Shocking.

[Shari]

Not.

At last meeting, we were to meet this week to discuss Wee's schedule for school, that starts next week. I had not heard from anyone, so I emailed the SpEd Dir yesterday. The SpEd teacher called me last night.

Email is down, so they did not get my email. But SpEd Teacher had attempted to talk to SpEd Director about said meeting, and first available time is 7am on the second day of school! YAY!! But, Sped Dir told SpEd Teacher that Wee could sit in her room the first day or two, til they got things worked out, so he could at least be at school.

I think not.

I cooled off, and then have left what I think is a very firm message with the SpEd Director that this is not an option. We addressed this in May, and again in June; "can't find a time" is not an acceptable reason to, once again, have no plans for this child when school starts.

I don't, for a minute, think that Wee is the most important child in that district. But I do have some pretty good inside information that he is, by far, their most challenging one. One would think they would put some sort of priority to dealing with the biggest challenge they have... Then again, one would think a lot of things...

 

[InsaneCdn]

One would think they would put some sort of priority to dealing with the biggest challenge they have... Then again, one would think a lot of things...

Think about it from their perspective... they have X hours to get everything in place for all the kids. So, are they going to spend those across multiple kids, and have yours be the one "left over", or spend it on yours and have "several left over"???

BUT... (in case you hadn't noticed), I'm not exactly on THEIR side.
This kid didn't register last week... its on-going. They knew this was coming.
I'm on your page - they have lots of "reasons" but absolutely "no excuse".

Just guessing, but their approach is probably "what are you going to do about it, anyway".

<sigh>
I'll be where you are in about 2.5 weeks.

 

[AnnieO]

Yeah, me too.

Only... They have J in mostly mainstream classes, at least.

 

[Shari]

Considering they finally added an aid, and now a teacher, because of Wee, and that Wee does not go to multiple rooms or with multiple people (a lesson that they took the long, and very difficult road, to learn)...I'd think they'd cover him first with the TWO people he can be with, and fit the others in around that. Instead of filling her day with other kids, and then see where, between the two people Wee can be with, they can stick him.

Have you seen that demo with the big rocks?

 

[Shari]

Never mind the fact that I obviously shook them up enough to feel the need to bring in the attorney...I'd think that in itself would be enough to make sure the kid had a schedule on day 1.

But, no.

 

[JJJ]

cc the attorney on those e-mails.

 

[Shari]

I considered that, JJJ.

However, I just got an email from SpEd Dir (hmmmmm - thought it was down?)

Wish I had SpEd Teacher's conversation in writing. Because Sped Dir is saying she didn't say we wouldn't meet before school started, we just wouldn't meet this week. Really? Cause 7am on the second day of school is not before school starts. And she <gasp> suggested we may have to meet late evening the night before school starts.

So maybe we WILL meet before school starts. The saga continues.

 

[slsh]

Well, Shari - at least they are consistent.

Should you ever be in a position and mindset to file legal action against them, their total adherence to the policy of *not* providing Wee with FAPE, or even anything approaching it, will be extraordinarily well documented. Years of half days, years of sending him home (but *not* suspending him, thereby avoiding the 10-day rule/change of placement), and then failing to have diddly squat in place after your repeated good-faith efforts to ensure that things *are* in place at the beginning of school years...

At this point, Wee darn well better be the most important kid in the SD, in my humble opinion. This has been going on way too long.

 

[slsh]

Document verbal conversations, hon. Letters of understanding of conversations (dates, times, parties involved), certified mail, with- statement that copy is to be placed in Wee's permanent file. I'd start with- *your* understanding of convo re: mtg on 2nd day of school - let her respond, in writing, that that is not her recollection, and then let's see when she actually meets with- you. At this point, if you absolutely have to have a conversation with- someone at SD, that'd be the first thing I'd do after you're done - document and send to SD. But if at all possible, communication should be in writing.

in my humble opinion.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Have you seen that demo with the big rocks?

Yah, seen it, love it...
It seems like the only people I know who don't get it are teachers and school adminstrators.
Either that or we're fighting over the definition of "big rocks".

 

[Shari]

Sue, I think there will be a meeting before school starts now. Sped Dir's email back to me says we will meet before school starts. It might be just 12 hours before, but I'm guessing by the way sped dir back-pedaled that she will light a bonfire under tails to meet before that first day. I could be wrong. I was shocked she even asked to delay - again. She should have known the response.

Sped teacher was already going to work on getting with the other teachers during meetings this week to draft a schedule between them. She had taken that on board herself. (I really like this lady.) The meeting between us all doesn't have to be long. Doesn't even have to involve sped director - not really. But it does need to happen.

Heck, it was sped dir's suggestion to meet this week when the teachers would be in the building for meetings, and it is HER schedule that won't allow that meeting to happen - she should have scheduled better. Her email says we will meet before school starts, and I intend to hold her to that.

 

[seriously]

Have Wee sit in the Spe Ed Director's office for 2 days.

See what happens then.

 

[KTMom91]

Your district just amazes me. And not in a good way.

 

[Wiped Out]

Shaking my head, your district never ceases to amaze me and, as Mary said, not in a good way. You are a better person than me. I can't believe they can't make it happen sooner. Ugh!

 

[Liahona]

Shari, you are awesome. I think its great that you are willing and able to fight for Wee. I also think its great that you have the **** scared out of sp ed dir that when caught she'll backpedal. I've been the sp. ed. teacher with the most challenging kid in the district. I've seen some of the yucky stuff schools do to parents, kids, and some times teachers. I am delighted to see a parent in your position.

 

[HaoZi]

I third KT. Much as I worry about Kiddo and have issues with most of the docs (ok, all except one so far), I do have to say they ended the school year with a plan for her first few days of the upcoming year and her CM is willing to push for Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) testing that the SD and her psychiatrist have been resisting. I'm not a fan of the SD Super, but her school staff has been pretty understanding. Wish Wee could have a SD more like that.

 

[Shari]

ExMIL still talks about sped sir not being qualified for her job. The more - ahem - 'stuff' they do, the more I wonder if the rumors weren't true...
Either way, I do have it in writing that we will meet before the first day. We'll see what bonehead idea they get next!

 

[AnnieO]

I'm glad you have her backpedaling, too.

We have a not-quite-the-same situation in our district - IEPs, they agree too, all accomodating - but the first hint of an underperformer and they ship them out elsewhere. So we have an "excellent" rating. Well, in J's case, the IEP guarantees them that if THEY say he's making progress, the mandatory testing isn't weighted down by him.

At least with him we don't have behavioral stuff.

 

[Shari]

Our district does ok with kiddos on IEPs for Learning Disability (LD)'s and such. But they have NO CLUE what to do with Wee. His SpEd Teacher right now does, but to pass that knowledge on to someone else? No one else has a clue. If cgfg's mom would have followed through with getting her an ADHD diagnosis and meeting with the team again, Cgfg would have been on an IEP, too, to address her reading and learning problems. The school told mom what to do so that cgfg would qualify - Mom just wouldn't do it.

They just keep looking for that magic pill that will fix it all, and it just doesn't exist. I think perhaps now a few higher up are beginning to see that, while its ok to keep looking for that pill, until they find it, they better just buckle down and accept that Wee is there.

They wanted a face-to-face with Wee's dev pediatrician back in 2009, and I made it happen. We had no less than 20 people around that table with Wee's dr for almost 2 hours. And the sped teacher at the time just kept asking "how do we make him stop" and his dr just kept saying "prevent it from starting"....over and over and over. Obviously, the questions were not the same, but they were just different variations of the same thing, that boiled down to "how do we fix it? how do we stop it?" and the doctor just kept saying, over and over, you can't - all you can do is prevent it from starting by not frustrating him to start with.

I really think these people don't realize that I don't really have a choice in the matter, either. I don't think it has really dawned on them that I didn't ask for this any more than they did.

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, dear.
And here you are, trying to get things in place ahead of time.
I'm sending wishes for good luck, strength and perseverance.