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.

Rights in Education

Nebraska’s truancy law makes no distinction between excused legitimate absences and unexcused absences. It makes all students who miss 20 days of school status offenders under the law and therefore subject to legal investigation by county attorneys. Schools are mandated to report all students who miss 20 days to the county attorney regardless of whether their absences are exempt under the special accommodations in their Federal IEP and 504 plans. This is a violation of Federal law.

I recently contacted the Office of Civil Rights in Kansas City and spoke to Steve Stratton (OCR Program Manager; 8930 Ward Parkway, Suite 2037; Kansas City, MO 64114; E-mail: . 816-268-0550) He said that if a student has an accommodation for non-attendance written into their Federal IEP or 504 plan stipulating that those absences related to their special need are exempt from truancy filings to law enforcement and the state proceeds to report that student for truancy (file a report with the county attorney or subject the student to legal review) because such absences were not exempt in the truancy tally then it is a civil rights violation under federal law.

Make Sure You are protected under Federal Law

If a student has a persistent medical need whether it is mental, developmental, environmental, or related to chronic illness that contributes to larger numbers of absences from school, a family can request a IEP or 504 under the Federal IDEA act, and ask for specific accommodations for those absences including a stipulation that they be exempted from counting toward the states truancy threshold of 20 days. If the schools refuse to give such an exemption then the a complaint can and should be made immediately with the OCR against that school. If the school turns the student over to county attorneys when the student has accommodations under their plan for non-attendance then a complaint can and should be made immediately with the OCR.

File a Complaint with the Office of Civil Rights

The process such families should follow is to immediately file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html) which can be done online! A complaint must be filed within six months of the incident of complaint. All IDEA rights violation complaints go directly to the OCR who does their own investigation into the complaint.

Has the State Already Violated Your Rights?

There are many families in Nebraska who have already been referred to law enforcement, pursued in court, or diverted by court mandated programs who have children with IEP’s and 504’s. If you are one of these families, be sure that attendance is made part of the special accommodations of your plan. Ask today for an IEP meeting and have your plan modified immediately. Be sure to have it in writing that these absences will be exempt from the 20 day tally. If they do not comply follow through with an official complaint to the OCR, if they do not fully exempt these absences from the 20 day tally and report you to the county attorney follow through with an official complaint to the OCR.

If you had attendance accommodations in your plan and were reported to the county attorney within the last 6 months file a complaint TODAY! If it has been longer then 6 months from the point of complaint you may still have a civil case that can be made. Many attorney's will take a civil rights case with payment upon the successful outcome of the case if they feel confident that they can win.

Civil Rights Violations for Religion and Race

Complaints can also be filed for persons who are referred to county attorneys for truancy when there were not exemptions given for religious reasons, when schools did not adequately address bullying or harassment at school, or there is any sort of racial discrimination in the policy (which would include discrimination in the law related to American Indian rituals).

Request Federal Protections for Your Student

Nebraska students who never needed special Federal protections against the states truancy law because schools were not referring them on to law enforcement in mass may now need to consider seeking out these special protections in order to defend against possible legal actions under the states truancy law.

Parents in Nebraska that fall into these special categories who are protected by federal law need to know their rights. If you have any questions about whether you qualify for a IEP or 504 plan for special accommodation for non-attendance please contact the OCR or the Federal Department of Education (www.ed.gov).

It is important that you seek guidance on these issues outside of your school so that you will know when they are in non-compliance with Federal Law. Feel free to contact PTI Nebraska for questions related to free and appropriate education and accommodations for kids with special needs.

Family to Family Health Information Center at PTI Nebraska
Nina Baker

6805 Grover St., Omaha, NE 68106
402-346-9233 or toll free 888-490-9233

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The Personal Impact

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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