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JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE HEARINGS GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS PART 6 1688 - 2031 2009 F" 001688 3/16/09 GAE Testimony Submitted by Donna Marino 38 Ash Court Middletown, CT 06457 In Support of the Commission on Children & the Parent Trust Fund: OPPOSE GOVERNOR'S BILL 840 • Over the past JO years I have been involved with Parent Leadership Programs in Middletown which help parents become advocates and leaders for themselves their children, their families and their communities. • These parent leadership training programs - Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI), Parents Supporting Educational Excellence (Parents SEE) and People Empowering People (PEP) -are currently funded through a collaboration of local grants, in-kind match and the Parent Trust Fund. PLTI and PSEE are family civic initiatives supported.by the Commission on Children. • PLTI, PEP & Parents SEE have a proven track record for involving parents and keeping them involved. • Remember parents are our children's first teachers and role models. • The opportunity for parents and children to learn together has been shown to increase academic achievement as well as the social and behavioral skills of the children. • What better way is there to promote family literacy and lifelong learning than by bringing 1 children and their parents together to share in the community learning process? All our parent leadership trainings offer intergenerational learning opportunities. • The success of a parent has a direct correlation to the success of a child and to the entire family unit. o The following success stories are representative of PLTI, PEP & Parent SEE graduates in Middletown and comparable in communities offering parent leadership training: "Life Changing"- that is a quote used by the majority of our 150 PLTI, PEP and Parents SEE alumni when they talk about this program. • Middletown parent leaders use the skills they learn in training to: o go back to work, o change careers, o finish high school, o go back to college, o become more involved in their children's school, and o become more involved in the community. • Our 137 PLTI graduates new skills have empowered them to further their education, change careers, become involved in civic and school organizations as well as being elected to public office. 001689 • 15 Alumni have become PTA officers, • One Alum was elected to the Cromwell Board of Education, • One alum has run for the East Hampton Board of Education • Three held Board of Education Extern positions, • 4 alums were legislative interns for the Commission on Children, • Alums have created a fatherhood initiative in Middletown • Alums are mentoring at-risk teens at our high school • One alum recently advocated and qualified for a new home through Habitat for Humanity • Two are pursuing a Child Development Associate (CDA), • Two have finished their high school diplomas (one is a grandmother), • Two alum recently received their Bachelors degree and are now pursuing Master level degrees • Two alum are pursuing bachelor degrees in education and human resources • Five have held office's in the Middletown School Association (MSA) • Four alumni are/were CT Parent Power delegates, J • Three are members of the North End Action Team, • Five alumni have served on the School Readiness Council, • Two are on the Opportunity Knocks Early Childhood Health Initiative, • One serves on Middletown Mayor's Citizens Advisory Committee, • One graduate continues to advocate for the "Arts;" she received a grant from the Commission on Arts to produce a video on Diversity • Many graduates have testified before the state legislature • Graduates have raised funds for their schools • Four are Foster Parents, and • Over 50,000 volunteer hours have been logged by PLTI alumni from 2000 to 2008; at S10 per hour that would be $500,000 in Middlesex County alone • The Children's Leadership Training Institute (CLTI) Projects impact: "Going to College with Parents," "Building a Community," "Voting for Class Leaders," book discussions, role-play. Parent Feedback includes: "grasp onto a sensitivity and responsibility to others," "exposure and understanding of children from different backgrounds" and positive outcomes from parent and child sharing classroom experiences on similar topics. To Sum Up • PLTI, PEP and Parents SEE are currently funded through a collaboration of grants including the Parent Trust Fund. • Parent Trust dollars help local communities leverage dollars from other organizations/foundations. • Funding is needed from the Parent Trust Fund to continue to run these extremely successful programs. I ask that you oppose the Governor's Bill 840 which recommends elimination of the Commission on Children and the Parent Trust Fund. Thank you. 001690 March 16, 2009 To the Legislative Members of the GAE Cornmittee: My name is Lisa Cheney and I am a resident of Waterbury. The following is my testimony about the effectiveness of the Parent Leadership Training Institute, a program sponsored by the Commission on Children. I offer this testimony in response to Governor's Bill 840, recommending elimination of the Commission and the Parent Trust Fund which provides funding to communities like mine for parent leadership training. Two years ago my daughter, who was 14 at the time, developed severe sleeping disorder. Her lack of any substantial sleep severely inhibited her immune system so she was prone to every cold, flu and virus germ she came into contact with at school. By the time January came, she was no longer capable of going to school as she was chronically exhausted and sick. Instead of getting the support I thought her school would provide (the Waterbury Arts Magnet School), I was constantly threatened with her being held back because of excessive absences. This type of abuse at the hands of the school principal continued until the following year when I finally decided to take her out of the school system to home school. Please understand that while I was fighting with the school over her lack of attendance, I was also seeking help from the medical community. I was keeping the school informed about the medical help she was receiving and supplying them with notes from her doctors. Not until April, after she had been absent full time for over eight weeks, the school informed me that my daughter qualified under Section 504 to be tutored at home. She did not start with her tutors until May. There was only six weeks left to the school year and she was told she would have to complete all of the schoolwork she had missed plus any additional work inside of those six weeks in order to complete her grade. I was not happy with this as I felt the school was being unreasonable and not taking her unique situation into account. This problem led to many back and forth conversations between me, the tutors and the school. Again, because of the school's inability to find an equitable solution and due to my own frustration, I decided to investigate exactly what the Section 504 law said. What I found out was interesting. The most important thing I discovered was that I should have been notified of her eligibility for tutoring after being absent for 3 weeks. I was not told about this until she was out of school for 2 months and to add insult to injury, I was being told she had to complete 5 months of school assignments in six weeks. I hope you can understand my frustration. At this point, I tried to find someone, anyone who could help me advocate for my daughter. I tried calling the woman who was in charge of the Homebound Division (the agency who dispatched the tutors). When I informed her of my concern over not receiving tutors for my daughter in a timely fashion, she became angry and said, "How do I know your daughter wasn't truant?" Not exactly the kind of help the mother of a sick child needs. 001691 When I called to speak to the Superintendent of Schools, I was constantly referred to the person in charge of situations like mine. In over six months of repeated phone calls to the Superintendent's office, I never spoke to either the parent liaison or the Superintendent. Finally I got angry. I decided to call the office of Civil Rights in Washington, DC. I spoke to one of their agents and was told that yes, it sounded like I had a case, the school had not acted - properly in addressing my daughter's situation and that I was entitled to file a grievance with the federal government against the school and the school district. They referred me to the regional office in Boston. I spoke to their contact and was forwarded the grievance form and told that once it was filed, the Civil Rights Commission would begin an investigation. I was told that if the school was found not to be in compliance with Section 504, it could potentially mean a suspension of any federal monies received by the school district. I did not file the grievance. It's important to share my daughter's story with you so that you can understand why The Parent Leadership Training Institute is so important. You see, I am still very upset about how the people entrusted with the education and care of my child failed so miserably. Like many parents, I felt taking the legal route, in my case, by filing a grievance with the federal government, was the only way to get the system to work properly. I did not file the grievance though because I believe it is important to work with public officials to find an equitable solution to our problems. However, I would not know how to do this effectively if it wasn't for PLTI.

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