Merrill Hope and What About IEP, Education Code etc

Hear interview with Merrill Hope about many things in education you did not know.  Here is an excerpt from her blog on www.cityonahill.tv (look on navigation bar under Blog Post and you will see Food For Thought). 

Common Core, two words that rattle many parents’ nerves from sea to shining sea; however, there are two other words that should shake us to our very core:  Education Code.

In this installment we see how the education code is about to play a far bigger role in defining acceptable words and behaviors, posing an insidious threat to every child and family in ways we have never imagined.

Most education codes in each school district across the country reads similarly to this amended Section 32228 of the California education code regarding school safety:  “teach pupils techniques for resolving conflicts without violence” (section 1[1].  Innocuous and can mean anything.  Well, not no more.  Presenting sheriffs at  the California “Threat Assessment: Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools”  defined problematic types of kid name-calling, mainly words that indicate intent or veiled threats even if only idiomatic.  Ever hear a kid say “You better watch it” or “I’m gonna get you.”  Or worse, “my mom’s gonna kill me for flunking the test?”  Certainly, we can appreciate the sensitivity to certain words but have we forgotten that “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me?”

Unfortunately, these days, the sticks and stones are suspect and the names must be reported because in the Threat Assessment Plan, all words/actions are perceived as threats because if not, it would be deemed “tacit permission” from school administrators to the students to continue unacceptable words and/or behaviors (p. 4)