Stabbed in the back by school - vent - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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Could this be a simple oversight? A call to the school may have it sorted without the expense of the legal community getting involved. Often in schools the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and when told of the error both will snap to attention to get it sorted for you. Good luck!
Speaking as a person who does middle school scheduling (please dont hate me) and as a mom to a child on the spectrum...could it have been an oversight, easily corrected with a phone call? For much of the schedule, kids are "mass assigned" to classes. Then an individual has to go through and "tweak" it. Sometimes, the person who knows the IEP the best is not the one doing the tweakings. Often, a knowledgeable guidance counselor will know as much (or more) about her (or his) student needs and know the particulars. But ultimately, the case manager is responsible for communicating that information. Is has also happened in my school, that a principal, or someone else not familar with the kids, goes through the schedule to balance things, often reversing the particulars that we planned. (That is frustrating!). If its in the IEP that he cannot have mainstream classes, then he cannot. That is final.
Is is possible that they created an adaptive section (we have adapted PE, and Art) and many of the kids feel like they are going to a "regular" class like all the others. Hang in there and good luck to you and your son.
Thanks! The guidance counselor is useless at his school. The reason I was so angry over this is because we had a meeting with my two advocates, the two spec. needs teachers, the dimwit counselor and the school shrink and I made it very, very clear many times that Perry wasn't to be in mainstreamed classes or in it's viscinity and yep, it's in the IEP. It must be crazy being the parent of a special needs child and working in the school system! Thanks again!!
It's not right, but it happens a lot! We were always fighting the school to keep to the IEP. The schools here found that most parents wouldn't fight them, and it's easier and cheaper to mainstream.
I'm sorry the school is doing that to Perry. How is he feeling about being put in a "regular" class? Many, many pixies for you and Perry. I hope you find some resolution.
You know, it's not even so much about how he feels about it really. It's more about what I know for a fact is going on while he's in those classes. They wanted to put him in them to "enrich" him which is a joke. We tried it for a while last year and in art, he talked to himself and colored totally separate from what the class was doing. In gym, while the others were playing basketball, he talked to himself and ran around in circles. In music he had to be removed. Then beyond that they aren't giving him the sensory integration or OT therapy that he desperately needs. This is why I'm getting a lawyer; I'm on a "list". Thanks, Teresa!
This is very very unfortunate, and I can fully understand your frustration. However, even though I am not an attorney, I think I know what they're going to wave around as justification for their actions:
603 CMR 28.06(2)(c):
If they do, what you need to respond with is:
603 CMR 28.06(2)(d)(2):
Their lack of immediate and written notice to you is a violation of the law. And yes, CMR = "Code of Massachusetts Regulations", and since you're in Quincy Massachusetts, they have full force of law over your school district. You can review these provisions of law [url=http://www.doe.mass.edu/lawsregs/603cmr28.html?section=01#start]here[/urlk]. That is, in fact, a government website; it doesn't get more official than that, on the internet.
I presume you've contacted your local Legal Aid Society?
Regardless, your next step will (from what I am reading) involve contactign the Bureao of Special Education Appeals for either a mediation, or a Hearing. Again, I am not a lawyer ... but I suspect you iwll need the added force-of-law inherent in going for a full Hearing, and thus, having the ruling of an Administrative Law Judge in place - rather than them (again) agreeing out one side of their mouth, and then when your back is turned, again ignoring the provisions of your son's IEP in favor of their own convenience.
I found this list of resources for parents with special-needs children who need legal or other assistance; calling one or another of them may speed up your efforts to get the assistance and advice of an attorney:
Disability Law Center, Inc. Mass. Advocacy Center
11 Beacon Street, Suite 925 100 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02108 Boston, MA 02116
(617) 723-8455 (617) 357-8431
Federation for Children with Special Needs Department of Education
1135 Tremont Street, Suite 420 Problem Resolution System
Boston, MA 02120 350 Main Street
(617) 236-7210 (ph)Malden, MA 02148
(800) 331-0688 (in MA) (781) 338-3737 (ph)
(617) 572-2094 (fax) (781) 338-3394 (fax)
TTY:
N.E.T. Relay 1-800-439-2370
Bureau of Special Education Appeals
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148
(781) 388-3300
Massachusetts Bar Association
Lawyer Referral Service
1-800-392-6164
Lastly ... does your school district have a PAC (Parental Advisory Comittee) ...? They'd better have one, because it's required of them, by law. They too can be a good source of information, referrals, and advice. Get in touch with them - or make careful note of the lack of such a body, if there isn't one; your attorney will be certain to bring that omission up as some very damning evidence against the school district. And will probably thoroughly enjoy it, too.
Sean, thank you for that brilliant post and all the advice and the time it took you to find it. Are you an advocate, maybe you should be. I actually am on a "waiting list" for a pro bono attorney from the Advocacy. I'm also on a waiting list for in home behavioral therapy from the May Center (where I hope to enroll Perry in September) and the Federation offered to mediate and our fabulous (insert any vile word imaginable) Head of Sped. REFUSED TO MEDIATE saying "she doesn't do that". Can you believe that??!! So, we have no choice but to go to a hearing and I so need that attorney. I'm hoping when the sped. office hears attorney they'll just give up rather than go to court. At any rate, I'm not giving up. I have a terrifc advocate who is involved with a wonderful office who is providing help, as much as they can anyway. Our local OT dropped him b/c they felt "they couldn't do anything more with him" (unreal) so I'm going to try to get him a referral to a different OT. Unfortunately, there aren't many.
Our PAC is such a joke, it's pathetic. They barely listen to anything parents say and nothing is ever done. I have a 21 yr. old with Asperger's as well and Perry's twin also has AS and I have been battling the Quincy school district for twelve years and it's like screaming at a wall.
When we do get an attorney they have a lot of ammunition to throw at them like sending Perry home when they couldn't handle him, not having the right programs etc. Thanks again very much for your post and the wealth of information!!
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