Children and Youth Action Network
SELS Recap: July 2020
The Special Education Legislative Summit (SELS) 2020 was a HUGE SUCCESS! A team of CEC members from across the state met both virtually and in person from July 13-24. This team consisted of myself Tina Grieve (CAN Coordinator), Bill Morriss (President), Ludee Vermaas (President Elect), Shanan Mayer (Vice President), Kindel Mason (Representative), Andrea Weaver, Tammy Peoples, LuAnn Cummings, Alexander Greenfield, Kelly Schamber, and Ramona Lee. We were able to talk with 3 of our 4 Legislatures and/or staffers; including Congressman Mike Simpson, Senator Mike Crapo, and Senator Jim Risch. All 3 Legislatures were very open to listening to the Issue Briefs regarding our concerns for Teacher Shortage, Funding Appropriations, Mental Health, and Covid-19 relief. We also created and shared with our Legislatures a survey regarding teacher concerns returning to the classroom given the global pandemic. Over a quarter of our members participated in this survey showing 64% of the teachers were worried about returning to the classroom because of their fear of becoming ill, lack of safety measures, and concerns for students’ mental health. All Legislatures expressed their concerns for teachers and were willing to advocate for us on behalf of the Council for Exceptional Children on Capitol Hill this year! I very thankful we were given this opportunity, and hope we have as much success in years to come.
We are all “ANGELS IN DISGUISE” (Senator Risch’s words).
About CAN
CEC’s Children and Youth Action Network (CAN) is an organized group of volunteers who are dedicated to helping advance policy affecting students with disabilities and gifts and talents. CAN seeks to (1) effect the necessary governmental changes at the local, state, and federal levels that will make possible the implementation of CEC policies relating to the education of exceptional children; and (2) further vitalize CEC units by providing meaningful vehicles for membership and CEC public visibility.
The Idaho chapter of the CEC is Tina Grieve. If you have questions and/or would like to be involved in advocating for Idaho’s Exceptional Children, please contact her at tgrieve@kunaschools.org
Tina Grieve is Idaho CEC’s newly appointed CAN Coordinator.
Which one is Tina? The one up front steering the boat.
What is CAN? CEC’s Children and Youth Action Network (CAN) is an organized group of volunteers who are dedicated to helping advance policy affecting students with disabilities, gifts and talents. To learn more go to: https://www.cec.sped.org/Policy-and-Advocacy/Children-and-Youth-Action-Network
CAN seeks to:
(1) Effect the necessary governmental changes at the local, state, and federal levels that will make possible the implementation of CEC policies relating to the education of exceptional children; and (2) Further vitalize CEC units by providing meaningful vehicles for membership and CEC public visibility.
As the CAN Coordinator, Tina is Idaho CEC’s leading advocate for students with disabilities, gifts and talents. She plays an integral role in advancing Special Education policy in federal/state governments. She represents CEC members from Idaho, and seeks to ensure that members are well informed of the current special education policy issues.
If you are interested in helping Tina:
- Contact Tina at tgrieve@kunaschools.org and become a member of the Idaho CEC CAN Committee.
- Look for emails from Tina at idahocec@simplelists.com about ways you can become active in helping to effect policy change.
- Email your members of Congress directly from CEC’s Legislative Action Center – https://cqrcengage.com/cek/?0 and tell your family, friends, and colleagues to do the same!
- Sign up for CEC’s weekly Policy Insider https://www.cec.sped.org/Policy-and-Advocacy/Policy-Insider-Blog
- Sign up for Special Education Today for the latest news sent directly to your inbox every week. https://www.cec.sped.org/Policy-and-Advocacy/Current-Sped-Gifted-Issues
- Continue to monitor CEC’s Web site for breaking news and information. For additional information on the CAN program, please contact:
CEC Policy & Advocacy Coordinator pubpol@cec.sped.org
