Not allowed at school because of midterms

[FlowerGarden]

difficult child 17 y/o was released from the hospital and because of the school having midterms, they did not want him to come back to school until the mid terms were over. He sat home for a total of 6 days. I can't believe that they did not have him come in and do make up work in the library or guidance.

The doctor specifically stated in his back to school letter that they wanted him in school right away.

Some of the teachers do not want him back in school because he swore at 2 teachers before he was hospitalized. I get the feeling that some of the teachers pushed the issue of him not being allowed at school during midterms because they purposely want him to fail and be sent to another school.

Any thoughts about the school's action?

 

[dreamer]

I will not say whether what I am going to say is wrong or right.....it is just a thought. I know my difficult child wasnot welcome at school post psychiatric hospital dureing final exams, either. Why? It was explained to me that school did not have the same staff on hand dureing finals, different routines and schedules were in effect and things already were somewhat disorganized with high tensions in the air.
Actually our HS locks the doors dureing finals - has 3 finals per day- and dureing lunch the kids HAVE to leave, but- dureing a normal school day they are not ALLOWED to leave the building. EVERYONE is locked out dureing lunch. (Yes one year the Jan finals it was exceptionally frigid out, and yes, many of our kids are busssed to our HS from a neighboring town, and no, there is nowhere the kids can walk to easily from our HS for snacks, lunch or shelter from the elements)
Not all the teachers are at school, nor are all the ancillary staff.

 

[Sheila]

Does your son have an IEP?

 

[FlowerGarden]

Yes he does have an IEP. He does have to take the midterms but since he has a lot of make up work to do because of being hospitalized, he has to finish the work first. During exams, the library, guidance office (has 2 large tables to work at), and a study hall were all open and staffed. He had plenty of school work that he could work on. Yesterday, I was told by his case manager that the director of special services was upset that he was made to stay out of school for so many days.

I can see that they wouldn't want him in the classroom while the others were taking exams but there were plenty of staffed rooms available for him to work in. I feel he should have been able to attend and work on his make up work and get credit for those days.

I don't know. It's been a very hetic the past couple of months with him and maybe I'm just letting the little things get to me.

 

[susiestar]

Is the fact that he swore at a couple of teachers the reason they gave for not wanting him in school during mid-terms? If so, BALONEY.

Most teachers teaching 5th grade or higher grades have been sworn at more than a few times. My dad taught middle school and up for over 30 years and cursing is very common, NOT a rare thing at all!

I don't know about the IEP, but someone will have an answer.

Sorry it has been so hard.

Susie

 

[Sheila]

The school district was out of line by not allowing your child to return to school -- whether he has an IEP or not. Inconvenience to the sd should not be a factor in whether a child returns to school. If a parent pulled a stunt like this, the sd would have parent and student charged with truancy. (I so despise double standards.)

At the least, they should have provided for homebound instruction. You have grounds for requesting compensatory education. It may not be worth the hassled to get it done, however, I would send a letter via certified mail to the Special Education Director outlining my disappointment with how this was handled. It's a way of making a paper trail in the event this type things continue to happen.

I don't blame teachers for getting annoyed at students -- they are only human. However, they are professionals and should act like it. If their training is insufficient to enable them to handle things of this nature, the educator or the parent should ask for additional training.