November 23, 2013 – By Martha Woodall, Philadelphia Inquirer – The Education Law Center on Thursday urged the Pennsylvania Department of Education to deny applications for six new cyber charter schools, saying the cyber charter model doesn’t work.
Month: November 2013
A criminalized school climate is the wrong path
November 20, 2013 – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – In the Nov. 15 article on the decrease in court referrals from Brashear High School (“Concerns Raised Over Brashear Discipline”), Magistrate District Judge James A. Motznik presents the wrong solution for the wrong problem. Instead of advocating for increased court referrals, local judges should be pushing for smart school climate reforms that dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline while making schools safer.
Read the complete letter:
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2013/11/21/A-criminalized-school-climate-is-the-wrong-path/stories/201311210127
ELC Named Racial Justice Award Winner
November 13 , 2013 – On Wednesday, November 13th, the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh honored the Education Law Center as its 2013 awardee for its Legal Racial Justice Award.
New PA Policies to Improve Early Education Access for Students Experiencing Homelessness
May 15, 2013 – New policy guidance issued last week by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning improves access to early learning opportunities for homeless children under the age of six.
This policy sets new standards for interagency collaboration at state and local levels to identify young children experiencing homelessness across service systems and ensure access to quality early learning programs, such as Head Start and Early Intervention.
“We are so pleased that OCDEL has stepped forward to provide important vision and leadership that will help ensure that young children experiencing homelessness get the supports and services to which they are entitled and desperately need,” said the Education Law Center’s Nancy A. Hubley, Managing Attorney for ELC’s Pittsburgh office.
Hubley works closely with the Bridges Collaborative — a network of early childhood and homeless advocates — to address the lack of education access for these young children.
According to OCDEL, more than 40 percent of Pennsylvania’s homeless children are under the age of six.
“This policy,” Hubley added, “will help ensure that staff of social service agencies, including housing programs and early childhood providers, are aware of which children are to be considered homeless and the legal rights that accompany them.”
OCDEL’s guidelines reiterate the federal requirements for supporting homeless students, as detailed across federal and state laws such as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
The act, which became law in 1987, ensures that “each child of an individual who is homeless and each youth who is homeless have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youth.”
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The Education Law Center in non-profit legal advocacy organization, dedicated to ensuring that all of Pennsylvania’s children have access to a quality public education.
CONTACT:
Brett Schaefer
Education Law Center
Office: 215-238-6970 ext. 334
Mobile: 215-519-6522
[email protected]
Pa. charter reform bill advances, draws criticism
November 4, 2013 – By Kathy Matheson and Marc Levy, Associated Press – A bill to overhaul Pennsylvania’s charter school law would gut local control of the alternative schools by eliminating enrollment caps and giving universities the power to authorize new charters, opponents said Monday.
Letter: It’s time Pa. gave schools their fair share
November 1, 2013 – by Kenyatta Johnson – Gov. Corbett and the General Assembly have a legal and moral obligation to fully fund an education system that provides a quality learning experience for all children throughout the commonwealth.