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Minnesota House of Representatives

Education Policy Committee

Chair – Rep. Richardson  

February 24, 2021

 My son who has nonverbal autism was suspended by teacher Kelly Morris and principal Jaysen Anderson on Thursday, May 3^rd, 5:18pm in 2018. The teacher neglected to give him his communication device, disrupted his routine then called the principal and security on my kid.

I will never forget that day.                                 

I never took him back. My son now goes to a charter school which has been simply wonderful. They understand he has a disability and does not comprehend suspension nor cause/effect.

Madam Chair and Members, many thanks for the opportunity to testify today. Reading this legislation feels like déjà vu. Gov Walz and the Minnesota Department of Education have been saying school districts use non-exclusionary methods before kicking a child from his or her educational environment.

The problem is I am not sure if they believe this and really want it. Here is why: I have been around the advocacy block for over a decade. And I know that what the governor wants the governor gets because he holds the ever-powerful veto pen. In other words, governors can negotiate what is important to them and their constituents pass and become law, but only if they want it.

However, this language (non-exclusionary) in section 7, subd 12, lines 21.24 to 22.4 gives parents like me the illusion but not the tangible action our kids need. For example, if Gov Walz really wants this then he should have made sure Education Minnesota supports this on the record. His office would have also made sure they communicated with the principals and administrators to get their support. In the end, perhaps no-one would get everything they want, but everyone would get something they need.

If I were a betting person, I would bet this language will be scrapped during the conference committee and Governor and the state education department will blame the other side thereby guaranteeing minority votes while doing nothing to ensure the success of our kids was accomplished.

I know I am sure I have irritated some of the politicians here, but please put yourself in my shoes, put yourself in so many student’s and family’s shoes. Imagine testifying for the same bill knowing while the seeds appear to be good, it will never produce fruitful fruits.

Idil – Frustrated Somali Autism Mom & Advocate

The above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, Rep Craig sadly won again in the last election, though not by a lot; only a mere couple of percentages and just a few thousand votes. Yep, this should tell you that people in the 2nd district which includes lots and lots of minorities did not vote for her including me. She has refused and neglected to address this district’s needs and concerns. She has refused to hire (other than powerless community outreach, liaison, etc) folks who represent this thriving and diverse district.

Most of all, she has neglected to speak and help autism families; even though she is an autism parent. How do you like them apples?

As we all know, Minnesota and nationwide – school districts protect teachers and their unions over children and families. We also know that special education has never been fully funded by Congress to what it promised. Nevertheless, Rep. Craig gave this issue a deaf ear and a blind eye. If you look at her legislative record; it will make you wonder what the heck she has been doing. A toddler could have done more work. On the surface, she appears genuine, but internally she is as cold as Minnesota ice and as clueless as Rose from the Golden Girls show. She often holds as though that is something to brag about, these useless town-hall meetings but she never takes her constituents’ concerns to Congress, nor address them.

Her opponent from last year had a lot of good ideas, but as I have said before a DFL’er can sell water to a drowning minority person whereas a GOP could not sell a life jacket to a drowning minority voter. As a result, we have her in office now; hopefully only until the next election. I hope her opponent next time, realizes what makes America fantastic is its ability to give everyone the same opportunity and level the playing field. America is amazing because of its diversity, its colorful colors, its inclusiveness, and most of all its welcoming demeanor. That is how you can win an election; welcome all and include all, not just with words which is what Craig does, but with tangible action which she has failed miserably and purposefully.

The above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, I am still mad and will never forget what Kelly Morris and Jaysen Anderson did to my kid. As a result of the heartbreak and sadness from that day; I have been trying to advocate in the Minnesota state legislature for policies and laws to ensure another autistic child and family does not go through that horrible life-altering experience.

This afternoon, the Minn Senate Education Policy & Finance Committee had lots of incredible bills that could (if they pass) move this suspension needle towards some light of hope and fairness. I testified; below is my testimony. Here is the direct link as well.

Minnesota Senate Education Policy & Finance Committee

Chair Sen. Chamberlain

February 24, 2021

Mr. Chair and Members,

Many thanks for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Idil Abdull, I am an autism mom & advocate. I would like to offer my support for the following legislations: My son who has non-verbal autism was suspended by teacher Kelly Morris and principal Jaysen Anderson on Thursday, May 3rd; 5:18pm in 2018. The teacher neglected to give him his communication device, changed his routine then called the principal and security on my kid. I will never forget that day. I never took him back. My son now goes to a charter school which has been simply wonderful. They understand he has a disability and does not comprehend suspension nor cause/effect.

S.F 446, I fully support this bill. One of the reasons, Minnesota has a shameful education gap is that we do not have enough teachers of color. Black boys are less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to attend college if they have one black teacher in elementary school (Gershenson et al., 2017). Think about that for a minute – one black teacher can reduce dropout and increase attending college, thereby reducing education gap. I know 100% if my son’s teacher reflected him, he would not have been kicked out of his education environment. His current teacher, principal & director (Ahmed, Asha, and Maria) have been nothing short of superb, kind, and welcoming to my son and our family.

Doesn’t every student deserve that?

https://releases.jhu.edu/2017/04/05/with-just-one-black-teacher-black-students-more-likely-to- graduate/

S.F 781, I cannot thank the author enough for having a spine to introduce this legislation. For far too long, schools kept incompetent and ineffective teachers simply because of their seniority. Teacher of the year, Qorsho Hassan still lost her job because of seniority-based layoffs. This practice must stop if we want to keep effective teachers in the classrooms and reduce education gap for kids. Please take a read below.

https://www.swnewsmedia.com/savage_pacer/news/education/award-winning-teachers-of-color-lost- to-budget-cuts-in-burnsville-call-for-introspection-policy/article_a83023c4-a222-5133-8426- 5c7ed8aa4bfa.html

https://www.aei.org/education/k-12-schooling/why-dont-teachers-get-fired-for-poor-teaching/

https://www.americanexperiment.org/2018/05/teachers-agree-teachers-union-makes-harder-fire-bad- teachers/

S.F 784, Seriously, if there was a heaven in education; today’s committee hearings would be Mozart music to my ears along with so many other parents. Based on data I received, my son’s teacher who kicked him out of his educational environment did not have the training needed to help my son.

The idea of school districts must mentor and retain teachers including those from black and brown communities is – oh what is the word……Fantastic. If this committee passes these amazing legislations and gets students and families to the finish-line this year, Minnesota will finally have an attainable chance to reduce education gap and decrease unnecessary suspensions. I thank the author for this bill from the bottom of my heart. And I urge all the members here to co-author all these remarkable and forward-thinking legislations. The time to act and support the students is now.

https://sites.ed.gov/osers/2019/08/effective-personnel-for-all-attract-prepare-retain/

With gratitude,

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

As usual, the above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, Dave Hutchinson become sheriff in Hennepin County (the largest in Minnesota) defeating Stanek with less than 0.44% or about 2,300 votes. This was not a landslide win by any stretch of the word. How did he win? two words; community outreach. Hutchinson campaigned on building bridges, bringing communities together, and representing underserved folks who have been marginalized. All commendable and sounded good during an election. I remember him coming to one Somali event with some guy who kept telling us (the audience) to vote for him because he was going to hire Somalis in positions of power and was going to treat our community fair and kind.

Shortly after taking office, Hutchinson took away the transparency portion of the county by encrypting radio information. In other words, let’s hide from the public what is happening at the Sheriff’s office. Why you ask? good question for the guy who run on transparency and accountability. This was apparently a surprise to some county commissioners. What now?

He also released his annual 2019 report which highlighted community engagement and outreach. Yep. How lovely.

Fast forward to the end of December 2020, with the Sheriff Hutchinson’s blessing, his officers’ stormed into this family’s home and traumatized a small child with a disability after they killed his brother and harassed their entire family. Now you ask; where is the outrage from our community? where are all those people telling folks to vote for him because he was going to be kind and compassionate.

You see we reap who we vote for. I am profoundly disappointed in this Sheriff’s response to this child who clearly (anyone who watched that horrifying video could see) was scared and did not understand what was happening. But I am livid and pissed at those from our community who do not understand policy from poop and allow our votes to be taken for granted.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, on a Thursday afternoon at 5:18pm in May of 2018, I received an email from Jaysen Anderson of Jefferson High School that my son with autism was suspended for a week for a behavior he had the day before. I kid you not. My son does not know nor understand what the heck suspension is. His white female teacher Kelly Morris did not give him his communication device as he has nonverbal autism, she changed his routine even though he and kazillian other kids with autism are routine oriented. Then when he had a behavior because they did not understand what he wanted which was to go to his locker and finish his routine of getting his school bag, Kelly calls the security guard, the principal (Jaysen) and bunch of other white people to prevent him from going to his locker.

As that was not bad enough, she and the principal suspend my kid. I am still livid to this day about this and have been from then on trying to advocate in the state legislature about racial discipline disparities for black and brown students as well as kids with disabilities to no success. Why – you ask. Two words, Education Minnesota. Who are they? Teacher’s Union also known as the modernized mafia gang. They protect teachers who are mostly white females and screw with the kids who are mostly black, brown or disabled. Sad – yes 100%.

I have to say as an autism mom who has advocated successfully for many laws and policies locally and nationally, this has been the most challenging and difficult issue. Let me rephrase that. The issue is not difficult. The challenge was and still is the unions are 100% protected by the democratic legislatures while the principals and administrators are protected 100% by republican legislators. Yep, you read that right. So then who the heck protects the kids? no one. I mean no one. There are advocacy agencies who do their best but are sadly no match to the lobbyist who represent school administrators and the unions for the teachers.

Then couple of weeks ago or so, I saw a light in this dark tunnel. MN House Speaker Hortman appointed Rep Ruth Richardson to chair the education policy in the house. Who is Ruth? Let’s see maybe a gift to families, a blessing to children and a nightmare to the unions and lobbyists. At least I hope she stays this way. Richardson authored a bill couple of years ago to ban suspending preschoolers. Yeah, those are 3 to 5 year olds. I know who in their right mind kicks them out of school before they are even first grade. You guessed it teachers and principals protected by bad-ass unions and lobbyists. Last year her bill finally passed with stupid restrictions.

Meanwhile, everything else failed like oh I don’t know how about schools and teachers try non-exclusionary methods before kicking kids from their educational environment and so many other good measures.

My advice to Richardson is this:

Stay pure, don’t buy into whatever teacher’s unions are selling, don’t listen to the useless lobbyists for principals and administrators and most of all listen to your voters, constituents, students and families. After all, isn’t education about the kids.

Please pass meaningful legislations that hold teachers and administrators accountable for the horrible and shameful racial discipline and education gap Minnesota has which is among the worst in the nation.

I also heard Hortman named another minority chair for the very powerful committee of ways and means. Rep. Moran, you literally sit where all fiscal notes will go through. This is your moment to shine and ensure equity finally prevails in how Minnesota allocates funding. I hope you rise to this moment.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom and Advocate

Alright – so, Rep Lesch who is a Democrat from district 66B in St. Paul told a MinnPost reporter that he wanted to put a moratorium on charter schools. Why would he be interested in this? why would he want to close and eliminate charter schools? Two words are the answer – teacher’s union. Unless you live under a rock, you know Minnesota public school districts notoriously fail, suspend or expel black and brown students disproportionately including my son. As a result, many parents including me enrolled our children in charter schools. This, of course, infuriated school districts because the money follows the child. School districts started losing children and some of them started closing schools.

Now, Rep John Lesch wants to be the union’s savior by eliminating their competition – charter schools. You would think a logical person would say – let’s first examine why so many families are leaving school districts to go to charter schools and fix it. Not the union-friendly Lesch. His first answer is let’s just eliminate them. Who cares about the kids who are succeeding and thriving in charter schools.

You see teacher’s union also known as today’s mafia gangs are very strong in Minnesota. They donate to most DFL politicians including Rep Lesch as well as Gov Walz. Actually, they own Walz literally. If they tell him to throw our kids under the bus and over the bridge, he will for sure do it without hesitation. If charter schools are eliminated in Minnesota, thousands of students many of whom are Somalis will suffer and fail. Now what? what can we do about this and how do we fight?

Rep Lesch held a town hall meeting today (2/8/20) in Falcon Heights which is where an innocent black man was shot and killed. Now a white man who represents this district that has lots of black and brown voters wants to screw with our children. Imagine the irony. I went to his town hall meeting. He also invited Sen. Marty who is mild-mannered but a closet racist in my humble opinion, and Rep Alice Hausman who represents district 66A. She reminded me of Phyllis Kahn. Remember her – the one that Ilhan Omar wiped the floor with in Minneapolis. I think Hausman is arrogant and has unpleasant ideas.

There were also probably over a hundred people who were mostly old white democratic women that bullied and were rude to anyone with a different opinion or ideas. Gee – I wonder where I have seen that before. Oh yeah, every DFL district in hillbilly Minnesota.

I was watching and studying their (Lesch, Marty, and Hausman) body language, facial expression and tone of voice. Hausman would not let anyone who did not look like her talk, she would cut them off or not allow them to speak. Sen. Marty played the Minnesota Nice aka passive-aggressive part and Lesch was a charming hyena.

My favorite speaker in this town hall meeting was a 16-year-old charter school student named Lincoln. She was intelligent, articulate, thoughtful and calm. You see charter schools produce students like her. She spoke about how she is thriving in a charter school. This kind of success is what Rep. Lesch wants to take away. He wants our children to fail. WE CAN’T LET HIM.

Rep. Lesch must be voted out and defeated at the polls this year because our children’s future depends on it. He does not represent his black and brown constituents. 

Please vote wisely and let’s defeat John Lesch. If he is not in office then he can’t hurt our children’s education. I think we can do it. Let’s meet and see what his opponent thinks of this issue. 

The above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, Education Minnesota represents teacher’s union. I was watching a documentary about education inequalities and achievement gaps, and one sentence that stuck with me was “often in public schools where there are minority students – principals sound like wardens and teachers sound like correctional officers”. This made me think about Bloomington Public schools and how they treated my family. Jaysen Anderson who is the principal for Jefferson high school and my son’s teacher Kelly Morris kicked my kid out of his educational environment. They did not try to help him when he wanted to communicate his needs. In fact, his teacher (Kelly) denied him his communication device. The principal (Jaysen) suspended him despite the fact that my son has nonverbal autism and didn’t understand cause/effect nor what suspension is.

As that was not hurtful enough, the administration team including those from special education, the superintendent and the all-white board protected Kelly and Jaysen (the adults with no disability who chose to work in this field). From that day on (May 3^rd, 2018 at 5:18pm), I have been trying to learn and understand more about the reasons behind the high suspension rates for black and brown kids as well as students with disabilities in publicly funded schools.

I often hear this issue is complex and complicated, but really it is not. It is simple. It is all about race and color. This country has so many good qualities, but it also has a lot of horrible and shameful racial record that sadly has not gone away. In fact, some may say it has gotten worse. Today there are no laws that allow segregation and discrimination. Today’s racism is more subtle and is delivered subliminally with a hint of sugar in a charming manner. In other words, the same people who were racist back then had children who are racist now, but they are more educated sort of like a quite hyena. The quite hyena will still eat you, but it will not scream at you or make noise when it is coming. Instead of having unequal and separate laws, we have situations that allow unequal and separate education systems

What does this mean exactly? Well – lets dig in. If public school are funded with public funds then why are schools with majority white students given more money and resources which enables them to hire quality teachers, have equipped buildings and better resources? It is even more sad when there are school districts with minority board members and crap still happens like Mpls Public Schools.

Why do we have so many black and brown versions of Clearance Thomas. They look like us but not really. Ughhhh – this is the most frustrating part. Bloomington has one Hispanic person in their school board. Yet Bloomington’s suspension and achievement gap are worse for Hispanic students as well as other minorities. How can that be? What is the point of electing Nelly Korman if our kids are still failing and being kicked out of schools? Bloomington public school’s superintendent is also a person of color. In fact principal Jaysen who suspended my kid is a minority. Still disparity in suspensions and achievement gaps happen under their leadership. Why is that?

What is the point of advocating to have leadership who reflect the students if the fruits are still rotten? I always thought if the seeds are diverse then fruits will be diverse, and equality will prevail. This is not always and sadly the case. In fact, many leaders in teacher’s unions including Education Minnesota are people of color, yet teachers are kicking minority students left and right from their educational settings. Really what the hell? Education Minnesota has been silent about high suspension rates for black and brown kids as well as students with disabilities. Their leader Denise is your typical white woman who is charming. She preaches sugar but practices salt. She is often quite and allows white female teachers to screw with our children. Education Minnesota is also very strong politically. They practically own Minnesota’s governor aka one Minnesota hoax. Gov Walz has refused to put anything significant or meaningful in his budget nor state policies about education and keeping kids in schools. In fact, the teacher’s union tells him to jump and his response is how high and from where.

So now what? Well – we reap the politicians we vote for. We vote stupid – we get stupid and useless. We vote and not hold them accountable then they continue the same racism policies that got us here in the first place.

We must vote smarter; we must hold them accountable after they win, and we have to say to them we will vote you out if you don’t accomplish xyz for our community. We (black and brown) communities simply have not perfected this simple concept that other (Jewish, Caucasian, etc.) communities have done. We must realize when we vote for a governor, he/she (one day) hires the education agency leadership, health agency leadership, etc. They in turn hire others who push whatever policies they like which affect us and our children. The same for school board which hires the superintendent who hires principals who hire teachers – you get the point. It ain’t from the bottom up – it is from the top down.

To Education Minnesota: Stop protecting racist white female teachers and start protecting all students irrespective of their race, color or abilities. Worry more about kids than adults who chose this profession. When you are silent in the face of inequalities, you are condoning injustice.

In California – community-based organizations and students fought hard through demonstrations, policies and the courts. As a result, willful defiance and other stupid reasons black and brown students were being kicked out for became no more and guess what? Suspensions went down – yep. Guess what went up? That is right …… drum roll please…… oh come on pretty please……achievement and graduation went UP. You see it ain’t the kids who are bad or are failing. It is the adults who we trusted to teach and nurture our kids who are failing them and kicking them out of their learning environment. In 2012, a group of students challenged California’s teacher tenure in Vergara vs California to get rid of ineffective teachers who demean and berate their students instead of helping and teaching them. Wow imagine if my son’s teacher Kelly nurtured my kid who has autism. Imagine if she gave him his communication device and asked what he wanted. Imagine if she understood autism is a behavior disorder and her job was to teach and help him. Instead and I cry as I write this – Kelly called security and the principal on a child with a disability who depended on her, took his voice away and suspended him. Then she hid behind protective teacher’s union and school administrators. Imagine the heartache and pain I go through every time I remember this. More importantly, imagine what this did to an innocent kid who went to school to learn and be cared for. Imagine then put yourself in our shoes.

We must fight back. We must fight back. We must fight back. If we don’t this vicious cycle of kicking our kids out of school and failing them will not stop. If we parents don’t fight for our children – who will?

Vergara vs California also challenged the state of dismissals and lay off policies. Now imagine if Education Minnesota whose name is quite misleading. It sounds as though they care about education. Instead they are the teacher’s mafia gangs. Imagine if they actually cared about educating the students. Imagine if they didn’t protect teachers like Kelly who suspend nonverbal autistic kids, imagine if they fired ineffective and teachers with horrible suspension and achievement gap records, imagine if they actually promoted and enhanced equity instead of inequity. Just imagine that. Now imagine if so many state lawmakers were not puppets for teacher’s unions. Imagine if policy makers actually looked at the state’s data and did something about it with actions not just pretty charming words. Just imagine that.

You see change has to come from us. Parents and communities who are disproportionately affected by this must fight education Minnesota, policy makers and in the courts by suing these shameless and racist school districts. Change will come when we stand up and fight back. Change will come when we say we will no longer allow nor tolerate our kids being treated such cruel and inhumane manner. Change will come when we say no more. Change will come when we hold school board members particularly black and brown ones accountable and not vote for them again if they don’t speak for us. Change will come from parents, communities and most of all students whose future depend on this. We need teachers who care about our kids and families, not teachers that don’t care and get paid whether the students are there or not. I stand with students and families and never with adult teachers nor principals who created these disparities.

This is the documentary I mentioned. It puts into perspective how far we have come and sadly how far we still have to go. You can watch the full documentary on Netflix. It is worth noting that while the first judge ruled in favor of the children and families, three appellate judges (Hoffstadt who won in an election even unopposed once, Boren who was initially appointed by the governor then won subsequent elections and judge Judith (two white men and one white woman) reversed the first decision that sided with the students and families over teachers and administrators. Sadly, the state’s supreme court declined to hear the appeal. The point I am making here is that the ultimate folks who decided against kids and families either won elections or were appointed by elected officials voted by the people. We must vote wisely and realize that our votes are directly connected to our children’s education or lack thereof.

I applaud the attorneys who represented the students and families. One of them said “ineffective teachers are not fired instead they are transferred to schools with poor and minority children”. Ain’t that the truth.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Autism Mom

Alright – so, Rep Angie Craig won Minnesota’s 2nd district including Burnsville and Savage which has high rate of Somali children with autism.

As an autism mom and advocate, I have been trying to reach out to her office without success. Her staff are less welcoming than a golf club in Montgomery Alabama in the 1950s. Her district manager Nick C is as smart as Rose from the Golden Girls. Her Washington DC office’s staff remind me of the show Beverly hillbillies.

I went to see her in a town hall meeting. To my surprise, she was smart, quick on her feet and thoughtful. They say “tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”. In Rep Craig’s case – it is tell me who your staff are and I will assume you are the same.

In this town hall meeting, we were allowed one comment and one question. I asked her if she could introduce an amendment to amend the discipline portion of IDEIA. She didn’t really have an answer nor said yes. She has a son with autism which may be why I was more understanding in her non-substantive response.

I also told her that she needs to have more diverse folks which she agreed – though not sure if she actually meant it or will do something about it.

In a strange way, she reminded me of Gov Dayton who like her was reasonable but had horrible, elite and useless gatekeepers.

It is important that we hold our elected officials accountable for their policies or lack thereof. She said that 16 bills have been authorized by her and Co-sponsored hundreds. For what it is worth, she did co-sponsor the autism Cares act of 2019 which passed the house, senate and signed by the president a few weeks ago. A side good note is that this bill was co-sponsored by all of Minnesota’s congressional folks including both senators. I think most of them came on board without much difficulty which is an improvement from the last time when we had to fight and beg them. One can say that is autism awareness progress in Minnesota.

I will see if she does better for individuals with autism and delivers. It is unfortunate she has hillbillies as gatekeepers. She could do so much good given that her son has autism. Her office staff do not reflect this district’s constituents. If DFLers are going to ask and beg for minority votes during elections then the least they can do is hire them after they win. Sadly, too often that never happens. Rep Craig has her next town hall meeting on December 7th @ 10am in West St. Paul (217 Moreland Ave West). It is nice that she has these monthly, but unless what people ask become fruitful then it is waste of time and a show-off.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, ever since Jaysen Anderson with the help of my son’s autism teacher Kelly Morris and Bloomington Public Schools special education director Jennifer M decided to kick my child out of school while they kept non-minority children with similar circumstances, I have been a relentless advocate in this area so that what happened to my family does not keep happening to other minority children. It is worth noting that Bloomington Public Schools have a shameful and disgraceful racial disparity record. They were part of 43 school districts cited by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Bloomington Public Schools have a long history of racial achievement gap for students of color and students with disabilities. This will not change unless there is a change in the board, in the administration and how we fight back.

Minnesota State Senate

E-12 Finance & Policy Committee (3.18.19, 3pm)

Chair – Sen. Carla Nelson from Rochester (please email her or call and ask her to put nonexclusionary language in her education omnibus bill) [email protected] or 6512964848. You don’t have to live in Rochester to contact her. 

Dear Madam Chair and Committee Members, Good afternoon. Many thanks for the opportunity to testify today. I appreciate your time.

My name is Idil Abdull and I have a son who has nonverbal autism. As you may know, autism is a developmental disorder that affects the ability to communicate, social skills, sensory and behavior regulation skills. 1 in 59 children have autism nationwide and 1 in 26 Somali children have autism in Minnesota according to eleven CDC funded states which include Minnesota.

My son who does not understand cause/effect and is profoundly affected by autism was suspended by Principal Jaysen Anderson in Bloomington Public Schools. I will never forget the day this happened as it has profoundly affected our whole family emotionally, physically and financially. Individuals with autism are often routine oriented and can get dis-regulated if their routine is disrupted. My son’s routine end of the school day was to go to his locker, get his jacket and school bag then come outside where I would wait and pick him up. He always needs to have one on one and had a para. On May 2^nd, his autism teacher knew he is a routine-oriented kid, yet she decided to ask the para to bring his jacket and the pack bag to him in the classroom. This, of course, threw him off his routine. He started to flop to the floor and cry. The autism teacher (Kelly Morris) instead of giving him his communication device so that he can tell her what he wanted calling security, the principal and the assistant principal. This again overwhelmed him even more because now his sensory is overloaded. These adults blocked him to go through the door that led to his locker.

Around 2:15 or so, when I didn’t see them bring my kid out, I went inside the school and saw my son on the floor crying and wanting to go through the door they were blocking which was where his locker was located. I asked them to help me bring him out to the car. I remember as I was buckling him into his seat, the principal asked me about his car seat, and I explained it to him that it helps him stay seated in the car as he has no safety skills and will get out of his seat if he sees a place he likes such as Starbucks or Leeann Chin.

The next day which was Thursday at 5:18pm 2018, I received an email from the school principal Jaysen informing that my child has been suspended not one but for five days. Keep in mind, the principal, teacher, all of them knew that my kid did not understand cause/effect nor comprehend what even suspension is. Furthermore, autism is a behavior disorder and his behavior the day before was caused by the teacher disrupting his routine. Additionally, she denied him his voice by not giving him his communication device thereby violating his civil rights.

The principal who is the adult that I am supposed to trust with my vulnerable child that needs one on one decided to sit in front of a computer and type a suspension letter to me. At first, I could not even believe it. I had to send it to another person to read it to me.  Madam Chair and Members, from that moment on, I have become almost an expert in trying to understand suspension and disparity reasons. You see, suspension does not just affect the child, it affects the parents and the whole family. When a child is kicked out of school, we are told our child is not important enough to stay and learn. We are told, we don’t matter. This, of course, is wrong, immoral and unacceptable.

Research has failed to support the common perception that racial and ethnic disparities in school discipline stem from issues of poverty and increased misbehavior among students of color (Skipa, et al., 2012). In other words, when white students and black students come from similar socio-economic backgrounds and display similar behaviors, black students are still disciplined higher.

So, what is causing this gap & disparity?

I can cite many different researcher’s hypotheses, but I will give you my personal experience with my son. In my son’s autism classroom, there was a white autistic child who had severe behaviors, but the school principal never even knew about it let alone suspend him. You see, the teacher would contribute his behavior to his disability, but when my son had a behavior which mind you, they caused, their judgment and discretion were to suspend him, not one but for five school days.

Some may say this is blatant discrimination, some may say it is differential treatment, some may even say it is a subliminal bias that often administrators are not even aware of or lack of cultural training. I personally think it is a lack of accountability. The school principals and administrators know they have a shameful discipline disparity record. Nevertheless, it is still no meat off their bone. There are no financial consequences nor is there any reprimand for principals and administrators who suspend our kids higher.

In closing, I support the language of this bill in that schools must first try non-exclusionary methods before students are suspended or expelled. We must hold school districts accountable for their record or they won’t change.

I respectfully ask that you support this discipline language and vote for it.

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom

Alright – so, Gov Walz (aka One Minnesota Hoax) released his first budget as governor. As you can imagine, there is nothing substantial or creative in this budget for areas that affect autism and special education.

Let’s start with his measly proposal of around 8 million dollars to increase teachers of color. I know 8 million out of billions? yep – that is how little Walz values this issue – peanuts. First of all, increasing teachers of color by offering grants and scholarships are nothing new. Minnesota has been doing it for years now, and there are teachers of color including Somalis who used this program. You see that is not the problem.

The issue is what school districts do or don’t do after these folks get their degree and graduate. For example, I have seen several Somali teachers who can’t find jobs in any district. One Somali autism teacher told me that they (school districts) don’t offer teachers of color good contracts with benefits. Instead, they hire them temporarily with no benefits nor nurture their career. Additionally, these teachers of color face “microaggression and subliminal racism” according to this Somali autism teacher. Gee, I wonder where I heard that?

By the way, two Republicans introduced legislation before to increase teachers of color. Think about that GOP party does not win because of minority votes, they probably lose elections but definitely don’t win, yet they did such an amazing bill. On the other hand, the DFLers whom minorities vote for like it is holy water mostly (not all) give us empty promises during elections then ignore our issues after they win. Please vote wisely. Vote based on their legislative and policy record not because they learned a couple of Somali words, took a selfie with you or are your social media friends. Come on minorities, we have to do vote wisely. Pretty please!

For autism, Gov One Minn Hoax basically had nothing in terms of research nor decreasing Minnesota’s horrible suspension and the achievement gap. I sooooo regret voting for this governor. We can’t be fooled next election.

Usually, how The Governor’s budgets work is also from each state agency. In other words, each state agency puts its own budget and priorities together and sends it to the governor then he/she (maybe one day) proposes it.

In this case, the agencies that affect autism are the education department which added nothing/nada for autism. The Health Department also known as the do nothing about health agency added zero items for autism. Deed or the employment agency never really cared before and is worse now. This actually disappoints me the most because children with autism will become adults with autism and DEED has no clue how to support them in employment and/or otherwise. Then there is the human services agency and they (mostly because of Jason whom I refer to Mr. Fantastic) added background check for EIBDI providers. This is the only light for autism. I thank Jason for again listening, validating and wanting to ensure our children are safe. Currently, there are no background study requirements for the staff that provides treatments to children and adults with autism. Imagine that. Finally, there is the human rights department which is and has always been underfunded. No surprise there because God forbid Minnesota would want to actually investigate and eliminate racial discrimination. If you remember, this agency under Kevin told us how schools discriminate against students of color in how they discipline.  You would think Gov One Minn Hoax would increase their budget substantially so that they can help affected students, families and school districts. Nope.

Gov Walz also said something about OneCare, which will probably be similar to MNsure. In my opinion, it is all s###ht care. We still have health disparity, clearly, this ain’t working.

Human Rights Budget from Walz (aka One Minn Hoax)

Human Services Budget from Walz (aka One Minn Hoax) The autism part is on page 191 which is the only light in this long dark tunnel by Walz. 

Health Department from Walz (aka One Minn Hoax). I always puke when I think of where we are with this agency and where we came from when wonderful Dr. Sanne was in charge. Oh, how I miss her.

Education Department from Walz (aka One Minn Hoax) This what happens when the commissioner looks like the teachers that disproportionately suspend our children. I bet she is clueless about what is happening in actual schools and how discrimination creates achievement and discipline gap. 

Employment from Walz (aka One Minn Hoax) disappointing but not surprising. 

Council of African Heritage used to be called Council of Black Minnesotans. His budget here is insulting. Really insulting and this is the guy we (blacks) voted for. Come on.

Here is the list for each agency, area if you want to get a headache and see how little Walz thinks of communities of color. What the heck is the minority Lt Governor doing? Why is she sleeping? 

In summary, Jason from DHS was the sole person that cared enough about children with autism. How do you like them apples?

I guess we are reaping our bad votes in this governor. Oh one more item, remember all the talks about every Minnesotan having a seat at the Governor’s table? well, it turns out those were for sale seats. In other words, if you donated money to Gov Walz’s campaign then you bought yourself a seat. If you did not, then you have been lied to. See that here. These were the folks who bought their seats and voice. Lovely!

The individual donors who were part of the Governor’s advisory council included:

•    Abdirahman Kahin of the Afro Deli ($750)
•    Javier Morillo of SEIU Local 26 ($700)
•    Denise Specht of Education Minnesota ($500)
•    Paul Austin of Conservation Minnesota ($500)
•    Tony Sertich of the Northland Foundation ($500)
•    Senta Leff of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless ($454)

Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee.

Idil – Somali Autism Mom