Lee's Summit R-7 School District: Erosion Of Our Rights

Lee's Summit R-7 School District: Erosion Of Our Rights



The District wants the Missouri Human Rights Act to be realigned with Federal Standards in their self-serving way as Legislative Priority 8 states but when it comes to everything else basically, they want the Feds to butt out.

I think we need to work together to get Legislative Priority Item 8 removed from the Legislative Platforms of the 30 school district members of the CSDGKC. 



I would like to see that patrons understand that LSR7 Legislative Platform PRIORITY POSITION #8 HAS NO EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE.  I do not want my tax dollars used to erode civil and human rights of the citizens of Missouri.  I believe the CSDGKC and LSR7 are getting too involved in politics considering the purpose of both is supposed to be EDUCATION.   

The Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City (CSDGKC Inc.) operates as a Missouri EDUCATIONAL Service Agency (ESA).  A CSDGKC sister  organization, the CSDGKC Foundation holds 501(c)(3) status.  In order to provide consistency and continuity, the board of directors for the CSDGKC Foundation is the same as the CSDGKC board.

CSDGKC Inc. is a  diverse, accomplished educational cooperative association.  CSDGKC represents 29 school districts and provides cutting-edge, state-of-the-art collaborative professional development services to another 19 school districts or schools.  CSDGKC serves rural, suburban, and urban communities from 13 Missouri Counties.  We represent over 188,000 students and 30,000 employees.  CSDGKC Inc. is governed by public  school districts in Bates, Buchanan, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Platte, and  Ray Counties.

Adrian R-III School
Archie R-V School District
Belton School District #124
Blue Springs School District
Center School District 
Excelsior Springs School District 
Fort Osage R-1 School District
Grain Valley School District
Grandview C-4 Schools
Harrisonville Schools
Hickman Mills C-1 School District 
Independence School District
Kansas City Public Schools
Kearney R-1 School District 
Lathrop R-II Schools
Lee’s Summit R-7 School District 
Liberty Public Schools
Lone Jack C6 Public Schools
North Kansas City Schools
Oak Grove R-VI School District
Park Hill School District
Platte County School District
Pleasant Hill R-III School District
Raymore-Peculiar School District 
Raytown School District 
Richmond R-XVI School District
St. Joseph School District 
Smithville R-II School District 
West Platte School District

Missouri Human Rights Act to federal standards.  It isn't to benefit education and students, it is to shield administrators from financial accountability for their acts of discrimination.  It is also to please the school district's business donors and please the local Chamber of Commerce.  This will make it hard to prove discrimination even when that is what has happened.  The erosion of the Missouri Human Rights Act is a big step back in civil rights progress made in this country.  This is why it is critical to spread the word in our communities that we as Patrons/Stakeholders want this removed from the Legislative Platform of our school district.  This impacts school populations and all people who experience discrimination in their jobs, housing and public accommodations in the state of Missouri.  This change in the MHRA will impact all who experience discrimination in Missouri.

The Missouri Commission on Human Rights will take your charge and investigate the alleged discrimination, harassment ... If they find discrimination, then they will either help the parties settle or if the MCHR feels they should have a hearing about the case, they do that.  The parents of the child or the school employee who experienced discrimination, does not have to file a lawsuit, they don't have to hire an attorney.  The MCHR helps with all of this, holding the person and entity involved responsible for the discrimination if they find that in the case.  The school district's officials will be shielded from financial liability if the MHRA is eroded.  Governor Nixon has vetoed Bills two times.  Schools are using their Legislative websites to promote their agenda, which includes #8. 

California teachers to attest to reporting abuse - AP State News - The Sacramento Bee

California teachers to attest to reporting abuse - AP State News - The Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California teachers applying for or renewing their credentials will be required to acknowledge that they understand their responsibility to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement or county welfare officials, and not just school administrators, under a bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday.

The legislation, AB2560, by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, was drafted in response to troubling cases involving child abuse in California schools.

According to Bonilla's office, teachers reported several cases of suspected abuse to a principal in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District last year. But the principal never contacted law enforcement authorities, and the abuse wasn't discovered until later.

"Student safety is an important priority in our schools," Bonilla said in a statement. "It is imperative that all school employees clearly understand that once abuse is suspected, the appropriate intervention occurs immediately."

AB2560 requires all teachers applying for or renewing their credentials to read and sign a statement saying they will report suspected child abuse to Child Protective Services or police, and not just to a principal or school administrator.

The bill also requires that a written report of the suspected child abuse be submitted within 36 hours of learning about the incident. It was supported by teachers unions, school administrators and law enforcement groups.

Bonilla said she hopes the bill will prevent delays that allowed for abuse to continue.

The bill will take effect in 2015.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/09/6545341/california-teachers-to-attest.html#storylink=cpy

No spanking in schools across Missouri under lawmaker's proposal : News

No spanking in schools across Missouri under lawmaker's proposal : News

JEFFERSON CITY • Through 13 years of teaching, Jennifer Kavanaugh never dreamed of hitting a child — not even once.

Kavanaugh, now a fifth-grade teacher at St. Margaret of Scotland School in St. Louis, previously taught in a school where children were physically punished for bad behavior, but she never participated.

She knows there are teachers across the state who do, however, and she wants it stopped.

“All studies point to the fact that corporal punishment does not make for a more peaceful, happier child,” she said at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Kavanaugh and about 30 of her fifth-grade students attended a hearing Wednesday on a bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, that would ban corporal punishment, or spanking, in both public and private schools in the state. The Senate Committee on Progress and Development unanimously passed the bill Wednesday afternoon.

“We need to stop assaulting our kids,” Keaveny said.

Missouri is one of 19 states that still allows corporal punishment in schools. The most recent states to ban it were New Mexico, in 2011, and Ohio, in 2009. Illinois also has a ban on this form of discipline, according to the Center for Effective Discipline, a National Child Protection Training Center program.

The country’s patchwork laws can largely be attributed to a 1977 Supreme Court ruling that left the issue up to the states. In Ingraham v. Wright, Florida students argued that the state’s corporal punishment policy violated both their Eighth and 14th Amendment rights. The court upheld Florida’s policy.

In Missouri, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requires each school district’s written discipline policy to include a policy on corporal punishment. Should it be used, the local school board must determine how it will be used and whether a parent will be notified or can opt for a different form of discipline.

The department does not keep track of which districts in the state use corporal punishment. However, in 2009 the Missouri School Boards’ Association estimated that at least 70 of the more than 500 districts in the state had policies allowing the use of corporal punishment.

A Post-Dispatch inquiry found that many districts in the St. Louis area — including St. Louis, Clayton, Lindbergh and Riverview Gardens — do not allow this type of discipline.

Ferguson-Florissant’s disciplinary policy also does not include spanking. District officials believe there are better ways — ranging from parent-teacher conferences to suspension or expulsion — to discipline a child, district spokeswoman Jana Shortt said.

But some districts do allow the practice. About 4,200 students across the state were physically punished in the 2009-2010 school year, the most recent numbers available, according to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

The Fox School District in Jefferson County used to allow spanking in its schools, but it changed its policy in the early 2000s, said Lorenzo Rizzi, the district’s assistant superintendent of secondary education.

“I think the Board of Education no longer sees it as a proper way to punish kids,” Rizzi said. “The use of physical response doesn’t change behavior — oftentimes it escalates.”

The trend away from corporal punishment mirrors a national trend. For the 2009-2010 school year, about 184,500 students were physically punished, compared with about 223,000 in the 2005-2006 school year, according to the department.

A decrease, however, is not enough for Kavanaugh. She wants to see teachers use positive behavior supports.

“We need to require more of teachers,” she said.

No one spoke against the bill at Wednesday’s hearing. However, Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, voiced concern about including private schools in the bill.

“I do not support corporal punishment, but my parents sent me to a faith-based school ... I’m opposed to government interfering in the curriculum.”

Senate Minority Leader and committee Chairwoman Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, said she wanted to move the bill forward but believed there could be a hang-up on the private school portion.

“I suspect we’ll hear from people who don’t want state intervention in private schools,” Justus said.“At some point, we may need some compromise when some folks come and talk to us. Right now, I haven’t heard any opposition.”

Alex Stuckey covers Missouri politics and state government for the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter at @alexdstuckey.

Can Schools in Your State Pin Kids Down? Probably.

Can Schools in Your State Pin Kids Down? Probably.



Public schoolchildren across the country were physically restrained or isolated in rooms they couldn’t leave at least 267,000 times in the 2011-2012 school year, despite a near-consensus that such practices are dangerous and have no therapeutic benefit. Many states have little regulation or oversight of such practices. This map shows where your state stands. Data compiled as of January 2014. Related: Violent and Legal: The Shocking Ways School Kids are Being Pinned Down, Isolated Against Their Will

Schools May Be Underreporting Restraint, Seclusion - Disability Scoop

Schools May Be Underreporting Restraint, Seclusion - Disability Scoop

Students were subject to restraint and seclusion hundreds of thousands of times in one school year, a new analysis finds, and that’s likely just the tip of the iceberg.

During the 2011-2012 school year, there were more than 267,000 instances of restraint and seclusion reported by the nation’s schools. The figure is believed to be low, however.

The numbers come from an analysis by the nonprofit news organization ProPublica, which crunched data collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

Among students who were restrained, three-quarters had disabilities, federal officials said when they first released the data in March. Such children also represented 58 percent of those placed in seclusion rooms or some other form of involuntary confinement at school, the agency indicated.

Though the Education Department sought to gather data on the use of restraint and seclusion in every public school across the country, only a third of districts reported using the techniques even once, ProPublica found.

What’s more, schools in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles — the country’s three largest districts — reported no instances, leading to questions about possible underreporting by schools.

Numerous reports from advocacy groups, lawmakers and government investigators have cited cases of injury and even death resulting from the use of restraint and seclusion. Currently, however, a patchwork of state rules govern the practices.

Efforts in Congress in recent years to establish nationwide standards limiting the use of restraint and seclusion in schools have stalled. While favored by disability advocates, groups representing school administrators have fought proposals to restrict the practices and insist that restraint and seclusion are only used as a last resort.

Nixon vetoes student transfer bill : News

Nixon vetoes student transfer bill : News

Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the student transfer bill Tuesday as promised, saying it diverted public money to private schools and exacerbated hardships faced by students in struggling districts and their families. 

Nixon also called out leaders in the Francis Howell School District for a board decision last week, saying it was wrong to "turn its back" on about 350 students accepted last year but now sent back to failing Normandy schools. He urged other districts not to do the same. 

"To overcome the complex problems affecting struggling school districts, we all need to be part of the solution," Nixon said. "We may be comprised of many communities, but we are one state... To turn our back on a single child is to turn our back on our own future."

Nixon said the bill removed the requirement in the current law that says unaccredited districts must pay for transportation for students who want to transfer. He also had problems with the bill permitting receiving school districts to charge a discounted tuition rate in exchange for a pass on accountability.

But Senate leaders stood by the bill, calling the Governor's veto a setback for Missouri's most vulnerable children, and chastising Nixon for what they said was disinterest in helping draft a solution.

“The governor has provided no solutions during this process, offering only a fear-based public relations strategy and rhetoric,” said Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, and a co-sponsor of the bill. "This bipartisan bill gave real solutions to real students. My disappointment is in knowing yet another few years’ worth of students has been deemed expendable in this political fight.”

The Legislature convenes for the annual veto session on Sept. 10, when it could decide whether to override the veto. 

In the last week of the session, the House passed the bill 89-66 and the Senate passed it 28-3. The Senate’s vote was strong enough to overturn a veto. But the House was 20 votes short of a potential override.

The veto comes as the Missouri State Board of Education is set to takeover the Normandy School District on July 1. Nixon has hopes for the board's plan to improve academics and finances in Normandy and said today he did not think calling a special session of the Legislature would lead to a solution.

He said although the Legislature failed to address the issue in a responsible way, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has stepped in with a "reasonable and workable path," getting input from parents, teachers and community leaders. 

After decades of failure on state accountability standards, a state Supreme Court decision last summer triggered the exodus of more than 2,000 students from Normandy and Riverview Gardens, the other unaccredited district in the region. The transfers cost Normandy and Riverview Gardens about $1.5 million in monthly tuition and transportation bills.

Normandy chose to bus students to Francis Howell, a district in St. Charles County with some schools more than 22 miles away. The district brought in more than $3.4 million in revenue from transfer student tuition.

When the state takes over and Normandy becomes a new entity on July 1, Missouri education officials determined that the new Normandy Schools Collaborative would not have an accreditation status, bringing it out from under the law that had pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy, with Riverview Gardens not far behind. Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro said she had hoped the students who had transferred for 2013-14 and wanted to stay in their new schools would be allowed to do so.

But with no accreditation status, the current law no longer requires Francis Howell to accept Normandy students, and the School Board voted 5-0 in closed session last week go back to its previous policy of not accepting nonresident students, except in certain circumstances. 

Other districts with have a combined total of about 650 students who want to return this year are deciding whether to accept a lowered tuition rate for Riverview Gardens students, who are still entitled to transfer under the law, and also to do the same for any Normandy students they had in their schools last year that want to return for 2014-15.

A spokesman for the Hazelwood School District this week said the district plans to follow the state education department's guidelines for student transfers, including a lowered tuition rate for Riverview Gardens. Hazelwood has a total of 170 student transfers who have said they want to come back, mostly from Riverview Gardens. Kirkwood School District Superintendent Tom Williams said he will recommend to the School Board that they retain the eligible Normandy students who want to stay.

Medicaid decision shows up in Missouri personal income numbers : Business

Medicaid decision shows up in Missouri personal income numbers : Business

Missourians' incomes grew more slowly than the national average during the first quarter, but government transfer payments accounted for all of the gap.

Personal income grew by 0.6 percent in Missouri in the first quarter, versus 0.8 percent in the U.S. Missourians' earnings — wages, salaries and business income — actually grew a bit faster than the national average. Transfer receipts, including Social Security and other government programs, grew just one-fourth as fast in Missouri (0.4 percent) as in the nation (1.7 percent).

That may be because of the Missouri Legislature's decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Nationally, the Commerce Department says, Medicaid accounted for $22.3 billion of the $41.1 billion increase in first-quarter transfer receipts.

Missouri's personal income growth has now trailed the nation's for five quarters in a row.