Gabby's

[Margies3]

Oh my goodness, what a roller-coaster we have been on for the past 3 years! I'm finally feeling like we MIGHT be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. But I'm certainly not counting my chickens before they hatch.

When Keith was in the 8th grade he suddenly fell part academically. Up to that point he had been able to do pretty well in school. But that year he earned more "F"'s than I thought possible. Seriously! I was on the phone weekly with the school counselor, begging her to intervene somehow. His doctor told me over and over that he needed to be tested for an IEP, but the counselor kept telling me that the school psychologist didn't believe it needed to be done. Finally at the beginning of May, I told the counselor that as his parent, I wanted him to be held back and not moved on to high school. She absolutely refused! She said he had "F"s but that they were high F's. PLEASE!!!

So the next year in the high school, I continue to push for the IEP. with no luck. They did finally give him a "504", for whatever good that does (none!). He failed 3 subjects in his freshman year. One of the subjects (Algebra) we paid for a tutor and for him to do the make-up work in the summer (almost $200). He scored an A!!!! The rest of the work, the school said they will make sure he makes up over the course of this year. (not that I believe that)

Now this year - First quarter he did ok. Not good, but no F's. Second quarter he had 3 F's and completely failed 2 subjects for the first semester.
Then last week, the school counselor called and told me that she wanted to schedule a meeting for both Walt and me and all of Keith's teachers, herself and the school principal. I asked to have the meeting first thing in the morning so Walt wouldn't need to take a whole day off work, but she refused. Said it had to be at 11:00 so that all the teachers could be there during their planning sessions. We get there for the meeting and guess what - the only ones there are Walt, me, the counselor and ONE teacher. NO ONE ELSE. The meeting lasts all of 15 minutes and she dismisses us. We were furious!!! And told her so. And then went to the Superintendent's office to get this fixed (or try to, AGAIN). That was useless.

Well, today the school principal called. I really like him. He is the only one in this whole thing who I believe knows what he's doing and really CARES!!! He apologized all over the place for the way the counselor had handled the whole meeting thing. He was not there because his father had passed away. That was totally understandable. But he said to me that she should have cancelled the meeting when she knew that the key players couldn't be there. And then when he found out what she had told me the meeting was about, he was dumbfounded. Said it was never supposed to be about what she said!!

THEN he drops the real bombshell on me - I say to him that I had been told that as long as a parents puts in writing that they are requesting an IEP, the school then has to follow up and do the testing. He says to me, "Well, I work for the schools, so I can't really say. But write the letter." OK!!!!!!!!! WHY were we not told this 3 years ago? And why is it such a huge secret that he can't come right out and say, "You are right!"?

GEESH!!! I am so totally disgusted with our whole school system. It is such a political nightmare. Everything is about who knows who and who can do what for whom.
Are all small public systems like this?

I apologize for the length of this, but thank you for letting me vent.