Showing posts with label IEP rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IEP rights. Show all posts
Saturday, June 11, 2011
IEP Meeting: how do I get one of those?
We have had one IEP meeting so far--back in November when we first began the IEP. Not one since. I asked her teacher if we get one before school is out on June 22, or some sort of review, or progress report, or SOMETHING just so I can know how we're doing...??? She said NO. We get one IEP meeting per year. That's it. Otherwise, we get written progress reports at the end of the school year, if she gets around to writing them out! She said she's only gotten one done for one student so far but hopes to get the rest of the class's done by the 22nd. YES, I hope so too! But there will be no forum in which to ask questions. She has also arranged it so that the parents who do pick-up can't even go to the classroom anymore. We have to wait in the lobby for our children. There is a complete separation between parents and teachers at this school. It is the lowest performing district in the region, and no wonder! However, the paraeducators and the therapists have always been really helpful and willing to meet with me, thank goodness. In fact, it was the OT who told me we've already met all our IEP goals. But now I'm left wondering what we do now, and how to set new goals, but the teacher is so secretive and avoids making eye contact or conversation with parents. And the district itself is being really deceptive and secretive about closing the school without telling parents until next year when their kids get on the bus and go to a different school! Now I need to get all investigative and learn my IEP rights and seek out what we need--in addition to all the other battles I have going on right now.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Letter to the school district
May 24, 2011
Dear Ms. Charuhas,
I am writing in regard to your May 12 letter to parents of children with IEPs in the Vancouver Public Schools. You have stated that the changes to the district's special ed program are merely "perceived," and that these are not really changes but rather improvements to be made, based on program reviews. There is no mention of budget cuts or of the school's closure in your letter. I resent your deceptive language. These are most definitely real changes, not perceived--and very serious and concerning changes. It is insulting to try to pass off these budget cuts as improvements. This is very obviously a downgrade of services and of the quality of services. If this were not so, it would not be happening in the course of a budget cut.
Your letter does not mention the closure of the early childhood center and that these young children will no longer have the safety of a self-contained campus. I am a firm believer in inclusion when it applies to school age children. However, special needs preschoolers ages 3-5 are too young for inclusion. As a parent who does my own transport, I see the daily operations at VECC and I will attest to anyone that the district is cutting corners on safety in order to save some money, and they are taking from the most vulnerable population--special needs preschoolers. This is an extremely vulnerable population group that does not have a voice. I also mean that literally, as many of the children do not speak. Some are blind. Some require more than one staff member to be restrained. Some are still in diaper pull-ups. Just getting them from the buses to the classrooms, and then back on the buses, is a big ordeal. The staff does their best but I have personally witnessed mishaps that could have resulted in a missing child if it weren't for the self-contained campus. Trying to run this program on an elementary school campus with other buses, bigger kids, and just a lot more going on is a very bad idea. Has the district considered the cost of a lawsuit in the event a child is harmed or lost as a result of this new, cheaper, and "least restrictive" environment? There is a growing coalition of parents and concerned citizens who will be calling for accountability.
It is my belief that the persons behind this agenda to close VECC as a way to save money have never actually observed the daily operations at VECC, therefore have no understanding of its importance and the need for a self-contained facility. If improvement was really the only agenda here, then the plan would be to keep VECC open and add more staff.
Regards,
Dear Ms. Charuhas,
I am writing in regard to your May 12 letter to parents of children with IEPs in the Vancouver Public Schools. You have stated that the changes to the district's special ed program are merely "perceived," and that these are not really changes but rather improvements to be made, based on program reviews. There is no mention of budget cuts or of the school's closure in your letter. I resent your deceptive language. These are most definitely real changes, not perceived--and very serious and concerning changes. It is insulting to try to pass off these budget cuts as improvements. This is very obviously a downgrade of services and of the quality of services. If this were not so, it would not be happening in the course of a budget cut.
Your letter does not mention the closure of the early childhood center and that these young children will no longer have the safety of a self-contained campus. I am a firm believer in inclusion when it applies to school age children. However, special needs preschoolers ages 3-5 are too young for inclusion. As a parent who does my own transport, I see the daily operations at VECC and I will attest to anyone that the district is cutting corners on safety in order to save some money, and they are taking from the most vulnerable population--special needs preschoolers. This is an extremely vulnerable population group that does not have a voice. I also mean that literally, as many of the children do not speak. Some are blind. Some require more than one staff member to be restrained. Some are still in diaper pull-ups. Just getting them from the buses to the classrooms, and then back on the buses, is a big ordeal. The staff does their best but I have personally witnessed mishaps that could have resulted in a missing child if it weren't for the self-contained campus. Trying to run this program on an elementary school campus with other buses, bigger kids, and just a lot more going on is a very bad idea. Has the district considered the cost of a lawsuit in the event a child is harmed or lost as a result of this new, cheaper, and "least restrictive" environment? There is a growing coalition of parents and concerned citizens who will be calling for accountability.
It is my belief that the persons behind this agenda to close VECC as a way to save money have never actually observed the daily operations at VECC, therefore have no understanding of its importance and the need for a self-contained facility. If improvement was really the only agenda here, then the plan would be to keep VECC open and add more staff.
Regards,
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