For Immediate Release From Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law!
Today, February 16, at 12:15 pm the House Education and Labor Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee had the hearing: “Serving All Students: Promoting a Healthier, More Supportive School Environment.”
https://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/serving... https://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/serving... You can watch the hearing here:
https://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/serving... One of the witnesses at the hearing is Ms. Kristen Harper, Ed.M., Vice President for Public Policy and Engagement at Child Trends, who shared great insight at Bazelon's event Re-imagining Inclusion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVF8jO7Sc... Equity, and Opportunity in Schools:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVF8jO7Sc... Other witnesses include Mr. Guy Stephens, Founder and Executive Director of Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint, Ms. Morgan Craven, J.D. National Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement of IDRA (Intercultural Development Research Association), and Mr. Max Eden Research Fellow at American Enterprise Institute.
The Bazelon Center stands firmly against federal financing for school-based police, the use of harmful restraint, seclusion, and corporal punishment in schools, and other practices that disproportionately punish and push out students with disabilities, especially Black and Brown students. We call on Congress to advance the following vital legislation to provide safe, healthy, and inclusive school climates.
Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act (S. 2125/H.R. 4011): prohibits the use of federal funds to support the hiring, recruitment, and placement of police officers on K-12 school campuses. When police are in schools, conduct that is better addressed by school counselors or the school’s disciplinary process becomes criminalized. For that reason, the act will instead establish a $5 billion grant program to invest in school districts that remove law enforcement so that schools can provide adequately trained personnel and trauma-informed services to improve the learning environment for children.
Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 1858/H.R. 3474): protects students by prohibiting schools that receive federal funding from secluding children and using mechanical, chemical, or physical restraints. This Act also provides grants that will allow schools to invest in professional development, training, and certification for school personnel to equip them with the proper skills to ensure there are no threats to students’ health and safety.
Protecting Our Students in Schools Act (S. 2029/H.R. 3836): prohibits the practice of corporal punishment in any schools that receive federal funding. The Act also creates a series of enforcement protections for both students and families, as well as a federal grant program to assist in improving the school's climate and culture.
Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2021 (S. 2410/H.R. 4402): ensures that federal standards are established to protect students from bullying and harassment. Bullying can often have long-term consequences for students, socially, academically, psychologically, and physically. These consequences can lead to increased absences and decreased school interests and concentration levels.
Ending PUSHOUT Act of 2021 (H.R. 2248): prevents the criminalization and pushout of students from schools by establishing a grant program to reduce exclusionary discipline practices. Students, specifically black and brown girls, are at high risk of being pushed out of schools, leading to negative consequences.
What You Can Do:
Fight for our children by asking Congress to enact the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act, Keeping All Students Safe Act, Protecting our Students in Schools Act, Safe Schools Improvement Act, and the Ending PUSHOUT Act. Take action by letting Congress know we need positive, not incarceral, school climates by using our action button to send an email to your elected official in one click.
See,
https://p2a.co/a96euW4 Support Bazelon Donations:
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/14056... ********
Will the Next Supreme Court Justice Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities?
Very soon, President Biden will announce a nominee for the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in our nation, to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who will retire this summer.
President Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. The Bazelon Center applauds this commitment, which is long overdue.
We hope that the President’s nominee will also be a judge or lawyer who has demonstrated an understanding of and commitment to a fair day in court for people with disabilities and other historically marginalized populations.
Tell the President We Need a Disability Civil Rights Leader on the Supreme Court!
For 28 years, Justice Breyer has been a strong voice on the Supreme Court for disability rights and other civil rights. He has consistently voted to protect the rights of people with disabilities, including in cases involving our landmark disability civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
With the current Supreme Court’s conservative majority, having a new Justice on the Court who understands disability and other civil rights laws, and who is committed to a fair day in court for people bringing claims under this law, is critical.
Contact the White House at (202) 456-1111 (phone), (202) 456-6213 (TTY) or online at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. Let President Biden know that you want a nominee who will understand the importance of disability rights and other civil rights!
To protect the rights of people with disabilities, we ask President Biden to:
Choose a justice who respects the role of Congress in protecting disability rights. In enacting the ADA and other disability rights laws, Congress carefully considered the history of people with disabilities in the United States. As Justice Breyer wrote in dissent in Board of Trustees v. Garrett (2001), Congress recognized scores of examples of how people with disabilities have been harmed by disability discrimination in this country, including in the workplace and in state and local government programs. In Tennessee v. Lane (2004) and United States v. Georgia (2008), Justice Breyer was a critical vote in affirming the constitutionality of the ADA. We want President Biden to choose a Supreme Court nominee who will respect Congress’s important role and hard work in writing and enacting the ADA and other disability rights laws, which so many people with disabilities depend on to protect them from discrimination.
Choose a justice who understands the impact of Supreme Court decisions on people with disabilities. Supreme Court decisions have consequences, not just for the parties before the Court, but for everyone. For example, in P.G.A. Tour, Inc., v. Martin (2001), the Supreme Court ruled that Casey Martin, a golfer with a mobility disability, could use a golf cart on the PGA tour. This decision, which Justice Breyer joined, made it easier for everyone, including students and workers (not just golfers), to get the accommodations they need to have an equal opportunity. Writing in dissent in another case, Arlington Central School District v. Murphy (2006), Justice Breyer argued that the right to special education for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) means little if parents can’t afford to fight for this right. We want President Biden to choose a Supreme Court nominee who understands how important Supreme Court decisions are to the everyday lives of people with disabilities and their families.
Choose a justice who respects precedent. Everyone makes choices in life, such as asking for reasonable accommodations in the workplace or in school, or choosing medical care and health insurance, based on an understanding of their legal rights as interpreted in past Supreme Court decisions. Justice Breyer has played a significant role in the Supreme Court’s decisions protecting the rights of people with disabilities for the last three decades. He provided a critical vote for the Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), which held that the unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities is discrimination that violates the ADA. He also joined the Court’s majority in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017), which announced a new and more demanding standard for what schools must do to educate students with disabilities, and in all three cases affirming the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which provides critical support for medical care and long-term services for people with disabilities. We want President Biden to choose a Supreme Court nominee who, like Justice Breyer, respects the role of past Supreme Court decisions in setting expectations for people with disabilities.
Choose a justice who understands intersectionality. People with disabilities have other identities and are often members of other historically marginalized communities. Disability rights are civil rights, and disability discrimination is often accompanied by other forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on race, ethnicity, s*x, s*xual orientation, or gender identity. In cases including Alexander v. Sandoval (2001) and Shelby County v. Holder (2013), Justice Breyer joined dissenting opinions strongly supporting interpreting civil rights laws intended to prohibit race discrimination. In United States v. Virginia (1996), Justice Breyer joined the Court’s majority decision affirming the Constitutional’s robust protections against s*x discrimination and in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) he joined the Court’s decision that LGBTQ people are protected under our federal employment discrimination laws. We want President Biden to choose a Supreme Court nominee who understands that people with disabilities often face other types of discrimination, too, and need strong civil rights laws that protect against such treatment. Disability justice demands no less.
What You Can Do
Please tell President Biden why he should name someone who will uphold the rights of people with disabilities. Ask President Biden to:
Choose a justice who respects the role of Congress in protecting disability and other civil rights, and who will interpret disability rights laws broadly, as Congress intended.
Choose a justice who understands the impact of Supreme Court decisions on people with disabilities.
Choose a justice who understands that protections in disability and other civil rights laws, as interpreted in past Supreme Court decisions and on which people with disabilities regularly rely, must not be reversed.
Choose a justice who understands that people with disabilities often face other forms of discrimination and cares about all civil rights.
Contact the White House at (202) 456-1111 (phone), (202) 456-6213 (TTY) or online at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. Let President Biden know that you want a nominee who will understand the importance of disability rights and other civil rights!
Posted By: agnes levine
Wednesday, February 16th 2022 at 5:21PM
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