The ELTF has a membership of 40 and comprises attorneys and advocates in legal services and public interest law firms to address many of the important education issues that face low-income clients. The group continues its focus its attention on school discipline and the effects of zero tolerance policies and practices, particularly on low income students and students of color.

An Act to Help Students Stay in School targets zero tolerance policies to reduce unnecessary and unduly lengthy suspensions and expulsions of students who constitute no danger to others. Research has shown that students of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately subject to suspensions and expulsions for the same offenses that other students receive lesser punishment. Students who have been suspended or expelled are more likely to drop out of school and end up in prison.

An Act to Help Students Stay in School confines zero tolerance policies to only the most serious offenses, consistent with federal law, and introduces procedural safeguards to prevent children from being unfairly deprived of an education.

Click for the H 3435 FACT SHEET

Testimony in Support of H.3435 "An Act to Help Students Stay in School"
(click the underlined names to read testimonies)

• Norma D’Apolito, Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association
• Dan French, Executive Director, Center for Collaborative Education
• Missy Gilbarg, parent / Director, Coalition Against Poverty
• Martha P. Grace, former Chief Judge, Juvenile Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Peter Hahn, Partner, Hilton, Sindelar & Hahn, on behalf of Massachusetts Bar Association
• Phillip Kassel, Advocacy Director, South Coastal Counties Legal Services
• Ann Lambert, Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
• Daniel J. Losen, Senior Education Law and Policy Associate, The Civil Rights Project at UCLA
• Thomas Mela, Children’s Law Support Project Director, Massachusetts Advocates for Children
• Isabel Raskin, Education Attorney, Juvenile Justice Center, Suffolk University (for identification purposes only)
• John Reed, Education Committee Chair, NAACP New England Area Conference
• Joel M. Ristuccia, Ed. M., Licensed School Psychologist in Massachusetts
• Samuel Senft, Staff Attorney, Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston
• Corinn Williams, parent / Executive Director, Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Mass., Inc.