It has been 30 years since the General Assembly enacted Connecticut’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That law, in combination with the federal FMLA passed four years later, provides some Connecticut workers with the right to unpaid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child, in order to care for a seriously ill child, spouse or parent or because of the worker’s own serious health condition. When the law passed, supporters said no worker should have to choose between their job and their health, or the health of their family.

As my home, Hartford has made me into the individual that I am today. Because I have been fortunate enough to rise to an office that allows me to serve the people that made me who I am, I am truly a product of my environment. Growing up in Hartford not only gave me a local perspective, but I also gained a more inclusive perspective because of the experiences I had in my youth, which were unique from any other area of Connecticut. These diverse experiences I speak of range from gentrification, to the wage gap, to mass incarceration.

There is ample evidence affirming that racial and ethnic disparities beginning in early childhood persist over an individual’s life-course. Many of these disparities are linked to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that if properly detected could be amenable to treatment.

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Communications Director Leigh Appleby’s recent editorial, attempting to counter the fears of a student who had written a previous editorial, does a disservice to the people of Connecticut and unfairly castigates the student.  Moreover,  Appleby’s editorial points out many of the issues those of us working at Connecticut’s community colleges have with “Students First.”

I write this letter to the editor in attempt to dispel some of the myths tied to requirements necessary for a psychologist to prescribe medication. In Dr. Tichianaa Armah’s April 1 article, she states, “SB 966 would permit psychologists to prescribe medications after taking a 400-hour online class, and supervision by an MD, or APRN for as little as 1,000 hours.” This is particularly troubling as Dr. Armah’s fails to distinguish between credit clock hours and clock hours. Presumably, her calculations come from dividing 400 didactic hours by 40-hour weeks. In doing so, she comes to 10 weeks of training. Similarly, she suggests only 25 weeks of patient contact. However, this is unequivocally false.