cps/school

Marguerite

Active Member
It doesn't here, HaoZi. When we swapped schools with difficult child 3, the funding came over with him but we had to set up a new IEP because at the new school the layout was different. An accommodation such as "For bookwork move him to the desk on the veranda" would not work if at the new school there was no veranda.

Marg
 

JJJ

Active Member
It transfers but since services aren't set up the same way in each school district and the population is different, most school districts hold an IEP meeting 30-60 days after a new Special Education kid arrives. For Kanga, that often just meant copying the goals onto the new forms and tweaking how her speech/language and social work minutes were going to be delivered (small group v individual).

You won't have to refight the battle to declare her eligible for Special Education just some tweaks on minutes and services.
 

klmno

Active Member
I thought it transferred and the new sd has to have an IEP meeting within a certain time period, however the new sd also has a right to re-evaluation and see if it's needed and what accommodations are deemed necessary. So even though it's not a guarantee that things would remain the same for a student, it's a better shot that the kid will get approved and accommodated if they show up with an IEP.
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
Theoretically, an IEP should transfer because the rules under which it was made are Federal and apply to each district equally. If a child qualifies in one SD, they should qualify in another. However, different SD's have different ways of handling things. For instance, my middle school has an inclusion class, a couple of self-contained classes and resource room. Other districts may not have inclusion so if my child was in that class in our old SD, we'd have to revisit that. Some schools have co-teaching models or push in's and other things. However, if I was to move and my new SD said I didn't qualify, I'd challenge it...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have a feeling this is a little bit of everything tossed all together that got the ball rolling and now it is tumbling downhill fast.

I agree with slsh that I wouldnt give the school cart blanche to all her hospital and psychiatric records. Thats why they have boxes with check marks that you initial next to them. There are a few people I give everything access to with my records. I dont mind giving my diagnosis's and records of appointments but you arent getting my notes and full access to all. Not unless I think it is mighty important, like transferring to a new doctor. For CPS or the school, nope, record of diagnosis, testing done and records of appoints would be adequate.

Honestly, the 8 hours of instruction would be about average for tutoring. You wont get more. Most get about 5. I know that is what we were offered. That was for homebound instruction. Im still trying to figure out how that was supposed to work. I never saw the woman.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Technically the IEP should transfer but the world is not technical and schools are often not even logical. A new school can accept the IEP or can completely rework it based on what they have and what they want to do. The rules can vary widely and it can be hard to prove that a new school is not doing what they can if they are changing and/or reworking the IEP. While it SHOULD transfer and just be tweaked a little, I know of kids who had to completely requalify for the IEP just a few months after their first school did all the testing, etc... So very much depends on the individual district and school.
 

Jena

New Member
hi

sorry my easy child crashed last night. so i had to back up entire system than do a restore. that was alot of fun LOL.

as far as cps is concerned unfortunately you need to just do as they ask, point blank. there is no giving them "what" i want anymore. It's giving them what "they want" across the board.

So, Susie unfortunately there's no copying doctor's and chosing to give them what i want.

I have set up a mtg. for next wed with superintendent of schools. my goals will be in home tutoring more than just 8 hours. it's not 8 a week. its' 8 in total they want to give her. there is a mound of work sitting inside that well makes me nervous. it'll take mos for her to catch up. my second goal is to tell him i want the reports, charges cps that school filed now removed i want the school to end it and contact them.

so i'll go in with my doctor's, timeline etc. and just tell him if this doesnt' end i'm prepared to speak to an attny and go higher up in school district as this is a form of harrassment now that is just causing my sick child and myself and rest of family trememous anxiety that we do not need after battling an eating disorder for 8 months.

i'm hoping it works, husband knows him apparentley so he'll be joining me.

the rest of it, is what it is. i need an iep for her either way. i'm just going to try my best to break this mess into chunks for myself because honestly my anxiety at night is unlike anything i've ever known. it's 9 nights of close to no sleep and not all husband's fault it's my own anxiety, popping xanax that isnt' even workigna nymore. i'm falling asleep at 3 and 4 a.m than getting up at 10 a.m. it's absurd.

i feel like i'm sinking over here. it's just all a bitmuch. so i have therapy tmrw again, going to ask her about her thoughts ona long term medication everyday medication not just a quick hit. joining gym sat. with easy child and doing my meditation again as of today.

our whole family is hurting, its' so very sad. easy child is up each night now till all hours the ssri is giving her trouble, husband and i have extreme anxiety and well are struggling as you know. difficult child is pushing barriers bigtime now and it almost got physical last nite with-her. she hates husband and actually told him last night. multitude of reasons.

i also contacted the cbt to ask him if there is pyschotherapy available for difficult child. i can't handle being her talk therapist anymore its' screwing my head up listening to the craziness that comes out of her and the deep depression.

as far as moving goes, it's my utlimate goal. i havent' been happy here in this neighborhood since we moved here. difficult child either. i need a fresh start the ability to not have husband's story follow my life. it's still going around about what his ex did 5 years ago and now i'm the infamous 2nd wife. i think we deserve a fresh start, new neighborhood, ability to meet ppl that dont' say oh your so and so's husband the one whose wife turned gay etc. etc. kids get it also in school. seperation from this insanity is needed now. difficult child didnt' really get it more easy child. so yea i think it's time to go in june. kids wont' be happy they hate moving.

yet in reality to stay here indef. doesnt' seem like a good option. the ex is only 5 min. away i see her food shopping, getting gas, etc. as do kids and they ignore them. so all in all i think this move whether husband and i pull it thru and make it is a positive one.

all the responses by the way as per ususal amazing as each and everyone of you are in your own way. thanks!
 

JJJ

Active Member
hi

sorry my easy child crashed last night. so i had to back up entire system than do a restore. that was alot of fun LOL.

as far as cps is concerned unfortunately you need to just do as they ask, point blank. there is no giving them "what" i want anymore. It's giving them what "they want" across the board.

I think others were talking about the school when they said not to allow them access.

WRT to CPS, you may choose to give them open access but LEGALLY you do not have to speak to them or give them access to anything. You can make them get a warrant, for which they would have to demonstrate to a judge why they needed those records (ie. 'we want them' won't cut it).

It is often easier to give them what they want but it is not required without a warrant. Ticking off a cps worker isn't always the best choice :) but if they are on a witch hunt, giving them fuel for the fire isn't always wise.
 

Jena

New Member
hi

yes i agree with-you on that yet i dont want it to get to point of warrants and any messier. thing is i have nothing to hide. i bring kids to docs when they need to go, all the physical's are up to date. they cant' get me on anything or at least i dont' think so lol.

its' just undoing me ya know
 
H

HaoZi

Guest
Jena, what time is easy child taking her Zoloft? When I used it I had to take the Zoloft in the morning and Pamelor at night.
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
I can not find a way to stress this enough.......................

Get a FREE Legal Advocate for any and all interactions with this school. I think if you speak to them again, you are opening yourself up to more problems. Whatever the miscommunication is, it has not been identified yet, so it is still going to be there.

I really can not stress enough how firmly I believe this is your only route. I feel it inside me. There is big trouble brewing here. I really, really, really feel super strong about this. Call it intuition, a gut feeling...whatever. But, it is very strong for me right now.
 

Steely

Active Member
I can not find a way to stress this enough.......................

Get a FREE Legal Advocate for any and all interactions with this school. I think if you speak to them again, you are opening yourself up to more problems. Whatever the miscommunication is, it has not been identified yet, so it is still going to be there.

I really can not stress enough how firmly I believe this is your only route. I feel it inside me. There is big trouble brewing here. I really, really, really feel super strong about this. Call it intuition, a gut feeling...whatever. But, it is very strong for me right now.

Ditto what I said earlier Jena - slow down and find this person. They have massive experience in dealing with this sort of thing, and they will help you take care of this issue.

Also, I have asked you a couple of times - why can't you pull her out of public school and say you are "homeschooling her". Does NY not work as TX?
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Jen CAN pull her our and homeschool her, but she is already carrying to much with this child. Homeschooling her difficult child is going to be a GIANT problem and is more than she can handle. It is also more than difficult child could handle. Her difficult child will do work for the tutors a LOT more often than for Jena. Jena gets a fight, meltdown, intense grief etc.... The tutor doesn't seem to get much of this.

Jen will have to give NY a list of the curriculum and then have her daughter tested to show that she is making progress. She also may be asked to produce records of what and when they did school stuff. NY requries these are part of the laws for homeschooling (I helped her look them up) and they give the school district a LOT of latitude for supervising homeschooled kids. If the district wanted they could actually insist on seeing lesson plans every quarter and much more. If she changes curriculum she actually has to notify them!!! In OH we had to give a curriculum list but it was against the law for them to ask us if we actually used those items - how OH law was written at the time. Heck, here in OK all I had to do was give them a letter saying I was homeschooling her. PERIOD. They like yearly test results, but I can write them a letter saying she has progressed normally for a child in her age/grade and let that be that.

Jen, you CANNOT demand that the school stop calling CPS. I don't think that is legal. You can explain all the BS that they are pulliIng iwht all the calls for absolutely nothing, but I would NOT tell them that if they continue to call CPS you will sue. I do not believe you can sue someone, esp an educator or school, for calling CPS unless there is a long history of malicious reporting. You have to PROVE malice - not say that they don't like you.

I don't think this talk with the superintendent will accomplish much that is positive. I URGE you to find a free advocate and have them with you every time you meet with anyone from the school. OR else get a lawyer and have the lawyer handle all of the communication with the school. Otherwise you jsut are not going to get anywhere good.

Getting a person to do the talk therapy is one of the best ideas you have ever had. It won't be easy because they won't be available the hours that you are and they won't do it the way you will. It WILL benefit you BOTH. You are not trained to do therapy. Yeah, you may have good instincts, but all the good instincts in the world are not enough when the patient is as deeply disturbed as your child. It truly is not healthy for either of you for you to continue to be her therapist. I know it happened because you have such a hard time finding people to work with and I really do understand. But if you want difficult child to get better then she really needs someone else to handle this with her.
 

klmno

Active Member
I could be way off base but my guess is that #1, this was initially instigated because she had missed so much time in school without having an iep in place with homebound placement and the sds are required to turn it in to either dss or Department of Juvenile Justice at that point (at least in this state) and #2 now she is so far behind that she is in big jeopardy of failing the school year and from a legal standpoint, that is not the sd's fault under circumstances listed in #1 and they are making sure they are CYAing.

I realize that your daughter has had various issues and you are trying your best to get them treated. Law requirements, however, are that unless ABC or DEF, there's going to be a major problem if that kid isn't going to school.
 

Jena

New Member
busy pm me if you can. why are you feeling that?? now we aren't talking a parent adovcate, right? you mean counsel? I can probably get a friend of mine that's a lawyer or our lawyer for store yet for what? do come to mtg with-superintendnet? i got new issues now i dont' know if i should start new thread or post here.....

got ltr today from Special Education department. it states the mtg for 504 is on april 14th. got another ltr stating the part of me applying for an iep for her. last time we went this round they wouldnt' give me an iep they shut me up with a 504. i provided them with difficult child's neuropysch evaluation that cost us 5k, than all the pysch doctor evaluations, social emotional etc. all the evaluations since 7 years old.

i got a ltr stating they need to do: are you ready for this??????????????

a social history, report of info about student, student's family, and environment

a psychological evaluation. (they already did one; guess what it said shes' just fine LOL) pysch at schoool that did it got fired a year later.

a functional behavioral assessment

an educational assessment (they did that already also)

a physical exam to assess any physical problems

an observation of the student in the student's learning environment, or if kid out of school than another age appropriate environment

a speech and language if needed

assessment of motor abilities???

what do we think of this now? supposedly once you have a 504 and a ton of back up info which they have the iep is a breeze. than i got this in the mail. any thoughts? this doesn't seem right either.
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
This is the re-evaluation of your daughter for the IEP, it's a different standard than for the IEP. We had to do this. In the social history, lay out all that has been going on in her life and your efforts to keep up with her school work. A good FBA would be very useful in helping to figure out how and when to reintroduce her to school and how to keep her functioning at her best while there. Do NOT let the school psychiatric do it - insist on an outside evaluator. You can probably submit your own physicals and you decide if speech/language, Occupational Therapist (OT)/PT are issues. If you don't want them, they may not insist. It would be just one more level of services to provide. We had to go all through this again when we returned oldest boy to IEP after switching him to 504 for the transition to middle school.

You should definitely seek out an advocate. PM me and I'll send you the name of the agency I spoke to. It's in my county, but I think it handles yours, too, and if not should be able to refer to one that does.

For the meeting with the superintendent, I HIGHLY recommend a small, digital tape recorder. H and I never meet with the schools without one. In fact, there was a time when we sent difficult child to school with one that he would turn on in his math class. In NY, taping is legal as long as one party is aware of it. That party would be you.

I would also recommend having a written agenda with talking points outlined so you don't get off track. List the items in order of importance... I would not demand that he have the school stop communicating with CPS; only CPS can terminate the case. I would discuss with him that you are aware that the school has to protect itself but that you are and always have been willing to work with them. Your ultimate goal is to have your daughter back in school but she is not ready yet due to her health issues (do not say due to her emotional or mental issues, ONLY physical at this point). She does not have the physical stamina to be in school and her eating has to be carefully monitored. She needs homebound instruction. On this note, I would say that you understand that eight hours per week is standard (that's what we were given for our son and what my friends who've had HB instruction have had as well) but that difficult child has been out of school so long that you are hoping that she could get 10 - 12 hours a week to help her catch up. Pretend they never said 8 hours total (that had to be a misstatement).

It's easy to fall in to the adversarial mode but try not to. If you can make the super your friend, you will have accomplished a lot. If he knows and likes husband, he may be disposed to help you as much as he can. We have met with our super so much that he greets us in the supermarket because he knows us, in fact, when easy child got into a fight with super's son, super took our son's side and called his own son a liar! He even knew difficult child's PSAT score and congratulated him in the hallway one day!

You might also want to see if you can get an ally in Pupil Personnel. Their agenda is different from the school's. It was PPS who helped me get my difficult child out of the class he was in and who was instrumental in having him placed in honors classes where he needed to be. The people in PPS are there because they usually want to help the children. If you haven't met with them yet, ask for a meeting in advance of the 504 meeting.
 
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