Dear editor,

While the legislative session has come to an end for the year in Kansas, safety for children has not.

Throughout the session, various bills were passed, including Senate Substitute for Substitute for House Bill 2299. This bill will ban the use of cellphones in schools for the upcoming school year. This will look different for each school district, but one commonality amongst each district is that the ban places a focus on children’s education.

Kansans want students to get the absolute most out of their education. I mean, who doesn’t?

Now, consider this: how can they do that if they are being sexually abused at home? By another family member? Earlier in the year, House Bill 2576, otherwise known as Erin’s Law, was proposed once again in Kansas.

Following the trend of previous years, this piece of legislation was introduced, but not passed. If we want children to get the most out of their education, we must consider what is going on outside their school life, or sometimes what is mingled in with it. Erin’s Law is a bill that can help target this by providing age-appropriate child abuse education to students and educators.

For those of you reading who feel as passionate about child safety as I do, I ask you to look into Erin’s Law. It has been passed in 38 out of 50 states, and Kansas is not yet one of them.

I sincerely urge all readers to reach out to the representatives that you are constituents of and remind them how important this is. Maybe then, next year, Kansas can finally join the other 38 states that have helped keep children safe.

— Alyssa Wedlock

Master of Social Work Candidate

Wichita State University