Category Archives: superintendent

frustrations with the IEP process

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Well, a couple of weeks ago, we had our facilitated IEP.  We ended the meeting at an impasse.

The last thing that the facilitator told us was that she would file her report, and that DPI (Department of Public Instruction) would be in contact with us.

Our superintendent was after me to turn in the home school paperwork so that everything is legal where David is concerned.  Turns out that they are using that paperwork against us at this point.

The only reason we are home schooling David is because the school is refusing to accept him in our district.  They want to ship him 50 miles a day to another school.  We asked for assurances that they would accept David back after he completes another program successfully, and the school wouldn’t give us one.

My wife also asked the school why they were so against educating David.  We never did get an answer out of them.

It is frustrating when people bend the truth to suit their own agenda.  David is legally entitled to an education.  Is one hour a day too much to ask of his home district?  We asked if they would start with one hour a day and go up from there.  They said no.

They also told us that they didn’t think home schooling was the best choice for David.  Well, they work with us to get him back in school.\

 

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Day 9 ~ more fun than you can shake a taco at.

So I had to stop at our high school to sign some papers for one of my kids special education teachers, and the Superintendent happened to hear my voice.

He came out, asked me if I had a few minutes so he could give me the paperwork for home schooling. Now, if you are following my blog, you already know this.. we are in spirited discussions with our district regarding the return of our youngest to public school. He was in a residential behavior modification program for 7 months. And once he completed their program they discharged him. Now the school doesn’t want him back, they want us to bus him 40 miles one way to another day treatment program. They will pay all expenses.

Our argument is that our son deserves a chance to at least try to be successful in the public school setting. Least Restrictive Environment it is called. Well, they aren’t wanting to do that. So my wife and I toured the facility. It is a nice enough facility, and if our son isn’t successful in public school we would put him there, but we don’t want that to be the only option available to him.

At the conclusion of the tour, we met with the administration of the facility, as well as our superintendent, the reps form the local special education district and a secretary. I asked our superintendent, “If our son completes this program successfully, will the district take him back?”

His response was, “I can’t say that we would.”

I have a huge problem with that. Alarms are going off in my head, my wife is steaming mad. So we told them that we weren’t going to put our son there. So until the school comes to an agreement with us about our son’s education we are home schooling him. My wife is a special education teacher in another district and more than qualified to be our supervising teacher.

Today when I was at the high school the superintendent wanted to talk to me about an email my wife had sent to the elementary school principal telling her how unprofessional she was for trying to schedule an IEP meeting without first contacting either parent, our advocate, or the facility that he was discharged from to determine which dates would work.

The prior written notice (pwn) was delivered via fax and email. A day later I received a copy in the mail. It was handwritten, which in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but have your ever tried to read a handwritten fax? Next to impossible. Only half of the IEP team was included in the notice. So my wife sent a note talking about professionalism, and how we had other obligations the morning in question and wouldn’t be able to make it.

There are a number of options on the pwn that can be chosen from. The one that we received was marked for “permanent placement in a home school setting.”

The only reason we are home schooling him at all is because the district refuses to educate him.

So we are requesting a facilitated IEP.

I apologise for the length of my post tonight. I am just a little angry. This spirited discussion, this polarised communication between us the district, has been going on for over 3 years. It is beyond time for it to end.

I should post a copy of the email my wife sent. 🙂 it was well written.

Day 9 ~ A long night, a short day, exhausted

David, our youngest was up and down most of the night with his cough.  Poor guy sounds like he is going to cough up a lung or something.  So I spent the night monitoring him to make sure he was ok.  Long night.  His breathing finally calmed around 5 am so I got to sleep a bit.

You forget how quickly 6:30 comes until the wife turns on the light so she can get dressed for work.  So I was up and about, got all of the kids off to school this morning, and then laid on the couch.  David woke up briefly, long enough to eat something so that he could take his morning pills, and some cough medicine.  Then he sacked out again.  So I snoozed as long as he was snoozing.  Had to lay some noise traps around his bed so that I would wake if he did.  (he can be sneaky, if he thinks he can get away with something, he will try.)

Four hours later, I am up and about, feeling more rested.  Coffee in one hand, shame it’s decaf, and a diet coke in the other.  Bring on the day!!!

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Completed the paperwork for requesting a Facilitated IEP.  We will see how that goes.

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I am thinking about writing an article about auto-immune disorders and how they affect men with special needs kids.  So if you have an auto-immune disorder, and you have special needs kids, and are willing to answer a few questions, please let me know.  You can send me your information through the contact us page.