Nebraska Family Forum

It is the Mission of the Nebraska Family Forum (NFF) to promote education policies in our state that preserve and protect parental authority and the integrity of the family. In so doing, we will preserve the cooperative and respectful relationship between school authorities and parents, preserve a family-centered community, and provide a well-rounded education for our kids.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Oliverius Family: Sick Kids in the County Attorney's Office

By: Tina Oliverius

Our oldest daughter, 17, has been sick on and off for several years now. After many doctor visits and acid reflux medications, we switched her to a different doctor. They asked for blood tests right away. We were informed that her liver enzymes were extremely high and she had a bacterial infection in her blood called H pylori. We then went down the long, long path of scans and ultrasounds to find out that she had chronic appendicitis and also needed her gall bladder removed. We were informed after the surgery that they needed to keep her for another procedure after finding that her bile duct was badly scared and misshaped. They performed an upper endoscopy to try and straighten the bile duct. When this was done, they were suspecting Ulcerative Colitis, Crohns and/or a liver disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, which would place her on the transplant list. They also scheduled an appointment for a colonoscopy.

One month later and about 10 days of school missed, she had her colonoscopy done and more blood tests. One week later she had an official diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis or IBD. Thankfully, her blood tests returned showing no liver disease. (I’m still counting my blessings on that one!!) They started her on several meds, including stronger pain meds and nothing seemed to be working. They doubled the meds and through this we realized that she is also lactose and gluten intolerant. We were up to about 20 days missed at this point.

Ulcerative Colitis is a horrible chronic illness that is a lifelong, process of elimination. Foods, meds, lifestyle…..everything. I have seen my daughter hooked up to morphine that wasn’t beginning to touch the pain she was in. Yet 2 weeks later she had a teacher yell at her and say that he was “sick of doing everything for her and she was faking and milking the whole thing.” As if all of this wasn’t enough, we were informed by the school’s counselor that they had, “turned us into the county attorney,” and that we “would have to go to court because of her poor attendance.” Now, because this is a public forum, I won’t say what came out of my mouth after that.

This is my daughter’s senior year, a year that they could take away from her. Hasn’t the pain and horrible effects of this illness taken enough? These are the people that are supposed to be a support line for our children. How are they to do their jobs with laws like this in place? I have never been so sad, mad and completely irritated in my entire life. Unfortunately we are being forced to choose between her health and her education. We have, and will always, chose her health. We have no choice. How does the “good life” state not see that?

2 comments:

Lori Rowan PeetzNovember 10, 2011

Crazy! We are going thru the same situation! Same stuff! My daughter has missed 10 days the 1st quarter and about 5 so far this quarter. The school wrote us up and said they would be sending us in but haven't heard anything more. Not like I want her missing but like you say, her health comes 1st!! She is an A student and only misses for doctor's appts and illness. This policy has got to change!
Lori Rowan Peetz, Sidney, NE
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Autumn Foster CookNovember 10, 2011

Tina, your story is a perfect illustration of how this badly-written law is straining and breaking the personal relationships between teachers, school admininistrators, students and parents - relationships which are vital to a good education. It also illustrates that the provision added to the law this year which is supposed to protect students with medical excuses is completely useless. Thank you for sharing your story.
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The Personal Impact of Nebraska's School Attendance Law

We began collecting stories in April of 2011 and will continue to collect them as long as the law is abused. The stories we have collected demonstrate how our community has been impacted by Nebraska's school attendance law that counts all absences rather than "unexcused" absences for purposed of "truancy".

It may seem by the district by district breakdown that the law has impacted Millard Public Schools the most, but it is important to note that the Nebraska Family Forum grew out of the Millard Parent Society and therefore the awareness within Millard Public Schools is longstanding.

Out of the 3000+ cases referred to the Douglas County Attorney last year only 400 came from MPS. For every story collected here it is reasonable to assume that they represent dozens more who are affected who have not written their thoughts in a public way.

Nebraska Family Forum: What we Stand For

Mission:

NFF Guiding Principles:

Family is Key: We believe the family is the single most important element to a child’s ability to learn and be successful in school and life, and parents are the foundation upon which family success rests. For this reason, it’s imperative that the state honor the authority of parents as they exercise their natural rights, obligations, and responsibilities to raise, manage, direct, and educate their children.

Freedom in Education is essential: We believe that flexibility in education, school choice, stimulating curriculum, quality teachers, and innovative education reforms are essential to a family centered education. We support policies that will lead to greater parental influence in education innovation, curriculum, and choice.

Family struggles are a healthy part of life: We believe that the fundamental right of a parent does not cease to exist simply because a parent may fail to be a model parent. Parents often struggle to meet the needs of their children, but this is not in itself sufficient cause for unwanted and unwarranted government intrusion into family life. We join with Father Steven Boes of Boys Town in "proclaiming that not only are there no bad boys, as Father Flanagan taught, but there are no bad families.” There is always at least one person in a family that wants what is best for their children and is willing to ask for and receive the help they need.

Government Intrusion can be Harmful: We believe that the right of parents to raise their children without undue government interference is a fundamental liberty that has long been protected by the Constitution of the United States and is not void upon the enrollment of ones child in a public school. We warn that governments who seek to micro-manage the everyday choices of parents in pursuit prescribed outcomes, will do great harm to the integrity of the family and by extension, the well-being of children and society as a whole.

The Simple Truths

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves. ~ Ernest Dimnet

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~ Oscar Wilde

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. ~ William Butler Yeats

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~ B. F. Skinner

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~ G. M. Trevelyan

Every educated person is a future enemy. ~ Martin Bormann

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly. ~ Michel de Montaigne

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. ~ Mark Twain

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. ~ John W. Gardner

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding. ~ Ezra Pound

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~ Robert M. Hutchins

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. ~ Albert Einstein

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~ A. A. Milne

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ~ Albert Einstein

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. ~ Abraham Lincoln

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. ~aya Angelou

Dad kept us out of school, but school comes and goes. Family is forever.

I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids. ~ Dolly Parton

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Oliverius Family: Sick Kids in the County Attorney's Office

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