Student supports specific bill to ban high capacity magazines

 Senator Tammy Duckworth
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

Senator Richard J. Durbin
711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

Dear Illinois Senators Duckworth and Durbin, 

    My name is ________, and I am a senior in the Social Work program at the University of Illinois-Springfield. I have lived in Illinois for all of my 21 years. I am writing to thank you both for your support of the reintroduction of the Keep Americans Safe Act. This bill aims to ban the “importation, sale, manufacturing, transfer, or possession of gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition,” (“Senators Markey & Menendez Re-Introduce”, 2023). Although this bill died in the 117th Congress, I am glad it is being reintroduced to the 118th with the help of cosponsors like you. 

    The most widely accepted definition of a mass shooting is an event in which four or more people are shot and killed (Uribe & Sherman, 2023). High-capacity magazines, which hold ten or more rounds of ammunition, make mass shooting events more deadly. According to Everytown Research (2019), between 1981 and 2017, mass shootings that involved a high-capacity magazine injured 14 times as many people and were twice as deadly as those that did not. Within the past decade, the five deadliest mass shootings in the United States were carried out using high-capacity magazines (Everytown, 2019). If the Keep Americans Safe Act had been implemented, the hundreds of people killed in Las Vegas, Orlando, Newtown, Sutherland Springs, and Parkland may still be alive today. High-capacity magazines are designed to kill and to kill fast. There is no reason for civilians to have access to these kinds of weapons. 

    As a student, I would be lying if I said the idea of a mass shooting occurring at school did not frighten me. Less than two weeks ago, there was a mass shooting at Michigan State University, which is just five hours north of my own university. I have undergone routine school shooter drills since the fourth grade. For over a decade, teachers and administrators have told me, “hide,” “don’t try to save your friends,” “don’t make a sound,” “use anything you can find as a weapon,” “we won’t let you in the classroom if you’re in the hall during a lockdown,” among other things. Children should be able to go to school without fear of dying next to their friends. People should be able to go to the supermarket without fear of being gunned down in the meat aisle. Everyone should be able to leave home without fear of becoming a victim in the next mass shooting. The Keep Americans Safe Act is a step in the right direction. 

    Assuming both of you hold the values of caring and fairness, the Keep Americans Safe Act is a fine reflection of these. By cosponsoring this bill, you are placing the emotional and physical well-beings of American citizens above all else. By advocating for the prohibition of high-capacity magazines, you are advocating for people to be able to go places with less fear and likelihoods of mass shootings. Additionally, since this bill is regarding the ban of high-capacity magazines—not all guns—there is a fair balance between citizens’ safety and their Second Amendment rights. As a future social worker, I, too, value care and fairness, which contributes to my support and appreciation of your cosponsoring of this bill.

    I look forward to seeing how the bill progresses through the 118th congress. I will be sure to consider you both when it comes time to show up to the polls. Thank you, again, for your dedication to keeping Americans safe from unnecessary harm.

Sincerely,
_______________

References

(2019, March). Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Everytown. https://everytownresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/07/EFGV02_Assault-Weapons-and-High-Capacity-Magazines_Rd2_6-1.pdf

(2023, February 8). Duckworth, Durbin join senate colleagues in reintroducing legislation to ban high-capacity magazines. Tammy Duckworth U.S. Senator for Illinois. https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-durbin-join-senate-colleagues-in-reintroducing-legislation-to-ban-high-capacity-magazines

(2023, February 9). Senators Markey and Menendez re-introduce Keep Americans Safe Act which bans high-capacity firearms. Framingham source. https://framinghamsource.com/index.php/2023/02/09/senators-markey-menendez-re-introduce-keep-americans-safe-act-which-bans-high-capacity-firearms/

Uribe, M. R., & Sherman, A. (2023, February 14). What counts as a “mass shooting”? The definition varies. PolitiFact. https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/feb/14/what-counts-as-a-mass-shooting-the-definition-vari/

Example of student letter to administrative body asking for changes in IEP process for classroom placements

 To the Members of the Illinois State Board of Education,
    The mission statement of the Illinois State Board of Education is to “provide each and every child with safe and healthy learning conditions, great educators, and equitable opportunities by practicing data-informed stewardship of resources and policy development, all done in partnership with educators, families, and stakeholders.”  The goals, vision, and commitments of this institution are aligned in a commitment to provide a quality education for every child, ensuring that each student leaves our schools equipped to make a meaningful contribution to society. However, some children are still facing disadvantages in our school system, including some that have been inadvertently created by the very programs intended to help them.
    My son, R_______, was born in May of [year]. Although he began showing signs of autism at only eighteen months old, he was not formally diagnosed until January of 2020. When he started preschool in the fall of [year] at the [School and its location], his father and I already knew he was neurodivergent, but the psychology professionals were hesitant to diagnose him at such a young age. During his screening for public school, we voiced our concerns to the professionals who administered the tests, but R____ was having a good day and eagerly participated in the tasks. He was judged to have no problems and placed in a normal classroom.
    The problems began almost immediately. R____ was used to receiving individual attention and was not capable of understanding that his teacher was responsible for another twenty students. He began lashing out on a daily basis, disrupting the classroom and sometimes endangering those around him by throwing or pushing large objects. Luckily, the school now had evidence that R____ had special needs and moved him to a smaller classroom that boasted three teacher aides and a teacher skilled in dealing with students with behavioral problems or emotional disability. Under her patient care, R____ began to learn and socialize with other students. R____ was given his first IEP and dedicated, specialized care that helped him enjoy and learn during his school experience. In addition to having four adults to manage his class of twelve, R____ received daily one on one time with his social worker, who worked tirelessly to help him learn to control his emotions and manage his behaviors.
    The pandemic robbed R____ of kindergarten, so his first year at [elementary school] was in the classroom of Mrs. [teacher name]. Mrs. [teacher name] was a joy to have as my son’s teacher, but, once again, the setting of a normal classroom was simply not conducive to R____’s learning. There was not enough adult attention, the level of overlapping noises of twenty children caused sensory overload, and he was often confused by the curriculum and had no one to ask. When we as parents inquired about the services R_____ should have been receiving, we found that his IEP from the [previous school] was not even considered and R_____ was receiving no accommodations. We were then told that he could not be moved because he was to be placed in the “least restrictive environment,” among normal students if possible.
    Despite the incredible efforts and passionate advocacy of Mrs. [Teacher], R______ learned nothing during his time at [school] and was suspended a total of twenty times before the principal stepped in and demanded that R______ receive accommodations that would create a better learning environment. The decision of the committee was that R______ should be placed at [Name of School] Elementary School. Mrs. [Teacher], R_____’s father, and I argued that if R_____ were given an aide to assist him in regulating his emotions and to help him understand classroom instructions, he would be able to remain in a normal classroom. While R______ had known many exemplary teachers, Mrs. [Teacher] was the first to really bond with my autistic child, and I was often humbled by her fierce advocating for my son and grateful for her advice and experience. It was she who advised us to find an advocate to help navigate the system after we were out of her hands. The professionals at the IEP meeting did not even consider our request, instead informing us that there were procedures to follow. R______ must move to the next level rather than receiving the accommodation recommended by his teacher, social worker, and psychologist.
    The next step in placement turned out to be a classroom for intellectual disabilities, even though R______ is not and has never been intellectually disabled. Worse, the string of suspensions were worded in such a way that the new teacher interpreted them to mean that my six-year-old was violent and dangerous, and she treated him as though he would attack at any given moment. In the short month in which he attended her class, I received daily phone calls, all of which occurred after incidents. However, by this time, we had found an IEP advocate, an incredible woman named Susie Woods. During the first IEP meeting attended by Ms. Woods, the educators of [School] expedited R______’s placement to a classroom for children with emotional disabilities. In August of [year], he began attending a classroom designed for children with social and emotional problems. R_______ has begun progressing academically and making friends, but the bureaucratic method used by local schools to determine placement for special needs students cost him over a year of education and caused significant setbacks in his social and behavioral development.
    Of the nearly two million students enrolled in public school in the state of Illinois, approximately 16.5% have IEPs, a total of 307,555 students in 2022. Students who qualify for IEPs often have disadvantages when compared to students who do not need individualized plans for their education. Programs such as special education and accommodations made for students with IEPs are designed to level the playing field and help relatively disadvantaged students succeed. However, students with IEPs are 10% more likely to be chronically absent from class and 5% more likely to be chronically truant. In addition to these issues, students with IEPs are more likely to drop out of school before achieving their diploma, a relatively small difference in percentage but one that remains persistent going back to 2018, when the percentage of students with IEPs who dropped out was nearly double the number of “normal” students who dropped out. While the gap is closing, its persistent presence seems indicative of ongoing problems faced by students with special needs.
    The Illinois State Board of Education installed a policy regarding Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) in February of 2000 which was intended to establish guidelines that follow the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997. The policy states that “to the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities aged 3 through 21, in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are not disabled.” It further requires that the first placement option “is a regular education environment, with the use of supplemental aids and services as needed. Special classes, separate schooling, or other placements by which students with disabilities are removed from the regular education environment should occur only if the student’s Individual Educational Program (“IEP”) team determines that the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in a regular classroom setting, even with the use of supplemental aids and services, cannot be achieved satisfactorily.”
    On the surface, the policies surrounding students with IEPs and Least Restrictive Environment provide reasonable accommodations to students with special educational needs without unnecessarily segregating them from the general population. However, in practice, these policies are causing some students with IEPs to suffer delays in their education as they are shuffled from one unsuitable classroom to the next in an attempt to keep them in a “less restrictive environment.” Since change of placement takes time, it can take a year or more to find the best environment for a special needs student—years during which these students fall further and further behind their peers.
    I do not want you to advocate for extensive change in policy; least restrictive environment policies are most often beneficial and prevent students with IEPs from feeling isolated or abnormal and keeping them actively a part of the population. However, the policy should be amended to allow for more rapid change of placement for students when it is found that the classroom they have been placed in is unsuitable. This could be accomplished by giving  the IEP committee more discretion in placement decisions. For example, educators should be able to forego steps in placement, moving the child to a “more restrictive environment” sooner if the committee deems it appropriate.
    In addition, each student with an IEP should be automatically assigned an IEP advocate. The well-being of a child in our education system should not be dependent on how knowledgeable their parents are regarding their rights, nor should they be reliant on the goodwill of individual educators. Even if the child has knowledgeable or caring parents, the parents may not be able to attend IEP meetings; for example, single parents cannot always get the time off work. An assigned advocate would be able to represent the child’s best interests at these meetings when their guardians cannot.
    These changes would assist families and educators to minimize delays in providing special needs students with the setting, services, and accommodations required for effective learning. However, it cannot be ignored that these changes will incur financial costs and require school districts to employ IEP advocates. Another complication arises from having these advocates employed by the school districts, which may make it difficult for the advocates to remain unbiased when representing a student against their employer.
    It is the vision of the public education system of the State of Illinois to provide every child with the tools and skills they need to succeed and make a meaningful contribution to society. To this end, it is my recommendation that these changes be adopted as a policy by the Board of Education.
    
Sources:
Illinois Report Card
https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/state.aspx?source=studentcharacteristics&source2=iep&Stateid=IL

Student makes a plea for immigraton reform by sharing a story

 

Dear Congressman Cleaver,

I write to you today, because my family has found ourselves in a position that I believe is unjust. And while we have been able to work through our situation and struggles, I worry for other families in our same position. I want you to make immigration reform a priority, and I want Congress and the White House to change some of the laws for immigrants to make our system more humane.

My husband’s name is R_________. He is a Lebanese man who at 18 left everything and everyone he knew to come into the United States of America. He took every single minute step to insure he came to this country, completely legally and correctly. He sharpened his English skills and scored one of the highest test scores in his entire country. He has done nothing but work hard to not only get to the United States, but also to stay here. R______ has been here for five years and working for four and a half. 

When I met R_________ in January 2022 he had just accepted a job with the state of Missouri working as a DFS caseworker. After working there for several months, he switched to another position with the state. However, in December 2022 our lawyer informed us that R_____ would not be able to work past January 31. This came as a huge shock and upset to us. Mainly because R_____ was the sole provider of our home. He paid for groceries and he paid our rent. I work as a waitress and am a full-time student; solely based on my income we could no longer afford our rent. We had to find somewhere else to live within the next month. However, for people who cannot afford a lawyer this notice can be even shorter.

Now, luckily for us, we were blessed, and my parents very happily had us move into their home. However, for families, not as blessed as mine, the same situation could have put them into debt, out of home and in a complete spiral. I haven’t stopped thinking about that since we had to move. So that’s why I think families should be protected from this. R_____ is a perfect representation that you can do everything by the book and properly and still be thrown to the wolves so to speak. We were one of the lucky ones who had support behind us. But I worry for those who don’t have the support. This is why I think there should be an implemented policy that if a legal immigrant has worked in the U.S. for over two years, there should not be a lapse of time where the person cannot work. These are people who have already been contributing to their communities and this country. People who want to positively affect the United States of America. These people should not be put in a situation that can completely sabotage an entire family. 

We have to wait for R_____‘s green card for him to be able to work. At this point for us that means he will be out of work for a total of 6 to 8 months. But for some people who aren’t blessed enough to have lawyers and be able to afford a lawyer, this could mean it takes a year or more. People who successfully migrate here completely legally and buy the books should not be sabotaged by a rule that can completely destroy a family. If not for my parents having open arms, my husband, the person I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with, wouldn’t have been able to afford to stay in this country. He would’ve had to have gone back to an unsafe country. R_____ loves this country, and most of the time more than Lebanon. And even though going through this made us lose our home when we were first getting started, R_____ has done nothing but be thankful that he’s even in this country.

Congressman, I ask you to just think about what could happen to a family in this situation. All I can ask of you is to consider that families can be destroyed by this. And if you are as upset and concerned about this, as I am, consider putting in a protection plan for the people who just want to be in this country with their families. 

I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read this, and I hope that our story can help set in motion something to protect others from this. 

Sincerely, ____ ________

This would have been stronger (but it is already good) if you had explained how it was that your husband was working and had accepted a job at the Missouri DFS. I assume he had come to the USA as a student, and after graduating he was hired in a field where an insufficient number of citizens were applying to fill positions.  That could be true for social workers such as those who work in child and family services. So, his student visa was converted to a work-related visa, and then when he switched jobs he was forced to take time off and not work until his new status (as a permanent resident, with a “Green Card” because he was now the spouse of a U.S. citizen) became processed and official.  I think what you are asking Congressman Cleaver is to sponsor or co-sponsor a bill that would allow foreign citizens who work here legally under any of the various schemes that allow their employment to not lose their status if they change from one job to another, nor lose their status of being allowed to work while their legal status changes from one type to another.  You didn’t explain exactly what you wanted, but just told an excellent personal narrative with moral content that shows that the current situation is bad. 

The other thing that you could do to make this more persuasive would be to comment on your story and point out the moral implications.  You sort of do that by stressing how great R_____ is, and how much he loves our country.  But you have to be direct and say, “the situation is wrong because it breaks [some moral principle of fairness or justice]”.  That is, you are not merely asking your audience to do something related to legislation: you are asking them to take a step to make the world a better place where government policies conform to standards of morality, ethics, human rights, justice, and so forth.   

Example of advocacy letter to promote Pretrial Fairness Act

 Dear Representative [Republican Representative to the General Assembly of Illinois],

    I am writing to you as a constituent and Social Work student regarding a provision of the SAFE-T Act, the Pretrial Fairness Act. I am urging you to vote in favor of the Pretrial Fairness Act. This legislation would eliminate the role of the money bond in Illinois, protecting the families of those who are waiting for trial, ensuring that wealth will not play a role in release and detention decisions. (Grace, 2021)

    On an average day in the United States, there are almost a half a million people who are in jail, waiting for their criminal cases to move forward. A study from this year showed that people in pretrial detention make up more than three quarters of the jail population. Of the Not Convicted population in jail, almost sixty-eight percent are being held on non-violent charges. (Sawyer, 2023) It is not because they are a risk to the public but because they cannot pay bail. For those who cannot afford their bail, this pretrial jail time can lead to the loss of jobs, connections and stability for themselves and their families, not to mention the danger one can be in while in jail. They often must wait for months and years for their cases to be resolved. (Bail, 2021) Bonds can be set around ten thousand. When they are paid in full, the people who pay the bonds can retrieve their money at the conclusion of a case. Most people cannot afford this amount so they have to rely on a bail-bonds company. To work with them, it required that 10 percent of the bail would be paid to the company. One thousand dollars is a lot of money to many. This situation could lead to poor decisions being made such as choosing between getting your friend or family member out of jail or pay rent. On top of the potential scramble for money, unlike paying the full bond to the court, they will not receive that ten percent back from the bond company.(White, 2021)

    In the New York Times a few years ago, there was a story done about a 53-year-old man named Tyrone Tomlin. He had just been at a convenience store when a police officer stopped him. Tyrone let the officer search him. All that he found was a fountain soda with a straw. He was handcuffed and placed under arrest for the possession of drug paraphernalia. The officer said that the straws are commonly used to hold heroin. When he was brought in front of a judge, he pleaded guilty so bond was set at one thousand five hundred. Tomlin could not afford the bond, so he was sent to Jail to be held until his arraignment the following week. When describing the jail, he said “This place is miserable, it’s dangerous. It’s every man for himself. You could get abused, you could get raped, you could get extorted. That stuff is all around”. His Aunt was worried about him and his employer had no idea where we was. When he came back to court, he refused to plead guilty and take the plea deal again, which led to another two week stretch in jail. While he was in the shower, he was jumped by a group of men. He was beaten and stomped and ended up with a misshapen face. Finally, three weeks after he was arrested, the straw was tested and was negative for drug residue. The judge said he was not guilty and was free to go. (Pinto, 2021)

    The Pretrial Act would prevent situations like Tomlin’s from happening here in Illinois. Under this legislation, Tomlin would get a ticket with a court date. He would be able to work while he waits for his trial date, saving taxpayers’ money. It would give people like him a chance to keep their family, work and potentially community from falling apart. It would also prevent them from experiencing potential abuse and violence at the hands of inmates. 

I urge you to vote in favor or the Pretrial Act. If you do so, it will show that you are in favor of protecting the family unit. It will also show that you are for keeping the responsibility of making court dates in the hands of citizens and not the government. 

Sincerely,
______________



References
Grace, S. (2021, October 7). Pretrial Fairness Act - Coalition to End Money Bond. Coalition to End Money Bond. https://endmoneybond.org/pretrialfairness/
Sawyer, W. Wagner, P.   (n.d.). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2023.html
Pinto, N. (2015, August 13). The Bail Trap. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/magazine/the-bail-trap.html
The Bail Project. (2021, March 4). After Cash Bail - The Bail Project. https://bailproject.org/after-cash-bail/#easy-footnote-bottom-5-39386
White, G. B. (2017, May 12). Who Really Makes Money Off of Bail Bonds? The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/bail-bonds/526542/

Student urges someone to support public service loan forgiveness in a specific county

 Dear whomever it concerns, 

It’s better when you figure out the name of the person to whom your letter ought to be addressed if you were to actually send it.

My name is _____________ and I wanted to talk to you about the Student Loan Forgiveness for Social Workers. Specifically I would like to talk about the PSLF, which helps public service workers by giving them college loan forgiveness. I want you to push for getting this policy approved for Macon County Students. I believe it is important that social workers and public service workers can get help with their school, as they have gotten their degree to help their community. As we all know, public service workers do not get paid much; teachers, social workers, and anyone who works for the community they are in does not get paid as much as they deserve. 

Why is that? They work overtime, that most of the time they are not even paid extra for their long hours? On top of everything that they work for, they also have to get the money together for their student loans, but students pay the same  This is going to make people not want to go into being a social worker or a public service worker and then we will not have any. We need to help the ones who are helping our community and our society’s future. 

I believe that if we make this policy a reality in Macon County, we will help the Public service workers, and have more help in school, DCFS and all of that. So please, consider this and help with our society’s future. 

Thank You,

_____________

You are suggesting that Macon County provide scholarships for students who, after graduating from local high schools, earn degrees in social work and other forms of public service (teacher education, I suppose), and these scholarships would be modeled on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) policy, which forgives remaining balances on federal direct loans for education if a person who has debt from such loans has made 120 payments on their direct loan while earning an income from a qualified employer (qualified employers are mostly in government, which is why this is a “public service” policy). 

As a federal policy, PSLF is available to all students, including those who reside in Macon County. Is it your intention that the County Board in Macon County (or perhaps the City Government in Decatur) should offer college loans to students from Macon County, and then forgive the balance on those loans if a recipient of such a loan has resided in Macon County and worked for a public entity in Macon County for a total of ten years? 

It’s a very interesting idea: that a body of local government might get into the college lending business, supporting high school graduates and residents in the jurisdiction of the local government to earn university degrees and then stay in the jurisdiction after earning those degrees. Presumably the local government body would work with some sort of coalition of local banks and credit unions, who would set up the lending process and maintain the record-tracking. I could see this being an interesting policy that might help retain talent and innovation in localities that suffer from brain-drain as educated young adults flee the area and move to Chicago or out-of-state. This policy might also help recruit nurses, social workers, school teachers, law enforcement workers, emergency medical services workers, and so forth, if any of those types of occupation were having difficulties recruiting and retaining employees. 

You would certainly want to write a letter with a little more clarity and detail, to help your audience understand what exactly you are suggesting. What you have done well in the letter is convey a sense that many professionals in public service are offering their diligent effort and expertise in the workplace, but they are not enjoying the respect or compensation that would encourage them to continue doing so, and in fact, such work is becoming less attractive.  That point does help persuade your audience that something should be done. You might have explored why offering locally-sourced education loans that are paid back by the county or city governments after a loan recipient has paid back a certain number of times might be a better way of handling the problem compared to something more direct, such as increasing the wages of workers in these areas, or reducing their working hours or caseloads.  I imagine the loans off the opportunity for the local government and local lending institutions to earn some profits from the interest payments as loans are repaid.  It also may improve the opportunities for local households, whereas raising salaries or improving working conditions directly may benefit persons who are not local, who take local jobs and move into the area. 

As you write letters for decision-makers, you must try to be very clear about what you are asking them to do, and explain why they should do what you want them to do. You need to be able to clearly tell them why a particular course of action is the best thing to do. Telling them that a situation needs fixing and giving them a general idea about the problem and types of solutions is fine, as that gets them thinking about a problem, but will probably find it more satisfying to push for very specific things when you do advocacy in the public policy sphere. 

This assignment allows students to write about any sort of policy connected in any way with social welfare services or policies. I want people to write about things that matter to them—I want students to care about the topics the address in these papers.  Do you care about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness policy?  Do you think 120 payments should be made before the remainder of the debt is wiped out? You can write about actual policies or made-up policies or policies that are being proposed but haven't been passed or implemented yet.  I think in this case you could be writing about the actual existing PSLF program, in which case it is unnecessary to ask a local politician to make it apply in a specific area, because it already is a federal program.  If you are using the same name, but imagining some other policy, or if you pretending that the PSLF program hasn't been enacted yet, then you would need to explain more about what it is and what it does. A single sentence that explains that some loans (those coming directly from the federal government) are forgiven eventually if someone had made payments on those loans 120 times.