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This week, as the Senate drafts its final version of the Preventing Harmful Restraint
and Seclusion in Schools Act, S. 2860, a very dangerous provision is creeping in.
The Senate would let school staff put restraint and seclusion in a child’s IEP or 504 plan. Call your Senators now and ask them to reject this proposal.
The Proposed Amendment to S. 2860 Will Take Away IDEA Rights. Unlike IDEA, 504, and ADA, the Restraint/Seclusion bill has been written to prevent parents from seeking to enforce it in with lawsuits.
The new law (S. 2860) would take precedence over the old law (IDEA).
To learn more details about the proposed provision, read No Restraint & Seclusion in IEPs, Protect IDEA Rights! by Jessica Butler, Esq. |
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Please Call Your Senator Now! |
Senators: Please Do Not Allow Restraint/Seclusion to be Added to the IEP in S.2860.
- S. 2860 should require that all students receive IEPs which treat them with dignity, with positive interventions, and appropriate services.
- Putting R/S in an IEP Is NOT necessary to plan for crises.
- Schools have the upper-hand in IEP negotiations; parents rarely are equals.
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How to Call Your Senator |
- Always use the bill number, S. 2860, Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act. Please call; Senators pay more attention to calls. Email may get lost. Use Email only if you must.
- Dial 202-224-3121 (TTY 202-225-1904) or go to www.senate.gov, click on Senators for contact information (including local numbers). You will have 2 Senators. When you call, ask for their Education or Disability Aide. Leave a detailed voicemail message if they are not available. Be sure to identify the bill by name, Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act and use the number, S. 2860.
- Please call your Senators - but especially if you live in these states on the Senate HELP Committee: AK, AZ, CO, CT, GA, IA, KS , MD, MN, NC, NH, NM, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TN, UT, VT, WA, WY. If you are in these states, check the HELP Committee website so you call the Senator on the Committee, http://help.senate.gov/. If you have friends or family in the Committee states, please get them to call. And even if you are not in a Committee state, please call. Senators from all over the country are impacting this bill.
- Call Senator Tom Harkin and ask for his disability counsel (phone 202-224-3254, fax 202-224-9369). Senator Harkin chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, http://help.senate.gov/ and has much power over this bill. He needs to hear from parents and advocates from around the country; he certainly is hearing from the other side.
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Copyright © 2009, 2010 Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright. All rights reserved. Please do NOT reprint or host on your web site without explicit permission. |
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