We moved to a new school district. The old district had my daughter in full time pull out classes, rejoining her “regular” classes for music, PE, etc. She did wonderfully! The new district gave her only 1/2 hour daily in math, with kids from 3 other grades.That was the BEST they offered…they reduced her services this year to nothing but the extended testing time accommodation…because she passed her end-of-year tests. Of course, she had unlimited time, which they want to continue indefinitely. But as for services, they offered..none. We have had several private testers, including the state university, document her learning disabilites, but the school is unmoved, as they have kids who are doing much worse. She is getting below-grade marks and they say she is doing “fine”. Their only concern is if she passes the end of grade tests, which they will give her unlimited time to pass. I feel she is capable of much more, and that their efforts are limited to making the school look good by having more students pass their EOGs.Does anyone have any suggestions?
Re: Special Ed
To steal a quote from “The Godfather,” remember that to the district, this is all business. They have a certain, always insufficient amount of resources and will part with them guardedly. They will probably even have an employee who’s job is supposed to be to help as much as possible, but whose real job is to talk you out of asking for anything.So, you have to convice this person that it is in their interest to let you have what you want. You probably…er…may have to inconvenience this person so much that she/he will convince those around her/him that is not worth their time to argue with you. I’m not that good at siege warfare, but have seen it done by my sister, who managed to get her extremely autistic, non-speaking and disruptive daughter mainstreamed, graduated from HS and into college. As she says, always be courtious, civil and have a smile on your face while never giving an inch.Here are some steps. I’m sure you can think of more or know someone who is “tough” and always fighting (and winning) who can give you more ideas.First, see if there is a parent or lawyer in the new district that the school Superintendent or Special Ed Manager is afraid of. Someone who has never given up the fight until they got what they wanted. Ask that person to talk to the decision maker. When my sister intercededs for someone, they usually get what they want. Then she immediatey complains that all kids should get this, not just those she knows about. Never stop. Never give quarter.I honestly don’t have the stomach for a siege and had them put my son in a larger school (services/staff are based on a number system that is based on the number of kids in the school) with a better principal who cared and was willing to divert some non-Special Ed resources to my son. Her style was to take the funds allotted to her school and just use them for what she needed, instead of what they were labeled for. So the kids have older desks and more computers, etc.If there were services given with the old school district, they should be listed in the IEP or in some memo or email from the school principal or govt civil servant. Get documentation if you can.Check your state and local laws to see if you can request an IEP to be done at any time. I believe the federal law contains this, so the state or local law probably does too. Bring the documentation when you do the IEP. Use the documentation from the old school to demand similar services where you now live. Also, find out if the district is implementing some new “school/principal/teacher measurement” tests. If so, remind them that your daughter will be taking that test if mainstreamed, whereas if she is in a separate Special Ed class, their rules may allow her not to be included in the rating scores. Don’t sign the IEP at the end of the meeting. Even if you are just signing that you attended the meeting, your position is weakened because beaurocratically all the documents that are needed exist, can be filed and, hopefully, you will fade away.Instead send a letter (no spelling errors decent sentence/paragraph structure)with the unsigned IEP to the district, copy to the local government, copy to your Congressperson AFTER getting the name of a friendly staffer to send it to and anyone else you think will contact the Special Ed Manager and is important enough for them to meet with or write back to. Question the difference in local govt decisions on level of services. If you didn’t move far, call the media and show them the difference in level of services. Maybe they will like to show how capricious Govt is. If far, they can show how bad things are her vs. somewhere else. Sell the problem. Every VIP you convince to call the district Special Ed Manager is one more phone conversation and letter he/she will have to write in return. This is extra work. Use all the info you have gathered to back up your case. Write a letter that is easy to understand, but that has tons of attachments, etc. Cite the attachments in the letter so the reader may feel that they have to read everything. If someone is going to have to defend themselves against the letter they will have to take the time to read it. More extra work. Include a set of quick bullets somewhere that can be used as an executive summary when your contact talks to their boss about following up.During this siege time, check out the other schools in the district and try to find a good principal who is more willing to expend his/her resources on Special Ed and on your daughter. Maybe you will luck out like I did.After a few months of you being a royal pain in the butt, the district will probably be willing to at least let your daughter go to a school that she officially should not be attending, just to get rid of you. Maybe you can even get them to do what they should be doing in the first place.Good luck. Lar
To steal a quote from “The Godfather,” remember that to the district, this is all business. They have a certain, always insufficient amount of resources and will part with them guardedly. They will probably even have an employee who’s job is supposed to be to help as much as possible, but whose real job is to talk you out of asking for anything.So, you have to convice this person that it is in their interest to let you have what you want. You probably…er…may have to inconvenience this person so much that she/he will convince those around her/him that is not worth their time to argue with you. I’m not that good at siege warfare, but have seen it done by my sister, who managed to get her extremely autistic, non-speaking and disruptive daughter mainstreamed, graduated from HS and into college. As she says, always be courtious, civil and have a smile on your face while never giving an inch.Here are some steps. I’m sure you can think of more or know someone who is “tough” and always fighting (and winning) who can give you more ideas.First, see if there is a parent or lawyer in the new district that the school Superintendent or Special Ed Manager is afraid of. Someone who has never given up the fight until they got what they wanted. Ask that person to talk to the decision maker. When my sister intercededs for someone, they usually get what they want. Then she immediatey complains that all kids should get this, not just those she knows about. Never stop. Never give quarter.I honestly don’t have the stomach for a siege and had them put my son in a larger school (services/staff are based on a number system that is based on the number of kids in the school) with a better principal who cared and was willing to divert some non-Special Ed resources to my son. Her style was to take the funds allotted to her school and just use them for what she needed, instead of what they were labeled for. So the kids have older desks and more computers, etc.If there were services given with the old school district, they should be listed in the IEP or in some memo or email from the school principal or govt civil servant. Get documentation if you can.Check your state and local laws to see if you can request an IEP to be done at any time. I believe the federal law contains this, so the state or local law probably does too. Bring the documentation when you do the IEP. Use the documentation from the old school to demand similar services where you now live. Also, find out if the district is implementing some new “school/principal/teacher measurement” tests. If so, remind them that your daughter will be taking that test if mainstreamed, whereas if she is in a separate Special Ed class, their rules may allow her not to be included in the rating scores. Don’t sign the IEP at the end of the meeting. Even if you are just signing that you attended the meeting, your position is weakened because beaurocratically all the documents that are needed exist, can be filed and, hopefully, you will fade away.Instead send a letter (no spelling errors decent sentence/paragraph structure)with the unsigned IEP to the district, copy to the local government, copy to your Congressperson AFTER getting the name of a friendly staffer to send it to and anyone else you think will contact the Special Ed Manager and is important enough for them to meet with or write back to. Question the difference in local govt decisions on level of services. If you didn’t move far, call the media and show them the difference in level of services. Maybe they will like to show how capricious Govt is. If far, they can show how bad things are her vs. somewhere else. Sell the problem. Every VIP you convince to call the district Special Ed Manager is one more phone conversation and letter he/she will have to write in return. This is extra work. Use all the info you have gathered to back up your case. Write a letter that is easy to understand, but that has tons of attachments, etc. Cite the attachments in the letter so the reader may feel that they have to read everything. If someone is going to have to defend themselves against the letter they will have to take the time to read it. More extra work. Include a set of quick bullets somewhere that can be used as an executive summary when your contact talks to their boss about following up.During this siege time, check out the other schools in the district and try to find a good principal who is more willing to expend his/her resources on Special Ed and on your daughter. Maybe you will luck out like I did.After a few months of you being a royal pain in the butt, the district will probably be willing to at least let your daughter go to a school that she officially should not be attending, just to get rid of you. Maybe you can even get them to do what they should be doing in the first place.Good luck. Lar