Shari - I may be naive, but I'm not terribly sure I would be sweating this too much. OK, well, first off, yes, another person here who is beyond livid at the garbage the SD is pulling. These people are quite frankly out of their minds. Court for a 7-year-old spitting? Utterly ridiculous.
But - again... court for a 7-year-old spitting? You have volumes of documentation at this point of the SD's complete incompetence. I think they have shown a well-established
pattern over the past year and a half of doing their darndest to *not* educate Wee. This is yet another example of it, Shari. And now they've moved it to another forum, one where they have absolutely no control. I guess I see this as an opportunity for you guys. I would take the opportunity to lay out for the record all the interventions you have personally obtained for Wee, and all the interventions you have requested from the SD that they have
failed to implement until the last couple of weeks. Personally, I think worst case scenario is judge will tell Wee not to do it again (which I don't honestly see happening). More than likely, the pattern of SD's failure to provide supports is going to result in judge throwing it out on the face of things or, best case scenario, ream the SD for wasting the court's time when they're not doing their job in the first place. I absolutely *do* think family court is the place to air this, Shari. I think bottom line, Wee (the 7-year-old who has been used as a ping-pong ball by this SD) is going to be the court's priority and I can't imagine the court is going to look too kindly on a SD who is, in my humble opinion, so emotionally abusive.
I also think this *very* strongly boosts your case for retaliation, which is always a bear and a half to prove. How many other students have they gotten referred to family court for spitting? I guarantee you, Wee isn't the first to spit, but I'd bet my morning coffee he's the first in the district to be hauled off to court for it.
I'd keep it cool with Wee. Just tell him that he needs to just tell the judge what happened. I'd also make *darn* sure that *NO ONE* (aka principal) from the SD discusses this with him at all.
In general, I agree with- klmno - sped laws are for kids whose parents can afford attorneys to force SDs to comply. The rest of us are out here slaying dragons with toothpicks (Who? Me? Bitter? LOL). But I do think there are some exceptions to that rule, where the SDs bag of tricks is so disgusting and their failure to provide FAPE is so horrific, sometimes the fates smile down on those families and change will come about. Shari, you bent over backwards for so doggone long - I remember reading some of your first posts and wondering how on earth you managed to keep your cool, how you could keep going back, incident after incident after incident, and try to be "nice". I have to wonder now if it wasn't part of the grand plan in a cosmic sense - the SD has abused the concept of teamwork, has abused the law, and you have at all times, Shari, done your best to advocate for your son within the constraints of their game playing. The SD has a lot to answer for, and you have retained your integrity and shown good faith every step of the way. They haven't, and it's well documented.
The pattern is what is key, Shari. They've done everything they can in their power to not educate him. It really feels to me like when their atty got on their cases, tried to get them to toe the legal line, they switched strategies and now are using the courts to try to intimidate you and Wee and again get out of educating him. I hate to be a negative Nellie - but I do not think they're going to stop. I think it's time to get a top-notch (and I mean a well-known sped powerhouse) atty in your corner.
Hugs, hon. And many hugs to Wee. And may the bluebird of happiness ... pay a visit to the SD.
