1) My gratitude to Chris and Tara for speaking for those whose voices are often unheard and to the many parents who were able attend. As many of you know, I was in NYC for several days in support of the Autism Awareness Month and in attendance at an awards ceremony, but my heart was here in Delaware.
2) This school board member is in absolute support of H.B. 328 and I am disheartened and apalled that the DSBA lobbyist would come out in opposition to a bill that so clearly supports educating children, the ultimate mission of every school board (whether it's written as such or not.)
Quiet Progress
April 5th, 2010
Dover is a funny place. Sometimes it is consumed by ferocious controversy over things that have little impact on people’s lives. And other times big things happen—sometimes good, sometimes bad—with little fanfare. Something big happened this week that you might not have heard about.
On Thursday, just as the House of Representatives was getting ready to adjourn for its three week break, it passed House Bill 328, which creates a uniformly high standard for the education of students with disabilities. The bill had just been heard in the House Education Committee the prior day. When it passes the Senate, it will change kids’ lives.
Parents of children with disabilities from all over the state came to the House Education Committee on Wednesday—so many that there wasn’t time for all of them to be heard. They were eloquent, and although their stories were unique, there were some common denominators. At some point in their children’s lives, some at birth, some when their child was two, or five, or ten, they discovered that their child had a disability. And each of them could vividly remember that moment, the moment when they realized that at best the child who they loved would have a more difficult path in life than most other kids, and at worst that there might be limits on their child’s abilities to fulfill his or her dreams.
But they did what we expect parents to do. They took a deep breath, squared their shoulders, and resolved to do the right thing for their kids, to ensure that their kids had every opportunity to fulfill their potential and have the same rich, rewarding life that we take as our birthright.
The reason these parents came to Dover on Wednesday was that they later discovered that some of the people operating some of our school districts did not believe that their children should get the help they needed. And they discovered that our state’s law governing special education allowed for that help to be withheld.
Not one parent had a complaint about the professionals who work on the front lines with children with disabilities in Delaware. We are blessed in Delaware to have the teachers, aides, and therapists we have who work with our students with disabilities. They are fantastically talented and unbelievably dedicated. Moreover, the parents who came on Wednesday were not from every school district—some of our school districts get it, and do the right thing. But too many still don’t. This bill is a step, just a first step but an important one, to changing that.
This is not a happy-happy bill—there are people opposed to it, including the state’s lobbyist for school district boards who has publicly announced her opposition. But I don’t know of too many other people who would oppose the bill if they heard the testimony that Chris Coulston and Tara Bustard gave on Wednesday.
Chris Coulston is a seventh grade student at P.S. Dupont Middle School. His mom Ellen gave me permission to print his remarks here:
My name is Chris Coulston and I am a 7th grader at PS Dupont Middle School. I like going to school and I like learning. Learning is not as easy as you think. I have learned that we are all wired differently.
For example, I am really a good Bowler. My average is 142 and I can beat a lot of people. I also try to be a kind person.
Language, however, is my issue. Sometimes, I don’t always understand what people are saying. Or what I read.
I know I have to work harder than everyone else in school. I am not afraid of hard work. But I am afraid when people do not think I can learn or believe in my potential.
My full time job is to be a good student. But I am only that if I have teachers around me who believe l can learn, and that I, Chris Coulston, is someone who has value!
I want to do well in school. I want to graduate and have a good job. But I can not achieve this if you don’t have the same high expectations for me. I want you to believe in me. HB 328 is very important for kids who are just like me.
Tara Bustard is 28 years old, and has Down Syndrome. She is a swimming star in the state’s Special Olympics, and works for Bank of America. Here is what she had to say to the committee:
Good afternoon, my name is Tara Bustard and I am a graduate of Middletown High School. I have gone to school in Delaware since I was three years old. School was not easy and I worked hard and needed help a lot.
We had many meetings to talk about what I needed and we had to fight all the time to get the school to help me. The school made me feel like it was too much trouble to help me. My mom and I cried after those meetings.
Kids should not have to feel like they are too much trouble. All kids should go to school and be happy and graduate. Please vote yes for H.B. 328. Thank you.
After Chris and Tara’s testimony, the House committee unanimously voted the bill out of committee, and the full House of Representatives approved it the next day. Now it moves on to the Senate.
Something very important happened this week in Dover, and the direct and eloquent testimony of Chris Coulston and Tara Bustard was a big part of it. I look forward to reporting back to you when this bill becomes law and we start the process of ensuring that each Delaware school fulfills its obligation to children with disabilities.
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