Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405-521-5774
For Immediate Release: March
20, 2008
Sen. Jonathan Nichols
Bill to Give Parents Input on Classroom
Placement of Multiples Awaits House Action
Parents of multiples would have the right to keep
their children in the same classroom under legislation approved
unanimously by the State Senate. The measure, Senate Bill 2037,
is awaiting consideration by the House Education Committee. The
bill’s author, Sen. Jonathan
Nichols, R-Norman, said he was contacted by a mother of twins
about the problem.
“I’ve learned that many schools throughout the state
have a policy of automatically placing twins or triplets in separate
classrooms,” said Nichols. “But for children who’ve
been together since conception, separating them can make going to
school a traumatic experience.”
Dr. Ramona Paul agreed with Nichols. The Assistant State Superintendent
of Education is the mother of identical twin boys and stepmother
of fraternal twin girls. She also did her doctoral dissertation
on twins and classroom placement. Paul said there was no research
to show automatically separating twins helps them in anyway, but
it can making learning more difficult, particularly for younger
children.
“They don’t understand why they’re being separated,”
Paul said. “This is a new adjustment to be away from mom and
dad...why would you all the sudden decide that the children wouldn’t
be together? There’s just not anything logical about it, and
there certainly isn’t any research that supports it.”
Fellow Senator Mike Mazzei said he was extremely grateful to Nichols
for his legislation. He’s the father of five children, including
a set of triplets, and he firmly believes the parents’ wishes
need to be honored by schools when determining classroom placement
for multiples.
“This is very encouraging, because parents really need to
be involved in the decision making process,” said Mazzei,
R-Tulsa. “From our experience, we know having multiples together
in the same classroom is good for the kids. Their individuality
still plays out, and frankly the challenges that come with having
multiples, twins, triplets and quads is just so much easier for
the parents to deal with when you can keep them in the same classroom.”
Nichols said under SB 2037, parents would have the right to decide
whether their multiples should be together or in separate classrooms.
They would have to make that request within the first two weeks
of the children’s first day at the school. If the school’s
principal determines the placement is disruptive to the classroom
environment, a request can be made for the district board to determine
whether it should be changed.
“Minnesota, Texas and New Hampshire have already passed similar
legislation, and it’s been introduced in several other states
as well,” Nichols said. “The bottom line is we need
to respect the fact that multiples have a unique bond that most
of us will never experience, and we need to listen to their parents
when it comes to classroom placement.”
For more information contact:
Senator Nichols' Office: (405) 521-5535
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