parental involvement, it'll be through collaboration rather than through punitive, adversarial stances.

Student Behavior in Texas Public Schools

As reported in multiple media venues, public school police officers in numerous school districts in Texas are issuing Class C misdemeanor tickets to children as young as six years of age for disruptive behaviors.  Students are then subjected to criminal court hearings and fines.

The Problem: Punitive interventions don't solve the problems that set in motion challenging behaviors...and they don't teach behaviorally challenging kids the skills they're lacking.  They just push kids further outside the mainstream and fuel alienation and adversarial adult-child interactions.  In moving beyond the "usual" ineffective punitive interventions -- detention, suspension, and so forth -- Texas has taken a giant step in exactly the wrong direction.  Fortunately, we're not the only ones who think this is so: admirably, Texas State Senator John Whitmore has also publicly expressed his concerns (CLICK HERE).

Action Taken:  Lives in the Balance has reached out to Texas Secretary of Education Robert Scott and Texas School Committee Chair Gail Lowe and provided both with LITB Care Packages.  We encouraged them to review the resources and let them know that Lives in the Balance would be happy to help them become aware of compassionate, effective ways to help behaviorally challenging kids.

The Lives in the Balance Care Package program is supported by funding from Dr. Greene and CPS Initiative.