Handcuff and sedate- yes it's all legal

 Handcuff and sedate- Yes it's all legal

An emergency petition filed by a teacher or a school staff member could land a child in an ambulance, medically sedated, and handcuffed on his way to an ER.  In fact, the Maryland’s largest school systems have done this to children 1,500 times since 2021.   And if you think that’s a lot, Wicomico County Public Schools, one of the smallest districts in Maryland, was having officers handcuff and take kids to the ER on average of 3 times a week in 2023.  There are approximately 15,000 students in Wicomico County.

Emergency petitions are often filed against kids on the autism spectrum who are not getting the services they need and, therefore, act out.  One seven-year-old student who was diagnosed with autism had an emergency petition filed against him because he was throwing Legos in the classroom and would not stop with a verbal command.  His IEP called for a 1:1.  He didn’t have one.  Law enforcement and a social worker called for police to take him to the ER with an emergency petition.  At the hospital, the physician makes the call whether the child should have an involuntary commitment to a psychiatric treatment facility or go home with a parent.   It is not unusual for panicked kids to become more aggressive when placed in the police car or ambulance.  EMT’s can administer sedation drugs and/or handcuff children.

Maryland does not require the collection of data as to how often these events occur.  But when Baltimore City public schools started tracking the occurrences the number of petitions dropped by 60%.  In Washington County public schools, another small school district in Maryland, roughly half of the children cuffed and taken to the ER by police deputies were 10 or younger.   The youngest a 6-year-old girl.  It takes handcuffs and deputies to calm down little children?!  What scars does this leave?  The 7-year-old was taken to the to see his pediatrician after the event and told his physician that he had to come to the doctor because “I am a bad boy”  AT 7??!!!!

A bill was entered into the Maryland legislature this last session to require that school districts keep data on the number of these events.   It never got out of committee.  Maybe someone should have requested an emergency petition.

Billions later, not much has changed

 Billions later, not much has changed

The State Department of Education released the test scores for the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP).  There was not much joy in Mudville, Blueprint, the mighty Blueprint had struck out.  After spending BILLIONS and projecting that there would be a 10% gain in MCAP test scores over two years, only a 3.3 percent gain was seen in the last two years.   And only 51.5% of the students were proficient in reading while math saw a proficiency rate of only 21.7%.   Proponents of the Blueprint say the problem in there was more work to be done and there now needs to be even more money spent.  Overall the Blueprint is supposed to increase education spending by 5.2 BILLION in the next several years.

For all the investment, the gaps between Black and Hispanic students and white kids have barely budged.  In Prince George’s County, a majority Black district, the English proficiency rate rose less than one percent to 38.9% and the math scores rose to a very sad 13.7% up from 13.1% the previous year.   

So, what’s wrong.   Well first of all a huge chunk of the money is going towards raising starting salaries for teachers, the rising tide will lift other salaries as well.  Problem is you raise the salary of a weak teacher and you get a better paid weak teacher not a better teacher.

Another hunk of the money is going to kindergarten and early childhood education.   Those benefits won’t be seen until the children get older and move up the grade levels.  This year Maryland is sending reading coaches into the schools to improve the teaching of reading.  This tactic was used in Mississippi for Dr. Wright’s original miracle.  MSDE will be asking the ’27 legislature for money to add math coaches.  

And finally, the best method of all when your current measures aren’t showing progress, change the measuring stick. Sure, enough Maryland will be ditching the MCAP tests for a new batch of tests.  Let’s hope these tests can measure better results.

What's the standard for discrimination of kids with disabilities?

 What’s the standard for discrimination of kids with disabilities?

Children with disabilities have The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to protect them from discrimination.  But what if the bar to succeed with charges of discrimination is so high that it is not likely to be reached.

That was exactly the case with a student in Minnesota with a rare and severe form of epilepsy.  Because most of these seizures occur in the morning, the student requested an afternoon instructional schedule.   The school district said that was too big an accommodation for it to make.  The student sued for discrimination under the ADA and Section 504.  The district court denied the claim.   The Eighth Circuit later supported the lower court, since it believed the family had not proven that the school district acted “in bad faith or gross misjudgment”.   This standard is a higher standard than generally used in discrimination cases.  It is also a very difficult standard for a plaintiff to prove.

Surprisingly, the Supreme Court has now ruled 9-0 that this different, higher standard, could not be applied.   Instead, the Court said that the usual standard “deliberate indifference” needed to be applied as it is in most discrimination cases. This is the second time since 2023 that the Court has unanimously supported the civil rights of children with disabilities.  

The decisions of these two cases are remarkable because the Court has generally been divided on most decisions in recent years.   Advocates for children with disabilities are pleased with the decision.   However, the decision only lowers the standard for redress, it does not decide the case and the child’s family now needs to return to the lower court for redress.

It has been FIFTY years since the fight for kids with disabilities won its first milestone.  Fifty years later battles are still being fought.