I haven’t kept up with this thread. Sorry about that.
When I saw that a Mod had posted a rant, I knew it had to be something major.
As a kid I was ADHD, OCD, and undiagnosed manic depressive. I was VERY lucky and had great teachers(Thank Mrs. Marty, Mrs Compton, Mrs Spalding, and all the others) who could handle these things.
Due, in part, to her experiences with me, my older sister majored in special education. She is also a great teacher.
The teacher who sent your son home with that note cannot even be described as adequate.
Go over her head. She should be required to undergo training in how to interact with special ed students. What next? Will she punish a child with Tourette's for not sitting quietly at their desk?
She is the person currently running the program, and my only alternative is to pull him out of the program entirely. This is not an option, because if he were to be put back in the general student population the teachers would just send him home instead of trying to deal with his problem. The problem is that several anti-taxpaying groups in the state of Oregon have convinced the voters that the schools are just full of fat that must be trimmed. For some time now school funding has been cut back to ridiculous levels. Most schools have completely cut out their music programs and art programs, and special needs children in the school my son attends are being housed in a room that used to be a janitor’s storage room!
There should be training for the teachers.
There should be a choir.
There should be a band.
There should be art classes.
Instead, we have loudmouthed assholes that fight like hell to defeat every single school levy that comes by, no matter how in need the school is. These taxfree-loaders actually got the state constitution changed so that any off year measure must get a majority of eligible voters to vote in favor of the measure, not just a majority of people that vote. Or in other words, if under 50% of the people turn out to vote, and 80% of the people vote to pass the measure, the measure still fails.
Is homeschooling completely not an option? It shouldn’t HAVE to be an option and it is certainly not an easy option but it was the option we were forced into in April when it just became more and more stunningly obvious that no matter how much I didn’t want to do it, it was the thing that could work for my older son.
But homeschooling kids with special needs is bloody hard work and there bloody well should be options.
At this late stage of the game it just isn’t possible. We just bought the house we now live in, and bills need to be paid. Yeah, it’s easy for some people to say that my child’s welfare is more important than the bills, but I don’t think that moving into a small apartment and forcing him into yet another new routine is going to do anything more than traumatize him.
Czar, I don’t want to sound like an echo, but if you want any information on homeschooling, please contact me. I never thought that we could afford for me to stop working – my husband only makes $10/hour, we’d just moved to a bigger apartment, and I was about to have a baby. But it is working for us; I have been home for 8 months now. Additionally, there are options for working at home. There are whole organizations devoted to helping stay at home parents find LEGITIMATE at home work.
If you are concerned about providing your son with the special care he needs, I know it will be hard, but I believe you can do it. Many, many parents homeschool specifically because their children have special needs that the public school system either can’t or won’t meet. And who is better for your child: his loving parents and his own home, or a teacher who sends him home for having an imagination and a system that uproots him every year?
Please at least consider it. I will try to answer any questions you have, or point you to someone who can. And, if it is ok with you, I will consider your family in my prayers.
Social stability is of fundemental importance to children with Asperger’s. My son has been with the same group of children for the past few years, and pulling out of school would traumatize him. We deliberately bought the house we were renting for the last eight years, instead of another, because a change in schools coupled with a change in classmates would have done much damage to him. At least when he goes to a new school now, many of the same familiar faces will be there to reassure him.
Czarcasm, i know your angry about cuts in programs but ease up on us taxpayers here a bit! There is no such thing as an ANTI taxpayer when it comes to school taxes. Noone is against paying taxes its just at some point enough is enough! This “loudmouth asshole"is facing yet again another 16% school tax increase with the finger wagging from the school that says well dont be suprised if it happens again next year! 16% increase is more than the average wage increases in 8 YEARS and many schools think this is just an endless supply of $ resource to be tapped at will with the oh so sacramonious “oh its all for the children you big meanie”. Childrens education does not = blank check and im offended that requiring education limits in spending qualifies me as a” loudmoth asshole". I have rental property and although people say you can get that money back in rents there is NO way in my town rent increases even come CLOSE to matching tax increases.Most of my properties struggle to stay even and thats if nothing catastrophic happens. The anual increases in school taxes is a mandatory nightmare that never ends. Hell i dont even have any children! But it doesnt just stop there, then there is the 18% increase in town and county taxes and thats not even touching state federal etc. What IM suprised about is the relativly few “loudmouth assholes” that this constant abuse gererates. Most people just moan, and put just that amt less into thier retirement fund or the college fund or simply lose the properties to tax forclosure. Yea those people without limitless resources that complain because they are having even MORE taken from them sure are unfeeling “loudmouth assholes”
That person should be fired and discredited. Such action on her part would be intolerable if directed at a student who was not learning disabled; to behave that way toward one who is learning disabled is incomprehensible.
Let us refrain from continuing the hijack of Czar’s thread. Let us leave it at this: I will assist him in any way that I am capable. And I believe that he is capable of doing what is right for his child.
And don’t underestimate how easy it is to get press. While I’m sure it’s harder with national publications, getting local press is very easy. All you have to do is write a press-release and send it to two or three local paper- preferably by fax. Odds are at least one of them will be having a slow news day and call you back that day wanting to do the story.
I had to write press releases about the program I worked for (when I corordinated a children’s literacy program as an AmeriCorps*VISTA for NH reads) and over 2/3rds of them got either a reporter’s follow up, or the press-release publish word for word-as an article, mind you, not an editorial.
If you do decide to take run with Fenris’s suggestion, bring a copy of your intended press release with you, and mention that you’ll be sending it to the local papers after the meeting is over.
First off, the zero tolerance policy my son’s teacher refered to is school policy, so complaining to the school board is not going to do any good. Second, she had him do makework in the school cafeteria rather than have him suspended from school, which is currently the school policy. Third, and I believe that I have stated this before, the kind of publicity that a major bruhaha would bring forth might bring forth changes, but it definitely would put unwanted attention and pressure on my son, which is what we are trying to avoid in the first place. This teacher is narrow minded, sure, but she is only one over three trained professionals that are working with my son, none of whom I could possibly replace without years of training, so home-schooling is not the answer to this problem.
Zero tolerance is a major problem in quite a few schools, not just my son’s, and until societal wants change, it will continue to a problem for some time to come.
