SB 1566 will require schools to allow teachers and other employees with a license to carry a firearm to have one in their personal vehicle, parked in a school parking lot. The firearm must be out of plain sight, and the car must be locked.  No doubt this will make life easier for those school employees with a license to carry. If they usually have the gun in the car, they can keep it in the car, even when they are at work.

DAWG BONE: YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT AT YOUR SERVICE….

You do love America, don’t you?

That’s what Section 8 of SB 1566 is about. It requires the board to adopt a policy to allow the principal to let a representative of a “patriotic society” that has “youth membership” to have an opportunity to speak to students “during regular school hours” about membership in the organization.  The policy has to leave date and time to the “complete discretion” of the principal, and it can authorize the principal to limit this opportunity to only 10 minutes, just once a year.

The term “patriotic society” is defined in Title 36 of the United States Code. There are 91 organizations listed there, but not all of them are “youth membership” organizations. So we think you can turn down the request from organizations that kids would not be eligible for. This would include:

There are also organizations that seem a little too limited for this purpose:

*American Hospital of Paris (we think they mean France, not Texas)

*National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (what could be more patriotic!)

*National Ski Patrol Systems, Inc. (bigger in Colorado than here)

*Society of American Florists and Horticulturists (membership blooming)

Then you have some stronger candidates:

*Boys and Girls Clubs of America

*Big Brothers—Big Sisters of America

*Future Farmers of America

*Boy Scouts—Girl Scouts

*Little League Baseball

Have fun with this one!

DAWG BONE: THERE SHOULD BE A SEPARATE CATEGORY JUST FOR VETERANS: YOU’VE GOT EX-POWs, GI FORUM, AMVETS (WW II, KOREA, VIETNAM), BLINDED VETS, CATHOLIC VETS, DISABLED VETS, PARALYZED VETS, ITALIAN-AMERICAN VETS, JEWISH WAR VETS (THERE ARE TWO SUCH ORGANIZATIONS), PURPLE HEART WINNERS, PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS, POLISH VETS, SONS OF UNION VETS OF THE CIVIL WAR, VIETNAM VETS, WAC VETS, WW I VETS, THE VFW AND THE AFOREMENTIONED SUBMARINE VETS.   

SB 1566, which goes into effect September 1 of this year, requires your school board to “provide oversight regarding student academic achievement and strategic leadership for maximizing student performance.” To ensure that trustees are up to the job, the law also requires that each trustee must get three hours of training on this subject every two years.

This bill also requires TEA to create a website specific to any district whose board requests it:

On request by the board of trustees of an independent school district, the agency shall create an Internet website that members of the board may use to review campus and district academic achievement data.

The data will be broken down by campus, grade, sex, race, academic quarter or semester and school year.  Moreover, the site will enable trustees to make comparisons of their district with “other districts of similar size and racial and economic characteristics.”

DAWG BONE:  LOOK FOR TRUSTEES TO WEAR PINS TO CONVENTION THAT SAY: OUR KIDS ARE SMARTER THAN YOUR KIDS!

Regular readers of this e-rag know that Tuesday is reserved for Toolbox Tuesday.  This gives me the opportunity to highlight The Toolbox, an all-day training program focusing on “tools” that you can use to properly serve students in your special education program who present challenging behaviors.

Well, it looks like the “tools” idea is catching on. SB 1566 requires Commissioner Morath to develop a “board of trustees improvement and evaluation tool.”  The “tool” must be “research- based and designed to assist a school district in improving board oversight and academic achievement.”

My Toolbox has ten tools, but it looks like the Commissioner is going to only have one.  And the board is not required to use it, unless the Commissioner is hammering (so to speak) the district with accreditation sanctions.

DAWG BONE: WE HAVE OFTEN HEARD THAT IF A MAN’S ONLY TOOL IS A HAMMER, EVERY PROBLEM LOOKS LIKE A NAIL.  LET THAT BE YOUR ZEN KOAN FOR THE DAY.

If that’s the sentiment of your school board members, they will be pleased to hear about Section 9 of newly enacted SB 1566. It amends Section 26.011, which is a statute that requires the board to have a grievance procedure to address complaints.

But not every complaint.  Newly added subsection (b) says that the board is NOT required to hear a complaint “concerning a student’s participation in an extracurricular activity that does not involve a violation of a right guaranteed by this chapter.”

So those angry cheerleader moms or band booster dads will have to think about this if they want to get their complaint before the board.  They will have to cite some section of the Education Code that they think the district is violating. A garden variety complaint about Susie Cheerleader or Biff Bandman will not get you there.

DAWG BONE: THE BOARD DOESN’T HAVE TO HEAR IT, BUT THE SUPERINTENDENT DOES.

File this one under: LEGISLATION 2017

Tomorrow: Toolbox Tuesday and a prediction for the All Star Game.

Section 3 of newly enacted SB 1566 clarifies the procedure for board members to obtain information maintained by the district without having to cite the Public Information Act.  The new law creates a timeline for the district to respond to a board member’s request, and then authorizes that board member to sue the district if the district fails to produce the information on time.  If the board member is successful with that suit, the district has to pay the board member’s attorneys’ fees and court costs.  It then says:

The district shall pay the costs and fees from the budget of the superintendent’s office.

I’ve never before seen a law that specifies what account a payment has to come from. Are these the same guys that claim they support local control? This is legislative micro-managing.  And a slap at school superintendents.

DAWG BONE: THERE GOES THE SUPERINTENDENT’S NEW COFFEE TABLE!

 File this one under: LEGISLATION 2017

Enjoy the weekend!!

Two sections of SB 1566 seem to take potshots at school superintendents.  Section 2 permits the board to require certain school staff members to participate in an executive session, and then says:

A superintendent may not interfere with an appearance or testimony required by the board under this section.

Of course it’s up to the school board to determine who should join them in a closed session.  Superintendents should not interfere with that, but I’m surprised to see that a law about that is necessary. Must be a story behind this one.

Tomorrow we will cover the other section of this new law that superintendents might take exception to.

DAWG BONE: THE CLOSED SESSION IS THE BOARD’S PARTY.

 File this one under: LEGISLATION 2017

Tomorrow:  Local control?  Or controlling the locals?

Welcome back! The Dawg hopes that each of you enjoyed a splendid long weekend in celebration of our country’s birthday.  Now, it’s back to work.  So let’s take a look at SB 1153—a bill that is likely to have a significant impact on how you do business.

This one is further fallout from the statewide controversy over T.E.A.’s monitoring standard in the PBMAS that targeted any district that identified more than 8.5% of its kids in special education. That PBMAS standard is now gone.  T.E.A. pulled it down when the flak reached a tipping point.  Then the legislature piled on with SB 160, which prohibits T.E.A. from ever doing anything like that again.

We also got this new bill.  It requires that you give notice to parents when you begin to provide “intervention strategies” that go beyond the first tier that is provided for all children.  In other words, when the student moves to a second tier on your RTI model.  This notice must include several components, including a description of what the “intervention strategy” is, and the data you’ve collected from the first tier. Moreover, this law will require a separate PEIMS code for students served 1) through Section 504 and 2) via “intervention strategies.” In short, this new bill formalizes and regulates pre-referral activities to a greater degree than in the past.

We think this bill will require campus administrators and special education staff to put together some new protocols and/or systems.  I don’t see how you can comply with this one without making your RTI/504/Pre-Referral/At Risk strategies and procedures a bit more formal and regulated than they have been in the past.

DAWG BONE: BE SURE EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS WHAT AN “INTERVENTION STRATEGY” IS. 

File this one under: LEGISLATION 2017

Tomorrow: Lege takes a slap at our school superintendents…

Are you a UBA?  I am.  I am an “Unlicensed Behavior Analyst.”  I never thought much about this until the passage of SB 589, which will create a group of LBAs—people who have a license to analyze behavior.  SB 589 creates the Behavior Analyst Licensing Act.  This new law puts “behavior analysts” under the jurisdiction of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Of course this leads to the obvious question: what makes a person a “behavior analyst”? If a “behavior analyst” is a person who analyzes behavior then we are all behavior analysts. And we are doing this without a license!

I do most of my unlicensed analysis while driving. I analyze the other drivers and categorize them into “maniacs” (too fast) “idiots” (too slow) “selfish people” (won’t move over for me) and “those too stupid to operate heavy machinery” (those who apparently cannot read road signs).

There is nothing in this new law that will prohibit me from continuing my behavior analysis activities. However, I will not be able to describe myself as a “licensed behavior analyst.”  To hold myself out with that title, I will have to meet the licensing requirements set up by the new law.

But if I want to practice “applied behavior analysis” I will have to obtain a license. Here is the key definition:

The practice of applied behavior analysis is the design, implementation and evaluation of instructional and environmental modifications to produce socially significant improvements in human behavior.

The practice of applied behavior analysis includes the empirical identification of functional relations between behavior and environmental factors, known as functional assessment or functional analysis.

Applied behavior analysis interventions (1) are based on scientific research and the direct observation and measurement of behavior and environment; and (2) use contextual factors, motivating operations, antecedent stimuli, positive reinforcement, and other procedures to help individuals develop new behaviors, increase or decrease existing behaviors, and elicit or evoke behaviors under specific environmental conditions.

Many people do things similar to this, but are excluded from the scope of this new law.  The statute says that “applied behavior analysis” is not the same as: “psychological testing, psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, or counseling as treatment modalities.”

Then there is a lengthy list of people who do things involving behavior, but are not covered by this law. They include: 1) psychologists; 2) family members who are implementing a behavior treatment plan; 3) paraprofessionals working under proper supervision; 4) students, interns and fellows; 5) people pursuing supervised experience in the field; 6) temporary services provided by someone licensed in another state; 7) animal behaviorists or trainers; and 8) school employees.

The school employee exception says:

This chapter does not apply to a teacher or employee of a private or public school who provides applied behavior analysis services if the teacher or employee is performing duties within the scope of the teacher’s or employee’s employment.

However, that teacher or employee may not hold themselves out as a “behavior analyst” unless the services they provide are within their education, training and competence.  Nor can they be paid extra for these services, or offer them outside of their work responsibilities in the school.

There are many unanswered questions about this new law but we have plenty of time to sort it all out.  The requirement to hold a license does not go into effect until September 1, 2018.  That provides time for the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to create the nine-member “Behavior Analyst Advisory Board” and to establish rules and licensure standards.

We talk a lot about behavior and how to improve it in the Toolbox training. This is an all day program focused on campus administrators and special education staff.  The goal is to equip educators to provide an appropriate education to every student, while maintaining a safe and orderly campus. If interested, let me know!

DAWG BONE: I INTEND TO CONTINUE WITH MY UNLICENSED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS.  NOTHING ILLEGAL ABOUT THAT.

File this one under: LEGISLATION 2017

Tomorrow: a new law regarding dyslexia….

HB 1645 has been passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. It’s a short one.  It simply requires that if you give letters to students who participate in high school activities, you have to give a letter to the kids who participate in Special Olympics.

Everybody in the legislature got on board with this one. Good to see that our politicians can agree on a few issues.

DAWG BONE:  UNITY AMONG THE DEMS AND REPUBS!

 File this one under: LEGISLATION 2017