Dear
NFF Members,
For
almost four years, Nebraska children and families have suffered under the “excessive
absenteeism” law passed during the 2010 session. This law was passed using the false premise that
Nebraska had a “truancy crisis,” which is simply not true. Daily average attendance across the state has
remained steady at about 95% for the past 15 years.
Thousands
of Nebraska families from the Missouri River to the Panhandle have been
attacked using this horrible law, and thousands of non-truant children have been
dragged into the juvenile justice system.
Some have been taken from their homes for the “crime” of being absent
from school. Hundreds, if not thousands,
have been forced into juvenile “diversion” programs under threat of being
removed from their parents, for “crimes” such as asthma, autism, mono,
depression, poverty, and other circumstances beyond their control.
An
entire industry has been created off the backs of our children, and we taxpayers
are footing the bill for the hundreds of county attorneys, social workers,
attendance officers, student personnel assistants, and others who are profiting
off the criminalization of normal life challenges. Our children are being punished and bullied
by the very adults we entrust them to for seven hours a day, the adults whose
salaries we pay, the adults who work for US--the taxpayers and parents and good
citizens of Nebraska.
We,
the parents of Nebraska, say “NO MORE.” This
travesty, this miscarriage of justice, this outright attack on our families,
cannot stand.
Our
legislative session begins in four days.
On Wednesday, January 8, our battle truly begins. We must rid our state of this horrible,
damaging law once and for all. We need
all of you, each and every one of you, to take action!
The
NFF has crafted legislation that will fix the mistakes of LB800, LB463, and
LB933 once and for all. Our legislation
defines truancy correctly--the willful absence from school in defiance of
parents and school authorities. It
requires the school, parents, and student to work together to address
attendance issues. It no longer gives
the schools the option to shirk their responsibilities by turning over every
child to law enforcement. Most
importantly, it prevents sick children
and others with legitimate absences from being thrown into the juvenile justice
system.
The
NFF is working with a senator who has agreed to draft this
legislation. Over the next few weeks, we
will be asking for every member of the NFF to contact their state senator to
ask for support of our proposed changes.
Those
of you who have come under personal attack and been willing to share your
stories, please know it’s because of your courage and fortitude that we’ve come
this far. It’s the family stories that
are finally getting the attention of our legislators. Over the next couple of months, we will ask
one last thing of you. Please commit to
traveling to Lincoln to testify about your experience, and BRING YOUR
CHILDREN. It is crucial for our senators
to hear from you! Most of them are parents
themselves, and they need to hear what is happening to our children under the
guise of “education.”
NFF
members, the time is now. We need you to make one last stand to rid our
state of this law that has harmed so many of our children. Please check the Facebook page regularly for
further updates and calls to action.
Thanks Brenda for all your hard work and dedication to this effort. I plan on being in Lincoln as much as possible until our elected lawmakers get the message that NRS 79-209 as currently written is discriminatory and abusive. The law needs a rewrite!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vaughn Crowell
Thanks to all of this team for telling these stories so that all Nebraskans can see the damage being done...
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