Tag: Rights

States challenge Biden on rights for transgender students

by  on  in News

Lawmakers in at least six states plus Congress this month introduced bills aimed at limiting opportunities for transgender athletes, hoping to curb rights for the same group of people for whom President Joe Biden just restored military service access.

The raft of legislation is intended to keep transgender female athletes from competing on sports teams — in elementary school through college — that don’t match their sex assigned at birth. The effect of most of the measures would be to keep people assigned male at birth from competing in girls’ sports.

Supporters of such limitations had a champion in the

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Disability Rights Groups Send Letter Opposing Biden’s Potential Education Secretary Pick

by  on  in Education Center

The potential nomination of Lily Eskelsen García for the top job at the U.S. Education Department is receiving pushback from disability rights groups.

A coalition of organizations that represent students with disabilities, their families and educators penned a letter to President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team on Thursday expressing “serious concern” about Eskelsen García.

The group wrote that during her time as president of the National Education Association (NEA), Eskelsen García “oversaw the development of many positions that stood in direct opposition to those taken by parents and parent advocacy organizations in support of children with disabilities.”

Those positions, the letter

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Betsy DeVos’ Legacy: Transforming How The Education Department Treats Civil Rights

by  on  in Education News

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has spent months failing to make meaningful progress on urgent complaints of education discrimination relating to COVID-19, even as the pandemic continues to turn schools upside down and put vulnerable students at an even further disadvantage, according to multiple sources.  

In September, employees in at least some of the department’s regional offices were informed that civil rights complaints specific to COVID-19 ― such as for children who have not been receiving accommodations for their disability during remote learning ― would require scrutiny from the highest levels of management, a development that

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Report finds ‘significant lack of equity’ in K-12 education, Michigan Civil Rights Commission says

by  on  in Education Publishing

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission released a 62-page report Wednesday, Sept. 30, describing inequities in Michigan’s K-12 education system. The report also detailed recommendations for policy makers and educators to implement to make achieving educational equity a priority in all Michigan schools.

The adoption of the report passed unanimously at a Wednesday Michigan Civil Rights Commission meeting.

Stacie Clayton, Chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, said the report revealed a “significant lack of equity” in Michigan’s K-12 education system.

“This Commission believes that an adequate education is the key to unlocking a lifetime of opportunities and also is a

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Beverly Asked Special Education Parents To Waive Rights: Watchdog

by  on  in Education Center

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly and at least 10 other MA school districts violated state and federal law this spring by asking parents of special education students to absolve the school district of certain responsibilities, according to a new report from a special education watchdog group.

State regulators have already found Beverly noncompliant in the accusations raised in SPEDWatch’s report. Other Massachusetts school districts are still being investigated for using the coronavirus shutdown of schools as a reason to circumvent requirements to provide key special education services.

Beverly Superintendent Suzanne Charochak said the district submitted a corrective plan to address the

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