After Flint Water Crisis, Number Of Students With Special Education Needs Spikes
Note: We wish these families well. They and their children deserve to be acknowledged, educated and receive reparations for the damage done by the water in Flint. There is little in the world more painful than watching your children being poisoned. Except perhaps being told that you're crazy, seeking to blame someone and the poisoning never happened and has always been here....
Now imagine legislators across the nation telling families that this water is healthy and then mandating a bottle a day to attend school.
From WBUR (a Boston public radio station owned by Boston University)
More than a dozen families in Flint, Michigan, are suing the public school system, arguing their children were exposed to brain-damaging levels of lead during the water crisis six years ago.
The parents say that exposure may have caused or exacerbated their children’s disability-related needs. These families will make their case in federal court this summer.
“What we're enforcing in this lawsuit in federal court is a federal entitlement statute that children are identified and that their disability-related needs are provided with accommodations and services so that they can access a quality education,” says Kristen Totten, an education attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan.
This case is just one of several lawsuits against the Flint school system. The city’s rate of special education students has grown steadily since the water crisis began –– 28% of students are in special education programs, while the national average is about 13%.
Medical professionals have said there's no way to prove conclusively that lead has caused new disabilities in Flint. But it has been proven that children exposed to lead are at higher risk of neurological damage and developmental delays.
Jessica Gutierrez, a Flint native and mother of five, says she noticed significant behavioral changes in her children since the water crisis.
“I've had a child that was potty trained and now all of a sudden she has a problem with incontinence,” Gutierrez says. “The worst types of behavioral issues are the ones where you can see that your child realizes that what they're doing is not normal.”
Her children were tested, and all five were diagnosed with different psychological and development issues. But only one of her children is currently in a special education program.
“If you have the privilege and you have the knowledge about the workings of the school system and you run into a parent or you see a parent or a child that needs help, advocate for them,” Gutierrez says. “And we hope that the cure to fix this problem will come in our time. It's not just to help the future because we need help now.” Read more here.
Florida should be removed from all drinking water. IQ’s have been on a steady decline since it was added to water for helping teeth. A brain is more important than good teeth, I’m pretty sure!
Posted by: Jolenne Stewart | September 27, 2020 at 01:57 AM
"In their analysis, the investigators found that levels of lead in children's blood was significantly higher in Massachusetts communities using the silicofluorides fluosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride than in towns where water is treated with sodium fluoride or not fluoridated at all."
On another study many years back, fluoride was involved in the up take of aluminum into the bones.
Duckduck go it I guess.
We are not entering a time that we will begin to understand truly why lead arsenic was much more deadly than just arsenic alone, or lead alone.
Posted by: Benedetta | February 06, 2020 at 11:33 PM
The transcript is good, but incomplete. About 2 minutes into the interview Tonya Mosley says to Jessica Gutierrez, "no one knows their children better than their mother, what have you seen?" STOP the press, WHAT?.
NO ONE KNOWS THEIR CHILDREN BETTER THAN THEIR MOTHER---WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN?
Such a simple straight forward honest to the point question, but one that seems by calculation- premeditation must be avoided when talking to mothers whose toxin is not lead, but a cocktail of toxic ingredients injected into their child--which they know best.
We know our children better than legislators, FDA, CDC, AAP and maybe you Tonya Mosley. What have we seen, but you are not listening. You are not interested in listening and have been conditioned to play the denial game.
The ACLU is quite willing to go to bat for lead, but not for mercury, aluminum, and the precious right of upholding the principle of informed consent.
As one sharp, witty mother pointed out--Its ACLU for them; and ACFU for us.
Posted by: michael | February 06, 2020 at 12:24 PM
Just to say we are finding that links to fluoride alert dot org website cause comments not to post.
Posted by: John Stone | February 06, 2020 at 10:52 AM
Posted by: John Stone | February 06, 2020 at 08:32 AM
Michigan prosecutors drop all charges in Flint water investigation probe
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/13/732540100/mich-prosecutors-drop-charges-in-flint-water-investigation-but-promise-new-probe
"Three years after lead was detected in the drinking water of Flint, Mich., state prosecutors say they are dropping all criminal charges filed against a group of eight government officials implicated in the scandal, in favor of launching a new expanded investigation."
Gee what a surprise … nothing to see here … move on ….
Posted by: Bob Moffit | February 06, 2020 at 08:14 AM
Posted by: Sophie Scholl | February 06, 2020 at 07:07 AM
Posted by: Hans Scholl | February 06, 2020 at 06:55 AM
Posted by: Hans Scholl | February 06, 2020 at 06:45 AM