I received the following statement from Andrea Rediske about the political games now being played in the Florida legislature.

 

 

“An open letter to Florida Legislators:

“When Orange County Public Schools required a letter from the hospice company overseeing the end of Ethan’s life justifying the extension of the FAA waiver, two thoughts came to my mind. The first was: “This is absolutely shameful,” and the second was: “This could happen to someone else.” It was the second thought that motivated me to come forward with our story. Two years ago, when I was fighting for Ethan to be granted a waiver for the FAA, I wrote to state legislators and the Department of Education appealing for help, but was summarily dismissed. Each person I wrote to merely cited policies and statutes as justification for the FAA. So, after our story broke, I was delighted, humbled, and grateful when Karen Castor-Dentel proposed HB 895, which she named the “Ethan Rediske Act.” This act would make it easier for severely disabled and medically fragile children like my son to receive waivers for the FAA. Parents like me would be relieved of the burden of having to submit yet more paperwork to aid in the care of their children. I thought to myself that surely the Florida legislature would see the need for this type of legislation. Surely they would see that there were other children in the state like Ethan who were suffering as the result of the requirements of the FAA. Surely the officials I had voted to represent my family and me would do the right thing for my son and for the other children like him in Florida. It seemed as if the legislation would sail through the voting process. I was wrong.

“Since I have come forward with our story, support from parents and teachers across the state and all over the country have been overwhelmingly positive, but exposing my private grief to the public has not been without negativity. Responses to media coverage of Ethan’s story have been met with such comments as, “Why doesn’t she homeschool him?” “Why didn’t she just ignore this?” “Why bother teaching Ethan at all?” And the worst, “Why are my tax dollars being wasted on teaching a retarded child?” I have addressed both the Florida Department of Education and the Orange County School Board mere days and weeks after Ethan’s death. I was publicly yet tacitly accused by the Florida Commissioner of Education Pam Stuart of using my personal tragedy to further my political motivations. And HB 895 was not even put on the K-12 Subcommittee agenda by Representative Janet Adkins. All of these blows and setbacks struck me while I was grieving the loss of my son.

“Nearly two months after the bill was introduced, I have been informed the bill entitled, “The Ethan Rediske Act” has been tabled. I have just learned that the verbiage of the bill has been subsumed by a larger bill on school accountability – HB 7117, and the Ethan Rediske Act has been relegated to page 38 of a 47-page bill. I don’t know why legislators have decided to make the change at this time, after all of the public support for the Ethan Rediske Act. I don’t understand why a bill with my son’s name on it poses such a threat. I have been a microbiology professor for 11 years. In the fall, I will begin a PhD program in Science Education. I feel most at home in front of a classroom or in a teaching lab – politics is not my arena. I feel that I have taken advantage of every channel open to me to have some kind of influence over this legislation, but to no avail. The very least I can hope for is a few short paragraphs on page 38 of HB 7117 to help other children and families in our situation. Florida Legislators, I am appealing once again to you to do the right thing: Pass this bill that would make it easier for students like Ethan to receive waivers for the FAA. Help families like ours who are already struggling under the intensely heavy burden of caring for a disabled and medically fragile child. Please rename it the Ethan Rediske Act.

Thank you,

Andrea Rediske”

 

P.S. Peter Greene thinks that the legislature hoaxed the Rediske family by removing his name from the bill and sticking his cause into a terrible new accountability bill. I guess we will have to wait and see how this plays out.