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A different school battle
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<blockquote data-quote="InsaneCdn" data-source="post: 446785" data-attributes="member: 11791"><p>Sure - lots of options. But not available... as in, until you turn 16, you are legally required to be "in school" - as in, attending "full-time equivalent" (as much as you are able for, if medical reduction in school day is necessary) or "100% home-schooled". After that, you can't take adult ed unless you have been out of school - in ALL formats - for at least one full year. So, he'd have to waste two whole years accomplishing almost nothing, to then be able to start again. That's destructive, too.</p><p></p><p>Here, there IS an official chain of command, and we are told who to contact etc. But in reality, everything is done to support the principal of the school - and no one except the principal has any control over what happens in the classroom. There are all sorts of resources to influence and advise, but that only works if the teacher and principal are on-side.</p><p></p><p>There are no other schools to transfer to - as in, all the other schools do not have the hands-on options - just the comp. HS. So, anything else means he has to take 5 academic courses per day. Which he can't handle. Everyone agrees he can't handle it. The disagreement is on the reason. SD says "he's got an attitude, he isn't trying, he isn't willing to put in effort, he's just pushing you (parents) around to get what he wants". WE say, he's learned to be like that, because his real needs are not being met, and in fact most teachers work against him either through ignorance or deliberately.</p><p></p><p>We don't have charter schools OR private schools either, that could fill the gap.</p><p></p><p>When you have a kid who gets 90s consistently in hands-on classes, and struggles to pull a 50 in english and math because of a dozen missed issues starting in grade 1... there are no easy answers.</p><p></p><p>If he was severely disabled, they would be far more responsive - because the labels and the needs would be obvious. But every diagnosis except one is "atypical", and for many other issues, he "fails to meet diagnostic cut-offs" so doesn't even get the diagnosis. (The one solid diagnosis is ADHD combined, with severe executive functioning issues - but that's only about 25% of his problem)</p><p></p><p>I've tried going to the people we are "supposed to call" - and we are NOT allowed to write. It MUST be done by phone - obviously, so there is no paper trail. I'm not prepared to take it to the media... because there aren't enough supports around us. The SD would make sure we got tarred and feathered and driven out of town - and that's on top of the damage that would be done by making the extent of his disabilities public. Even the Ministry of Education is not prepared to get involved... all of that authority resides solely with the SD - the ministry just writes the curriculum requirements etc., delivery is up to the SD. </p><p></p><p>IEPs have NO legal standing whatsoever. They won't even start working on next year's IEP until September, we won't meet until October... and then it will get reviewed once, in April or May.</p><p></p><p>If we were to pull him and home school, he would lose 100% of access to all hands-on classes - and we'd have as many or more problems, in both the short and long runs. The SD knows that. So... they "don't have to do anything because we don't have anywhere else to go".</p><p></p><p>It would probably help if I had the class, grace and brains of someone like Marg... but I'm not a people person, so I probably step on toes more than absolutely necessary... and when I don't? difficult child goes straight downhill.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="InsaneCdn, post: 446785, member: 11791"] Sure - lots of options. But not available... as in, until you turn 16, you are legally required to be "in school" - as in, attending "full-time equivalent" (as much as you are able for, if medical reduction in school day is necessary) or "100% home-schooled". After that, you can't take adult ed unless you have been out of school - in ALL formats - for at least one full year. So, he'd have to waste two whole years accomplishing almost nothing, to then be able to start again. That's destructive, too. Here, there IS an official chain of command, and we are told who to contact etc. But in reality, everything is done to support the principal of the school - and no one except the principal has any control over what happens in the classroom. There are all sorts of resources to influence and advise, but that only works if the teacher and principal are on-side. There are no other schools to transfer to - as in, all the other schools do not have the hands-on options - just the comp. HS. So, anything else means he has to take 5 academic courses per day. Which he can't handle. Everyone agrees he can't handle it. The disagreement is on the reason. SD says "he's got an attitude, he isn't trying, he isn't willing to put in effort, he's just pushing you (parents) around to get what he wants". WE say, he's learned to be like that, because his real needs are not being met, and in fact most teachers work against him either through ignorance or deliberately. We don't have charter schools OR private schools either, that could fill the gap. When you have a kid who gets 90s consistently in hands-on classes, and struggles to pull a 50 in english and math because of a dozen missed issues starting in grade 1... there are no easy answers. If he was severely disabled, they would be far more responsive - because the labels and the needs would be obvious. But every diagnosis except one is "atypical", and for many other issues, he "fails to meet diagnostic cut-offs" so doesn't even get the diagnosis. (The one solid diagnosis is ADHD combined, with severe executive functioning issues - but that's only about 25% of his problem) I've tried going to the people we are "supposed to call" - and we are NOT allowed to write. It MUST be done by phone - obviously, so there is no paper trail. I'm not prepared to take it to the media... because there aren't enough supports around us. The SD would make sure we got tarred and feathered and driven out of town - and that's on top of the damage that would be done by making the extent of his disabilities public. Even the Ministry of Education is not prepared to get involved... all of that authority resides solely with the SD - the ministry just writes the curriculum requirements etc., delivery is up to the SD. IEPs have NO legal standing whatsoever. They won't even start working on next year's IEP until September, we won't meet until October... and then it will get reviewed once, in April or May. If we were to pull him and home school, he would lose 100% of access to all hands-on classes - and we'd have as many or more problems, in both the short and long runs. The SD knows that. So... they "don't have to do anything because we don't have anywhere else to go". It would probably help if I had the class, grace and brains of someone like Marg... but I'm not a people person, so I probably step on toes more than absolutely necessary... and when I don't? difficult child goes straight downhill. [/QUOTE]
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