In limbo- only 7 more days of school...

[trek]

Grant did not pass math CRCT, so he needs to retake test on July 1st. The issue is summer school-how will a regular summer school actually help if special education has not? We have asked for individualized and differentiated instruction in order for him to have a chance at passing retake. Plus he would miss 9 days of summer school due to the IEE and other medical testing already scheduled.

We already know we do not want him retained which is what will be suggested if he does not pass the test This should be interesting, as they only provided a small amount of ESY but since they have not provided it for academics before I was grateful for what was offered.

Waiting for the principal to respond to email sent Sunday (received phone call/letter late Friday). Dh will attempt to call her later later today.

-Wendy
Grant 9-8-99

[danellsar]

Start using thos BIG MEAN words in every email. Mediation. Due process. Legal rights to a FAPE. They are required to remediate if they are going to use that test for advancement to the next grade or placement into classes. His ESY should include academics since he isn't passing. I thought you had an advocate helping you? Why isn't you're advocate all over them about providing these services? Grrr....
Ellen

[trek]

Ellen- I emailed her yesterday after I heard back from Principal: here is part of the email from Prinicipal....which is BS...

"Mrs. M,

We are providing individualized instruction for Grant in math through ESY that was approved in our IEP meeting on May 2nd. As a school system we are mandated to offer summer school for students performing at performance level one on the CRCT in 5th grade reading and/or math. However, students do not have to attend summer school. They are only required to take the retest provided in the summer school setting. "


Um, he is receiving only 3 hrs per week in math via ESY for the 6 weeks period. The issue with summer school is it is in a regular classroom, they do not follow IEP, Grant would miss 9 days due to scheduled medical appts and 2 of those days would be for the IEE at public expense. There is no way that Grant will pass the CRCT on July 1st without more than 3 hrs per week of help. I truly feel we h ave FAPE here.

[amarie1]

I don't know how you do it

I think I would have gone crazy on them a long time ago - how can they sleep at night.
All I can add is positive thoughts and prayers for you and to say that I think you are a fantastic mom. Do give up the fight.

Anne

[trek]

Sent email this morning to the school we shall see their response. It makes me ill and unless someone does what is appropriate than legal action will be the recourse. I know many of you would have jumped there already. Just documenting all this will be useful if needed-I am tempted to just go ballistic but I need to look at this long term and what an independent person would receive as far as data.

Grant has only missed 7 days total in school since kindergarten that is partly due to scheduling dr appts for June-we are talking testing likes EEG, MRI, allergy since many of them difficult to schedule weekdays after 4pm. Anyway, missing 9 days of instruction during summer school is an issue and now I have to try and reschedule some of those appts for July meaning when will Grant have any time to decompress before starting school on July 28th. I have to leave his afternoons open next month for ESY so this SUCKS!!!
What would ya'll do at this point? With July 1st being the math CRCT retake test and than July 4th holiday and than July 19 middle school camp, and than a week for my son to have fun before school out of town on a vacation. Just leave the appts-well I have to leave the IEE which is for 2 days? Summer school is June 6-June 30. Middle school does not end until 4pm, again scheduling things like MRI, EEG, GI tests is difficult due to location of those offices/hospitals. Again, he has only missed 7 days of school his entire school career from k-5th so missing 9 days in such a short period of time would be hard for him.

ANNE~thanks I am hopeful. Again, it is the county's way of operating that is perplexing even to an advocate with years of experience. They wait until week before school is out to let me know that Grant did not pass the math portion of the CRCT(state year end test) yet they expect summer school with no IEP to be sufficient to prepare Grant to pass. If he does not pass the law says he must be retained unless the team is unable to agree. My dh & I do not think retention is the answer obviously.

Ellen- the advocate usually has me do all the leg work-writing letters, emails. She does check with other advocates since our county operates so differently than neighboring counties. She is very vocal during meetings which is what I need. Again, this is the 2nd advocate I have used so I do not think it is the advocate's fault -it is the county!! I just feel badly for Grant. Hopefully by tomorrow we will know if another IEP meeting is needed STAT or not-since the county plays by its own rules that barely follow state and federal education guidelines I would not be surprised by them denying the new request.

[chaya]

Hi Trek - I'm not sure what CRCT stands for. Is that the State math exam that's given at the end of the year?

If so, I want to let you know that in my son's school system, kids who don't test well can have a condition included on their IEP whereby they can be promoted as long as they do well in 50% of their math and/or english. So, if a kid doesn't do well in his state math exam, the teacher can use her discretion to pass him for the year if he does well in the classroom over the year. We had our IEP changed back in January because ds wasn't doing well in his English practice tests. Perhaps your son's school could include something similar on his IEP for next year?

[chaya]

Hi. I just read this after I posted my note, below. My thoughts is that it is so very, very, irresponsible of the school system to wait until the week before school ends to let you know that he isn't passing. If the CRCT was such an important test, didn't the school do practice tests throughout the year to prepare the kids for the test? If your son wasn't doing well in practice tests, then it was the school's responsibility to let you know and to devise a plan of action. I am so very enraged on your behalf.

-C-

[trek]

C- yes they do practice test and Grant only "passed" one benchmark test all school year. They usually place a child into the next grade but GA law dictates that in pivotal years 3, 5 and child MUST pass the reading & math portions of the CRCT (state end of year testing to assess mastery of grade level standards). If a child does not pass than they must retake the test and the county also offers summer school. The county is so inflexible that they have their own county regulations that supersede state and federal special education law without overtly breaking it The TEAM is the school team and parents are rarely included it is not just me trust me on that. For example Grant scores 81 on pragmatic language test but the county says below average is 72 and will not consider input form samples or teacher reports. We could have made a team decision to offer language support for pragmatics but the team would not budge. We have an IEE next month for several things to sort it out.

** I am fed up- this is what the Principal emailed back today when we asked that Grant have a co-taught math class in summer school (he receives Resource math during the school year. What does "assist" mean? What crock! And the info about not wanting to part with his CRCT score yet summer school and retention are riding on it? Usually the info does not get sent home until mid-June!!!
"Mrs. M,

Special Education teachers are hired to work with the regular education teachers and to assist students for summer school.



Wait-I did not tell you about the student math teacher saying inappropriate things to Grant. The resource teacher insists she was in the room but when Grant broke down and told me the story she was not in the room The way they handled was to BLAME him. You should see that email.

[chaya]

In all seriousness, would you consider moving to another State?

Things are so much more user-friendly here for kids with special needs. Please feel free to e-mail me off-board, and I can tell you more about my son's program.

-Carol-

[Patrice1]

It varies district by district...

I'm in a state that has good and bad special ed services. Our district (very small) has been awful for ds. But we got him out of district, and the new program is amazing. We are thinking of moving within the state because of this. But then again, it can all change with whoever is at the top. Leadership matters. Funny thing is, we met with a realtor, and she ended up telling us about her kid who had a really hard time in our town because of his special needs!

Just my two cents. You can move, but then administrators can change, and you could be kicking yourself. We're in the same boat with our district, but it sounds likes your whole state is a mess!

[trek]

No moving because we would take a huge loss for our home if we sold now. And if my dh's job is local. The surrounding counties are not much better. We would have to move about 45 minutes north or south to be in better district and again not feasible right now.

Anyway, still waiting for the someone(Principal or Spec. Ed Director to respond to Advocate's email that she sent on Thursday evening-hopefully on Monday. We have asked for another IEP but time is not on our side if we want to meet by the last post-planning day which is May 31st.