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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Campell Brown Hides Husband Dan Senor As She Attacks Teachers


Campbell Brown

Who's Really Behind Campbell Brown's Sneaky Education Outfit?

The former CNN anchor says her nonprofit seeks to protect kids from predators in the classroom. Its real agenda may be union-busting.

LINK

Early one morning in July, former CNN anchor Campbell Brown appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe, pen in hand, notes fanned out in front of her. Viewers might have mistaken her as a fill-in host, but Brown had swung by 30 Rock in her new role as a self-styled education reformer, a crusader against sexual deviants in New York City public schools and the backward unions and bureaucrats getting in the way of firing them. "In many cases, we have teachers who were found guilty of inappropriate touching, sexual banter with kids, who weren't fired from their jobs, who were given very light sentences and sent back to the classroom," Brown, the mother of two young sons, explained.

Brown was there to plug her new venture, the Parents' Transparency Project, a nonprofit "watchdog group" that "favors no party, candidate, or incumbent." Though its larger aim is to "bring transparency" to how contracts are negotiated with teachers' unions, PTP's most prominent campaign is to fix how New York City handles cases of sexual misconduct involving teachers and school employees—namely by giving the city's schools chancellor, a political appointee, ultimate authority in the process.
Shortly after it was launched in June, PTP trained its sights on the New York mayoral race, asking the candidates to pledge to change the firing process for school employees accused of sexual misconduct. When several Democratic candidates declined, perhaps fearing they'd upset organized labor, PTP spent $100,000 on a television attack adquestioning whether six candidates, including Republican Joe Lhota and Democrats Bill de Blasio and Anthony Weiner, had "the guts to stand up to the teachers' unions." The spot stated that there had been 128 cases of sexual misconduct by school employees in the past five years, suggesting that nothing had been done in response. "It's a scandal," the ad's narrator intoned. "And the candidates are silent."
PTP spent $100,000 on an attack ad questioning whether candidates like Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota had "the guts to stand up to the teachers' unions."
Before founding PTP, Brown raised this issue in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in July 2012. But what she failed to disclose was that her husband, Dan Senor, sits on the board of the New York affiliate of StudentsFirst, an education lobbying group founded by Michelle Rhee, the controversial former Washington, DC, chancellor. Rhee made a name for herself as public enemy No. 1 of the teachers' unions and has become the torchbearer of the charter school movement. In 2012, her "bipartisan grassroots organization" backed 105 candidates in state races, 88 percent of them Republicans. (Senor was also thespokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority following the invasion of Iraq and served as a foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney in 2012.)
Writing in Slate, Brown, a veteran journalist, confessed to being naive about the standards for revealing a potential conflict of interest: "If you live in the overlapping world of politics and media, as I am learning, anything less than full transparency can potentially do you in." She still managed to get in a few digs at the unions. "I failed to disclose," she wrote, "because I stupidly did not connect the teachers' unions' opposition to charter schools to their support for a system that protects teachers who engage in sexual misconduct."
But there is much more about PTP that is less than transparent, including its sources of funding and its overall agenda. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, PTP may keep its donors' identities secret and spend money in electoral campaigns, so long as political activity doesn't consume the majority of its time and money.
Despite its nonpartisan billing, Brown's nonprofit used Revolution Agency, a Republican consulting firm, to produce the mayoral attack ad. Its partners include Mike Murphy, a well-known pundit and former Romney strategist; Mark Dion, former chief of staff to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.); and Evan Kozlow, former deputy director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The domain name for PTP's website was registered by two Revolution employees: Jeff Bechdel, Mitt Romney's former Florida spokesman, and Matt Leonardo, who describes himself as "happily in self-imposed exile from advising Republican candidates."
Brown failed to disclose that her husband sits on the board of the New York affiliate of Michelle Rhee's education lobbying group.
Another consulting firm working with Brown's group is Tusk Strategies, which helped launch Rhee's StudentsFirst. Advertising disclosure forms filed by PTP list Tusk's phone number, and a copy of PTP's sexual-misconduct pledge—since scrubbed from its website—identified its author as a Tusk employee. (Tusk and Revolution declined to comment. Brown referred all questions to her PR firm—the same one used by StudentsFirst.)
What about Brown's allegation that the New York schools did nothing about 128 cases of sexual misconduct? It turns out that in 33 of those cases, the employee in question had been fired, the New York Timesreported. Many of the others were disciplined.
Brown's group paints the unions as the main obstacles to a crackdown on predators. Yet Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, says that the union's New York City chapter already has a zero-tolerance policy in its contract, and that AFT only protects its members against "false allegations." New York state law also mandates that any teacher convicted of a sex crime be automatically fired. It is the law, not union contracts, that requires that an independent arbitrator hear and mete out punishment in cases of sexual misconduct that fall outside criminal law. The quickest route to changing that policy may be lobbying lawmakers in Albany, not hammering teachers and their unions.
Before Brown left CNN three years ago, her evening news show carried a memorable tagline: "No bias. No bull." She can't say the same for her foray into the education wars.

ANDY KROLL

Reporter
Andy Kroll is a reporter at Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. Email him with tips and insights at akroll (at) motherjones (dot) com. Follow him on Twitter here. RSS | 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Indiana's Glenda Ritz and Her Lawsuit Against the State Board of Education Could Change Open Door Policy in Government

Indiana: Does the Public Have a Right to Know What Public Officials Do?

by dianerav
State Superintendent of Instruction Glenda Ritz is suing because the state board of education, appointed by Governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence, took a vote to strip her of any role on reviewing the A-F grading system when she was not present. She is the chair of the board, by law. The decision was made in secret, without an open meeting.
Indiana Lesley Weidenbrener says the suit raises important questions:
"if a judge decides what the board did is legal, it could set a dangerous precedent for other public groups and may call for legislators to rethink the Open Door Law.
"After all, what would stop city council members from simply circulating a letter to approve a contract for snow removal? Or why couldn’t the Indiana Gaming Commission vote to discipline a blackjack dealer who broke the rules by just emailing the proposed punishment around to members?
"For that matter, why would a board ever really need to meet again at all if the members could take care of business through email?
"Sound extreme? Of course it does. And the action taken by 10 members of the State Board of Education was nothing like approving a contract, spending money or issuing a penalty.
"The members requested that the legislative branch get involved in a Department of Education function. They didn’t even have the authority to demand that lawmakers get involved.
"Still, there’s a reason these types of actions are supposed to take place in public.
"In a democracy, constituents and the media are responsible for holding their elected officials — and often appointed officials — accountable for their actions. That’s tough to do if the public can’t see the actions taking place.
"In addition, most government bodies let the public weigh in before they take action. That won’t happen when the decision is made through an email exchange.
"So this case is one to watch — not just because of the impact it could have on education and state politics. It’s also about the public’s right to know and it could affect every layer of government in Indiana."
The bottom line is that Governor Mike Pence will go to any extreme--including breaking the law--to strip Ritz of the powers of the office to which she was elected by the people of Indiana.
See previous post:

Indiana's Superintendent Files A Lawsuit Against the State Board of Education

Indiana Governor Mike Pence

Diana Ravitch's Blog

Governor Mike Pence, in his continuing efforts to make sure that the duly elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz is stripped of her constitutional authority as chair of the state board of education, has encouraged the state board to hold secret meetings when Ritz was not present.
At a recent meeting, the Pence board voted to transfer authority over the A-F grading system from the board to the state legislature. This is the same grading system that was created and manipulated by former Superintendent Tony Bennett to protect the charter school of a campaign contributor.
Superintendent Ritz issued the following press release today:

INDIANA SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION GLENDA RITZ FILES SUIT AGAINST GOVERNOR PENCE’S STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Daniel Altman
Press Secretary
Superintendent Glenda Ritz
INDIANAPOLIS – In response to apparent violations of the Open Door Law by members of the State Board of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz filed suit today naming ten members of the Board as defendants.  The lawsuit alleges that the named members of the State Board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by taking action in secret by drafting, or directing the drafting of, a letter they sent to President Pro Tempore Long and Speaker Bosma dated October 16, 2013.  The suit seeks to prevent the State Board of Education from continued violations of the Open Door Law and declaratory relief.
Glenda Ritz

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that ten members of the State Board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law when they took action by requesting that Senator Long and Speaker Bosma appoint Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency to perform calculations to determine the 2012-2013 A-F grades for Indiana schools.  The suit alleges that no public notice was issued for a meeting that allowed for this action and that Superintendent Ritz was not made aware of this action until after it was taken, despite her role as Chair of the State Board of Education.
“When I was sworn in to office, I took an oath to uphold the laws of the State of Indiana,” said Superintendent Ritz.  “I take this oath very seriously and I was dismayed to learn that other members of the State Board have not complied with the requirements of the law.  While I respect the commitment and expertise of members of the board individually, I feel they have over-stepped their bounds.
“Since my inauguration, I have worked tirelessly to communicate openly with the Board and the public.  I do not take this action lightly, but my obligations as elected state Superintendent require it.   I look forward to continuing to work to improve education for all Indiana students in a fair, transparent and collaborative manner.”
The suit is Ritz v. Elsener, et al and it has been filed in the Marion Circuit Court.  The cause number is 49C01-1310-PL-038953.  The Department of Education is using in-house counsel to avoid any additional costs to the state.

NYS Ed Commissioner John King Renews His Listening Tour

New York Principal Sounds Off at First of King!s New Listening Tours:

by dianerav
NYS Commissioner John King

After Commissioner John King had a disastrous meeting with parents in Poughkeepsie, he canceled his remaining five open meetings. But the Board of Regents decided what was needed was even more meetings, so King is now holding more meetings around the state, though so far not in New York City.
At his first new round of meetings, one principal got up and spoke fearlessly about what was happening in the state. This was his statement:
"Dr. King, My name is Tim Farley, from Kinderhook, NY, and I am the proud father of four school-aged children and I happen to be an educator of 22 years. Since this is now a listening tour, I would like to offer you three suggestions from the field followed by a question.
1. We do not want your corporately-backed Common Core. We don't like it. We don't like it as parents and we certainly don't like it as educators. Common Core has not been properly field tested and we do not want our children used as guinea pigs for one of Bill Gates' newest whims.
2. We do not want inBloom or any 3rd party vendor to have access to our children's once private and confidential information. We know it's now legal because those in power literally changed federal law in 2011 just so they can do what they are currently doing. We demand and immediate cease and desist on this wide-spread data collection and specifically, the now mandated "Data Dashboard".
3. We demand an end to high stakes testing. It isn't NYSUT that wants to curtail tying student scores to teachers' ratings of effectiveness; it is us, the parents. We know that the ratings are meaningless and it is unfair to the students and to the teachers.
Now for my question: We know that the NYS Education Department used SAT scores of 560 in reading, 540 in writing, and 530 in mathematics, as the college readiness benchmarks to help set the "passing" cut scores on the 3-8 NYS Tests. These NYSED scores, totaling 1630, are FAR higher than the College Board's own "college readiness" proficiency cut scores for students as young as 9 years of age. Why did you anchor the cut scores to 1630 on the SATs instead of the College Board's 1550? And I have NYSED's benchmark study here for your reference.
Thank you."

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Event Announcement: ATR/ACR Meeting Monday, October 28 2013

ACR/ATR meeting, welcoming displaced UFT members from all boros
Time: Monday, October 28, 5:00 pm
Site: Georgia Diner, 86-55 Queens Boulevard, Elmhurst, Queens, parking at 55th Ave entrance, near the SE exit of the Grand Ave. station, M and R trains.

New York State Seeks to Scale Back Student Testing

NYSED Commissioner John King Caves In To Protests And Scales Back Standardized Testing

New York State Education Commissioner John King

New York Times
LINK
By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ

The New York State Education Department, responding to concerns that standardized exams in reading and math have become excessive and unwieldy, will seek to ease the burden of testing.

Under the plan, students struggling in English would be given exams in their native languages. A math test would be eliminated for some eighth graders. Students with disabilities would take tests matched to their level of instruction, not their age.

The proposals are modest, but they represent a rare concession from state leaders, who have faced attacks from parents and teachers in recent weeks over the rollout of a tougher set of standards known as the Common Core.

John B. King Jr., the state education commissioner, said that there was “more testing than is needed” in some districts and that some schools were too focused on rote memorization in preparing for exams.

“The amount of testing should be the minimum necessary to inform effective decision-making,” Dr. King wrote in a letter to superintendents and principals on Thursday.

Critics of high-stakes testing, however, said on Friday that the plan amounted to tweaks around the edges that would do little to change the culture of schools.

“It’s duplicitous,” said Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, a group based in Massachusetts that opposes the use of high-stakes tests. “The political intention is to try to get students and parents to accept the bad system.”

Dr. King is also looking to eliminate some tests administered by local school districts. As part of the plan, the state would offer grants to districts to study the usefulness of exams and to eliminate redundancies.

The state would also seek to do away with a class of exams known as field tests, which are administered for the purpose of weeding out bad questions from future tests.

Elected officials and parents have denounced field tests in recent years, calling them unnecessary exercises that benefit testing companies and exhaust students. In New York City, a small number of families have protested field tests by boycotting the state exams.

In place of stand-alone field tests, the state would embed more field test questions into math and reading exams. That would require the Education Department to seek more money so it could print more versions of each exam. That could cost $12 million a year.

The department will pursue the changes over the next few months. In January, it will ask the federal government to allow English-language learners to take language arts exams in their native language; currently, students who have been in the United States for at least a year must take those exams in English.

The state will also seek permission for some 57,000 eighth-graders studying algebra to take a Regents exam in lieu of a traditional math test. Those students are currently required to take both.

Responding to an outcry over lax standards, the state has taken several steps since 2009 to improve the quality of exams, including developing new tests in reading and math that are aligned with the more rigorous Common Core curriculum. Student passing rates fell sharply when the new exams made their debut last school year, a demoralizing blow for many educators.

Leaders of teachers’ unions and parents have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of the state’s efforts. In recent weeks, some parental leaders have called for Dr. King to resign, saying that the state is rushing to adopt the Common Core and that it should not use results from the new exams to evaluate schools, teachers and students.

In New York City, where concerns over testing have seeped into the mayoral race, there was criticism of the state’s plan.

“All this emphasis is being put on testing, instead of developing an enriched curriculum that produces real learning for children,” said Jane Hirschmann, co-chairwoman of Time Out From Testing, a statewide coalition. “This is not going to satisfy any of us.”

The city’s Education Department, however, praised Dr. King’s efforts. “It’s a thoughtful response to schools’ concerns on this issue,” Erin Hughes, a spokeswoman for the department, wrote in an e-mail. “We welcome the additional flexibility.” 


Petition To Fire John King 

A Mom Asks For Commissioner John King To Be Censured, Reprimanded, or Asked To Resign

Parent: I was at the Poughkeepsie Meeting

Common Core Failure

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Michigan Education Association Member Miriam Chanski Sues To Opt Out of The Union

This post is for all UFT members in NYC:
Miriam Chanski

Michigan teacher suing for her right to drop out of the local union

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By Victor Skinner
LINK
EAGnews.org
COOPERSVILLE, Mich. – A Coopersville, Michigan kindergarten teacher is standing up to the Michigan Education Association over her right to opt out of the union, despite union threats to destroy her credit.

suing MEAMiriam Chanski, 24, attempted to drop out of the MEA teachers union this May after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder approved legislation making Michigan a right-to-work state. But Chanski told WZZM television station the union responded with a letter two months later rejecting her request.
The MEA, like most teachers unions, only allows members a very small window of time to drop their memberships each year – for the MEA it’s the month of August – and requires specific paperwork to complete the request. Most teachers are unaware of the technical process, and Chanski is no exception.
Chanski is now embroiled in a legal battle to win her freedom from the MEA.
At least seven other Michigan teachers were also unaware of the union drop policy, and are also suing for their freedom.
The ridiculous rules are obviously designed to prevent members from leaving, but teachers unions also use other tactics to keep members in line.
“In September, the president of our union came into my classroom before school and told me she was aware I wanted to opt out of the union and asked if I had sent in another form in August,” Chanski told WZZM. “I told her I was unaware of another form to send in, I was unaware of the August dates, and she told me at that point if I had not sent in that form, I might have missed my chance to opt out of the
union.”
The local union president then allegedly threatened to turn the teacher in to a collection agency and ruin her credit if she didn’t pay her union dues, Chanski told the television station.
Chanski said the bottom line is “I chose to opt out and it’s not being honored.”
Chanski and the other teachers suing the MEA for their freedom are beacons of hope in an education system rife with bureaucratic red tape and nonsensical union rules. While Chanski certainly isn’t the first teacher to be threatened and intimidated into paying for union services she never asked for, her story serves as an inspiration for other teachers who have been bullied by their unions.
Right-to-work laws mean employees are not required to join a labor union as a condition of employment, and the union’s insistence on playing petty games to keep members enrolled is not winning them any fans.
What are the unions proving by holding their unhappy members captive? Nobody should be forced to belong to any organization against their will.

Indiana's Superintendent Files A Lawsuit Against the State Board of Education

Indiana Governor Mike Pence

Diana Ravitch's Blog

Governor Mike Pence, in his continuing efforts to make sure that the duly elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz is stripped of her constitutional authority as chair of the state board of education, has encouraged the state board to hold secret meetings when Ritz was not present.
At a recent meeting, the Pence board voted to transfer authority over the A-F grading system from the board to the state legislature. This is the same grading system that was created and manipulated by former Superintendent Tony Bennett to protect the charter school of a campaign contributor.
Superintendent Ritz issued the following press release today:

INDIANA SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION GLENDA RITZ FILES SUIT AGAINST GOVERNOR PENCE’S STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Daniel Altman
Press Secretary
Superintendent Glenda Ritz
INDIANAPOLIS – In response to apparent violations of the Open Door Law by members of the State Board of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz filed suit today naming ten members of the Board as defendants.  The lawsuit alleges that the named members of the State Board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by taking action in secret by drafting, or directing the drafting of, a letter they sent to President Pro Tempore Long and Speaker Bosma dated October 16, 2013.  The suit seeks to prevent the State Board of Education from continued violations of the Open Door Law and declaratory relief.
Glenda Ritz

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that ten members of the State Board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law when they took action by requesting that Senator Long and Speaker Bosma appoint Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency to perform calculations to determine the 2012-2013 A-F grades for Indiana schools.  The suit alleges that no public notice was issued for a meeting that allowed for this action and that Superintendent Ritz was not made aware of this action until after it was taken, despite her role as Chair of the State Board of Education.
“When I was sworn in to office, I took an oath to uphold the laws of the State of Indiana,” said Superintendent Ritz.  “I take this oath very seriously and I was dismayed to learn that other members of the State Board have not complied with the requirements of the law.  While I respect the commitment and expertise of members of the board individually, I feel they have over-stepped their bounds.
“Since my inauguration, I have worked tirelessly to communicate openly with the Board and the public.  I do not take this action lightly, but my obligations as elected state Superintendent require it.   I look forward to continuing to work to improve education for all Indiana students in a fair, transparent and collaborative manner.”
The suit is Ritz v. Elsener, et al and it has been filed in the Marion Circuit Court.  The cause number is 49C01-1310-PL-038953.  The Department of Education is using in-house counsel to avoid any additional costs to the state.

Avonte Oquendo's Disappearance Highlights The Failures of The NYC Department of Education To Protect Children With Disabilities


Where the System Failed Avonte Oquendo

Oct. 17, 2013 | Beth Arky, Child Mind Institute
As the search for Avonte Oquendo approaches week three, with police trying a new tactic—playing a recording of his mother out of emergency response vehicles in hopes the nonverbal autistic teen will hear it—questions mount over how he could have bolted from his Queens school. Meanwhile, advocates have begun searching for ways to ensure that such an incident doesn't happen again.
Avonte's brother, Daniel Oquendo—who has taken a leadership role in the search effort—met yesterday with Gary Mayerson, a Manhattan civil rights attorney concentrating on autism, to discuss the status of the investigation and security measures that should be implemented. (Autism Speaks and Mayerson & Associates have contributed toward the $70,000 reward money for Avonte's safe return.)
Avonte Oquendo System Failures"I couldn't blame Daniel for being entirely absorbed in his brother's plight," Mayerson says, "but he's not. He's able to look outward to do good and protect other students going forward.
Mayerson outlines three layers of protection. First, there is the student's Individualized Education Program, or IEP. The attorney says a student like the nonverbal Avonte, a known wanderer who has been found in subway tunnels in the past, should have had goals and objectives on his IEP to deal with that issue, which would have included his own aide at the Riverview School. Instead, Avonte was placed in a classroom with one teacher, one aide, and six students. (Wandering, also called eloping or bolting, is a common autistic trait.)
The New York City Department of Education was "clearly on notice that he was a bolter," Mayerson says. "There also could have been a special alerts section saying that he has a history of bolting that is potentially dangerous or life-threatening and he probably does not understand the danger" of leaving school.
Beth Glidden Andersen, who blogs at Maternal Instincts about her 9-year-old son, Nik, who has multiple disabilities including nonverbal autism, agrees with Mayerson's assessment. She commented on Facebook that given that Avonte was known to elope, "there should have been 1:1 supervision full-time.

"There is so much we don't know about Avonte and how he, specifically, functioned in his school environment," she wrote. "My son has many of the characteristics attributed to Avonte; at school he has more independence than he would if we were out in public. But that's because his school is exclusively special-needs students and everyone knows him. They give him opportunities to develop skills in a safe environment."
Mayerson's second point: Avonte's IEP should have had a behavior intervention plan that would tell teachers what to do if he went for the door of the classroom, let alone the school building. Finally, there have to be much-improved security measures in place. "There should be protocols so that people who are leaving the building have the legitimate authority to do so," he says.
The Riverview School—a special-needs program—shares space with a middle school and a high school with typically developing students. The schools share common spaces, including auditoriums, gymnasiums, libraries, and cafeterias. It's believed that Avonte eloped while transitioning between lunch and the classroom.
Mayerson disagrees with New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly'sexoneration of the school safety officer who saw Avonte before he bolted. Kelly said they looked at the security videotape and "she directs the young man to go back upstairs [when] he's just at the front door. He goes down the hall and actually exits the building from a side door. You see nothing after this juncture that shows the conduct of the school safety agent was inappropriate or there was any misconduct involved."
But the Oquendo family's attorney, David Perecman, questioned why a side door would be unlocked and unguarded in a school with autistic students. Not only that, "it's an omission issue," Mayerson says. "It's what she didn't do after challenging Avonte and saying 'Where are you going?' She doesn't say, 'Wait a minute, what if this is one of those nonverbal kids?'" In other words, was it simply enough to tell Avonte to stay and to not have some one follow him back to his classroom?
Jennifer Aronson Sellar has had experience with schools like Avonte's: Her nonverbal 7-year-old son, Hugo, who has multiple disabilities including an autism diagnosis, attends such a setting in Brooklyn. She wrote on Facebook that the bigger issue of schools like Riverview is whether staff  outside the special-needs program understands the kids' needs. "Very few people even know what elopement is and that this population is at risk for escape," she writes. "I doubt the guard had any knowledge or training for this particular population."
Also yesterday, advocates at a Google hangout presented by ICare4Autism (The International Center for Autism Research and Education) echoed Mayerson's thoughts. Dr. Joshua Weinstein, the founder of ICare4Autism and Hear Our Voices, a school for autistic children in Brooklyn, said his school has cameras inside and outside the building and in the classrooms, as well as "panic doors" that sound an alarm if a child runs out. He adds that there's always an instructor with each student, walking them in and out of the school, going from activity to activity, and during fire drills, lockdowns, and outings. 
Weinstein advises parents to find out what the safety procedures are at their children's schools, especially if there's inclusion and a wide span of grades. If they find fault with the plan, they need to advocate for change. He adds that the public needs to be aware of autistic behavior, including wandering, and be able to respond and notify the authorities.
Stephen Mark Shore, an ICare4Autism board member and himself on the spectrum, added, "We need to educate both the individual with autism on how to be safe as well as first responders who may encounter someone with autism." Shore has helped the New York Police Department produce a training video so that first responders may better know how to interact with autistic children, teens, and adults.
He also cited the work done by Dennis Debbaudt of Autism Risk & Safety Management, which offers autism training and resources for law enforcement and emergency first responders, as well as parents, educators, and the autism community. For instance, Debbaudt has an autism emergency plan on his site to help caregivers; it also includes a contact form to get as much info possible about the bolter quickly into the hands of first responders.
All the advocates cited GPS tracking technology, including wristbands, as a key way to keep wanderers safe.
As for the 45 minutes to hour it took before the school notified Avonte's family that he was missing, Sharie Manon, director of strategic alliances for ICare4Autism, said that as a mother she'd rather be called early; if it's a false alarm, so be it. Shore added that it's worth exercising "an abundance of caution. If they find [a child] under the couch, looking for a quiet place, that's a good outcome. And in situations where the child has eloped, the earlier we can get on this, the better off everybody will be."
Avonte was last seen wearing a gray striped shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. He is 5-foot-3 and weighs 125 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Police Department's Crime Stoppers hot line at (800) 577-TIPS.