may-june

MAY - JUNE 2018 CEA ADVISOR 15

CEA Recognizes Three Outstanding Members for Making a Difference Through Their Dedication to Human and Civil Rights Nicole Fontaine Nicole Fontaine, a social studies teacher in Enfield, is the recipient of

directed at them and/or their communities; and creating a Lavender Graduation Social to celebrate senior LGBTQ students along with friends and allies. Moreover, on curriculum night, Fontaine’s students worked at a booth to provide incoming freshmen with knowledge and access to information that reinforced accepting attitudes toward gender equity. Although a new teacher, Fontaine has helped to create a supportive, welcoming safe place for all of her students, and her district is fortunate that she will be able to continue to do so for many years to come. Jamie Kaminski Jamie Kaminski, a member of the West Hartford Education Association, is the recipient of the Katherine Dunham Award. She has been teaching visual arts to students in grades K-12 and adults with disabilities for the past 17 years and has taught in West Hartford since 2015. In her time there, she has designed and implemented curriculum opportunities that

promote equity among a diverse population of students within her community. In addition, Kaminski has had the opportunity to celebrate and build connections between her students and the community by facilitating cultural events that pair visual arts with literacy. She uses virtual as well as actual field trips, in collaboration with the school’s library media center and neighboring museums, to promote and share experiences for her disabled and disadvantaged students. Kaminski was commissioned as a photographic artist for We All Have A Story To Tell: Inspiring Equality through Community Conversations , a multimedia production designed as a teaching tool to enrich cultural understanding and increase appreciation for West Hartford’s multicultural community. She also designed a photographic fundraiser entitled Jonathan’s Dream Reimagined , which provided funds for the reconstruction of an adaptive playground that benefits children and adults with diverse abilities. In short, Kaminski is a compassionate educator who not only draws connections for her students but makes the work of her classroom, for all ages, relevant and exciting. Nancy Simison Nancy Simison, a distinguished teacher of the deaf in the South Windsor Public Schools, received the Helen Keller–Anne Sullivan Memorial Award. As a result of hard work, endless hours of grant writing, in-service presentations, research, and meetings, Simison formed a partnership with the Facilities and Instructional Technology departments in her school district and transformed the culture of the school community for her hearing- impaired students and their peers.

As of this past academic year, all of the classrooms in the six district buildings are using sound field technology to enhance learning opportunities for general and special needs children. She worked to build a culture that embraces and understands the concept that hearing and listening form “an invisible cornerstone of classroom instruction.” Given that students are engaged in listening activities 45 percent of their school day, this state-of-the-art learning technology has taught the staff how acoustics impact education. Improving the variables that impact the learning process, such as acoustic signal and the listening environment, can have positive effects for the listener and the speaker. Simison’s efforts have allowed her colleagues to recognize that what works for the hearing impaired can and does benefit the whole learning environment. In addition to spearheading the initiative to outfit all classrooms in her district with sound field technology, Simison has also developed a captioning program for the district, worked to integrate her students into the mainstream, encouraged opportunities for her students to attend and volunteer in many activities, and promoted mentoring experiences for older and younger deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Helen Keller once said, “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” Simison’s accomplishments would make Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan proud. She has accomplished many small tasks that have had a large impact on many students and staff in her community.

the Harvey Milk–Sylvia Rivera Award, which honors a CEA member who challenges discrimination related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Fontaine is in her third year of teaching at Enfield High School and has already made a noticeable impact on the school as well as the town. In addition to her work and responsibilities as a beginning educator, she began the school’s Gay Straight Alliance, which quickly became the most popular and well- attended club on campus. The group sponsored numerous community presentations and events to raise the level of awareness and acceptance of various kinds of sexual identity and gender orientation. These activities included hosting an Ally Day, an Ally Appreciation Day, and a Transgender Remembrance Day to pay tribute to transgender individuals who lost their lives to violence

Human & Civil Rights Commission (HCR) Chair Karen Hores (second from left) congratulates CEA members (L–R) Jamie Kaminski, Nancy Simison, and Nicole Fontaine, who were recipients of CEA’s HCR Awards at the Representative Assembly held at Mohegan Sun Convention Center on May 18.

New Legislation Adds Term “Exclusionary Time Out” To Connecticut’s Restraint and Seclusion Law

HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS (HCR) WORKSHOPS HCR workshops are offered to CEA members free of charge. If you are interested in having your local Association host one of these two-hour workshops presented by CEA’s Robyn Kaplan-Cho, contact your local Association president or CEA UniServ Representative for more information. Mythbusters: Understanding Your Legal Rights and Responsibilities in the Special Education Process This workshop focuses on the laws of special education with a particular emphasis on regular and special education teachers’ rights and responsibilities when participating in the special education process. Participants will learn what the law requires of them as well as what they can and cannot do in such areas as PPT meetings, drafting IEPs, and accommodating students in the regular education environment. The impact of special education laws on teachers’ working conditions will be integrated throughout the workshop. Section 504: An Emerging Issue for Educators Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is receiving increased attention in schools, and many more teachers are working daily with 504 students than ever before. This workshop will • Provide an overview of the civil rights law, including the 2008 changes • Review its procedural requirements (with an emphasis on the eligibility process) and relationship to the IDEA • Examine its applicability to such issues as ADHD, field trips, and allergies

how an exclusionary time out must be implemented. Specifically, the policy must include a requirement that: • It is not used as a form of discipline • At least one school employee must remain with or be immediately available to the student so that they can communicate throughout the time out • The space used must be clean, safe, and sanitary • The time out period must terminate as soon as possible • If the student is a special education student or being evaluated for eligibility and the interventions are unsuccessful, the student’s planning and placement team must convene as soon as practicable The legislation also prohibits seclusion from being used as a planned intervention in a student’s treatment or educational plan and clarifies that carrying or forcibly moving a person from one location to another does constitute a physical restraint.

In an effort to clarify that not every instance of separating a student from an ongoing activity constitutes a seclusion, the Connecticut General Assembly passed legislation establishing the term “exclusionary time out.” This term is defined as a “temporary, continuously monitored separation of a student from an ongoing activity in a non-locked setting, for the purpose of calming such student or deescalating such student’s behavior.” The impetus for this change was confusion among some school personnel as to whether the act of merely removing a student from an activity constituted a seclusion, which would trigger certain reporting requirements. The new law clarifies that it is not an act of seclusion, but rather an opportunity to allow a staff member to engage with the student individually in an attempt to defuse potentially disruptive behavior. The legislation requires each local board of education to create an exclusionary time out policy as of July 1, 2018, and sets forth certain parameters as to