difficult child 3 General Ed Abuse

[nvts]

Hi! It's been a while since I've posted. difficult child 3 was transfered into a Special Education program out of General Ed.

She threw tantrums. Here's the short version:

Prior to entering the school for Kindergarten, the principal and asst. principal called me in for a meeting. They met with the private preschool teachers and got info. on all of the kids enrolling in the school. Because she got upset in pre-k, they wanted her evaluated. They also told me the request was based on her older brothers behavior and diagnosis.

I had it done, they found that Gen. Ed would be appropriate and told me that they resented the school wasting their time.

They have continually violated her privacy (Principal and Asst. Principal yelling down the hallway to me that she's suspended in front of parents, students and staff), talked to my sister about difficult child's behavior and telling her to tell me it had to stop, etc.

There were nine (9) suspension attempts from April (minus summer time) to November. They lied and did not list her as disabled with a 504 so a manifestation determination was not done prior to the hearing. When asked for the documentation, they "didn't have it", but wanted to die when I gave it to the hearing officer.

They refused an FBA and BIP when requested because they insisted that she HAD to have an IEP.

When she was suspended, the teacher on 2 separate occasions announced to the class that they had to ask their parents to write letters requesting that difficult child 3 (by Name) be removed from the class (privacy again).

They called ACS (Children's Services) on us.

So, since she was being sent home everyday, I moved her. The tantrums have stopped and she's actually increased her reading and math skills.

Anyone know a good attorney? :rofl:

Seriously, is there somewhere I can make a formal complaint about this kind of thing? We're in the 5 boroughs of New York City and I just don't want them to be abusing any more kids!!!

There's way more, but I just wanted to give you the highlites!

Beth

 

[Sheila]

Geez....

If you want to file a formal Complaint, your Procedural Safeguards should at least mention it in passing. lol

You should be able to locate specifics on your SEAs website. Also, check the US Dept of Education website for complaint procedures for IEPs and/or 504s.

Good to hear that difficult child is making progress. :smile:

 

[TiredSoul]

Unbelievable!!! I am so sorry you are having to go through this. The school should be fined or reprimanded in some way! I wonder if you can present this information to a few lawyers and see if anyone would be willing to take the case and get paid from the settlement. I just wish we didn't have to fight the schools like this. I would be livid about the teacher telling the students to have their parents send letters! Don't let this go - I would definitely do something. Go to the news and have them do a story about this. Keep us posted.

 

[nvts]

Here's the best part (yes it gets better!): The ACS worker came the Tues. before Turkey Day to tell us that she's submitting the case for closure!

Today I get a call from the caseworker that her boss wants to keep the case open because he wants more info. and me to possibly submit to a Mental Health Evaluation. People with children with disabilities like mine do often require this type of intervention. I politely reminded her that I wasn't the one that the school made the accusation about. I then pointed out that I spend every other Wed. with difficult child 1's counselor for family therapy and every Tues. with difficult child 3's therapist. She was more than welcome to talk to them! I forgot to mention the monthly visits to the psychiatrist 2x a month for medications for 1 & 3.

I told her that although I enjoy her personally as a human being, I thought that this was intrusive and all of the financial questions were beyond out of line. I said it politely, but I was fuming!!! I also explained that we had shown her a MILE of documentation that shows this to be a "spite" report and although I understood that they have a job to do, so do I.

So much for good Karma!!!

Beth

 

[TiredSoul]

I just cannot get over this! I am fuming for you. What was the complaint they filed with ACS? Do they tell you 'who' specifically filed the complaint?

I would definitely file a formal complaint against the school.

So your difficult child is now in a different school/sd? What did they say when you withdrew her? Sheeesh!!

Hang in there!

 

[nvts]

This was great! I filed a four page letter of complaint to the superintendant (at the suggestion of our advocate) in the middle of October. I spelled out EVERYTHING that was pertinent and basically outlined most of the harrassment that was going on, the scare tactics etc.

They had set her up via a 504 with a para (I did it to shut them up - the neurologist that we saw during the summer diagnosed her as immature and strong willed and said a para would be a mistake - which they were aware of!). The written agreement was that they would notify me when they got funding and a person in place. They didn't so difficult child 3 had NO idea who this was, why they were there and what she was supposed to be doing with a stranger (remember: she was 5 at the time!).

She had 3 meltdowns with the para, and then so she wouldn't get in trouble when the para filled out the daily report (she had been with 3 for about 2 weeks and had insinuated that 3 lied repeatedly throughout the 2 weeks about incidents) she tried to tell the para that she'd get in big trouble and that her Dad would spank her with a shoe. They jumped on it (rather than question her - the school psychiatric. just called the Police. The police asked her if the child usually lies, she said she does, they told her they weren't responding, so she called ACS at the Principals insistance).

While all of this was going on, the idiot Principal suspends her (yelling to me down the hallway "that's it! 3 is suspended" at the top of her lungs and in front of a group of parents, students and staff). I told her that I wasn't willing to discuss it without an attorney or advocate present, she followed me around with the assistant principal loudly reitterating that "she's suspended".

She loves her new school, she's been there for 2 weeks, her reading level has gone from an A-level reader to a D-level (ours are from A - beginning to Z - end of year 5th grade) in that amount of time.

She's very artistically gifted and this school (difficult child 2 has been there for 2 years) has THE most incredible art teacher I've ever met. difficult child 2 will walk around the mall, look at the paintings and tell me if its a Monet, Renoir, Pollock, Van Gogh, etc. difficult child 3 is thrilled with it!

Thank you for fuming with me - it's nice to know someone "gets it", you know!

I needed that!

Beth

 

[flutterbee]

Wow, Beth. How horrible. Makes you wonder why some people go into the profession of working with children.

Could you just send a copy of the letter you sent to the superintendent to whoever you are going to file a complaint with?

 

[nvts]

We're actually trying to secure an attorney and since the Privacy rights have been violated, we're filing a Federal Case due to the FERPA (Fed. Educ. Right to Privacy Act?) violations.

I can't get her fired (Principals union) but I'm going to RUIN her incentive bonus! ($40,000)

I've already heard from 3 other moms about their kids being targeted because of reading/speech/low test scores.

This woman commutes on a broom...

the witch...


me