Information is currency for democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson
A day without sunshine is like, you know,
night. -
Steve Martin
Education is unique among consumer products;
when it fails to work as advertised, it's the customer that gets labeled as
defective. - Kevin
Killion
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Courage is the most important of all
the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other
virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind or fair or
humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have
it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "The threat is too much.
The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
In the two days since
filing a federal ADA lawsuit I have been
overwhelmed at the outpouring of support and a
flood of "this happened to me" stories from
parents who have tried to get access for or
lobby on behalf of children in our school
district. Though in some cases our core concerns
are different, our experience has been very much
the same.
The fact is this lawsuit could have been
prevented by the superintendent and the school
board. They had disability stakeholders at the
table offering to fund-raise, find resources,
and seek solutions that would benefit every EISD
user. But they refused our fundraising, tabled
our resources and, when it came time to make a
plan, they dismissed us. Unfortunately, we're
not the first who've experienced this. Previous
parent committees and task forces focused on
gifted/talented programs, childhood nutrition,
safety and curriculum issues and more have
experienced the same.
Make no mistake: I did not file this suit for
money. I filed it for the children. My motives
are the same now as they were when I received an
Eanes You Make the Difference Award and a
Westlake High School Student Council Golden
Apple for Outstanding Teaching as an Eanes ISD
educator: I believe that every child deserves
full and equal access to an excellent education.
Eanes ISD has legal and moral obligations as a
public school and an employer to provide access
to people with disabilities. This is not, as
I've been told by board members, a "wish list."
The accessible routes, new playgrounds and other
improvements our district needs will benefit
every student, teacher, support employee, and
visitor. In fact, ADA compliance will force the
school board to turn its attention toward
instructional needs and aging
infrastructure--particularly in our elementary
schools--that have been on the short end of the
budget stick for far too long.
I hope that the school board will work quickly
to resolve this case by establishing a qualified
and empowered ADA coordinator, bringing
stakeholders back to the table, and creating a
transparent to-do list, timeline and budget to
remove architectural barriers as quickly as
possible. The millions of dollars they claim to
be spending on ADA compliance should be
transparent, obvious, and, most of all,
effective in enhancing the educational
opportunities and participation of children. I
certainly hope the administration and school
board do not choose to drag this thing out in a
process that only benefits lawyers and
consultants. If you agree, I urge you to
tell them. And please forward this email to
others.
Thanks so much for all the support. Now let's turn our
energies toward putting the public back into our
public education.
