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.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Media Covers Truancy Hearings Extensively!

The Impact of Yesterday’s Legislative Hearing

This morning I awoke to a hurricane of emotions swirling on the NFF Facebook group, my inbox was full and my phone exploding with text messages from angry despondent parents who hung their hopes on yesterday’s committee hearing. For those families who came prepared to give their three minute testimonies the experience has been discouraging and infuriating. Instead of feeling like their government heard them and is listening they went away with even less confidence in the political process. I have been concerned by a hopelessness in the words of so many.

For a year I been working to engage families impacted by Nebraska’s truancy law in the political process and I was proud to see so many of you come to the hearing despite the bad whether, sit through 4 hours of discouraging testimony by Nebraska “experts” who see no problem with addressing truancy in this way. I know how discouraging it can be, believe me, it is emotionally draining and often you are left feeling the overwhelming desire to give up.

Whatever the intent behind Sen. Ashford’s chosen format yesterday, today it has been fuel to the fire, that no one can control. It has widened the gap between concerned parents and the committee tasked with fixing this law. The conversations I have had with Sen. Ashford, his LA Stacey Conroy, and others on the committee, they have expressed a desire to work out a solution that will protect innocent children. I believe we want the same thing, a solution, and I believe we can get it.

I know it is hard, but don’t give up, don’t be discouraged! We need to be positive and continue to make our case to the media, lawmakers, and the Governor. We’ve come further than anyone expected a year ago. Last year when I first sat down with Sen. Fulton he said that it was going to be a Goliath effort. We were looking at turning around an entire government stubbornly holding to their idea as the best solution to addressing some areas of serious concern. Every state official who has been active in this effort has recommended no changes be made to the law, and yet Sen. Ashford has three bills on his desk to consider, including his own.

It may be a Goliath effort, but remember that David took down Goliath with a small stone. Have faith the mountain can be moved and never give up. This is no defeat, this is not a failure! It is an extraordinary feat. We have gone from news coverage that was dismissive of parents' concerns, to news coverage that is effectively communicating those concerns, and telling the personal stories that underlie them.

Here are the news stories that have come out of the hearing yesterday. You should be proud of your efforts!! Let’s keep it up. Come to the Q&A tomorrow and show the media that people want this fixed and keep the pressure on!!

Lincoln Journal Star
http://journalstar.com/news/unicameral/bills-would-tweak-truancy-law/article_778adc5b-8571-5f98-8fcf-cdd093f7820f.html

Omaha World-Herald
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120214/NEWS01/702149901/0

North Platte Bulletin
http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=22423&pageID=24

North Platte Bulletin - Letter From Brenda Vosik
http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=22429&pageID=6&sectionID=5

KETV Channel 7 - Omaha
http://www.ketv.com/video/30450012/detail.html

1011now.com
http://www.1011now.com/news/headlines/State_Lawmakers_Tack_Truancy_139267338.html

KLKN TV (ABC in Lincoln)
http://www.klkntv.com/story/16925664/truancy-bill-under-revision

KMTV, Channel 3 (Omaha)
http://www.kmtv.com/multimedia/videos/?bctid=1450830547001

And Stephanie's interview with Scott Voorhees
http://www.kfab.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?more_page=1&podcast=ScottVoorhees&selected_podcast=Stephanie_Smith_Morgan_2-14-12_1329252995_31573.mp3

No comments:

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

Nebraska Family Forum

Pages

Search This Blog

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Media Covers Truancy Hearings Extensively!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Elkhorn Public Schools

Gretna Public Schools

Lincoln Public Schools

Community Voices

Open Letters

Omaha Public Schools

Millard School District

Outstate Nebraska

The Facebook Effect