Well, if you've been following the blog then you're aware of what has happened thus far during 8th grade. Since my last post we've had numerous meetings, so many in fact that I've lost count. I am just tired of playing this "game" with the school....same thing year after year since Taz entered Middle School. I'm so tired of the so-called "experts" looking to me for ideas, suggestions, answers, etc. -- at times I just want to scream "If I had all of the answers, I'd be the freakin' expert instead of you, and trust me I'd do a much better job than what you have thus far!" Oh they make me so frustrated....I just want to scream! I am so tired of their claims that they are following the IEP and Behavior Plan, when I have a stack of paperwork proving that in fact, NO they have NOT been following either of them. They all claim that they want Taz there, yet their actions send a completely different message.
At this point due to the suspension and numerous meetings, Taz is temporarily on a "home base" work program. Which basically means, he's doing his school work from home....the difference between a "home base" program and homeschooling is that with "home base", the school is responsible for providing the correct academic work. The teachers are responsible for putting the assignments in a folder located in the school office, then son #2 picks up the work in said folder each day and brings it home so Taz can complete it. Once the work has been completed, we put it in a "completed" folder and son #2 takes it back to school for the teachers to pick up. Thus far, we've done our part by making sure that son #2 checks the folder each day and returns work promptly, and we've done our part by making sure that Taz is completing all work in a timely fashion. However, once again the school is "dropping the ball".....we aren't receiving assignments in a timely fashion (I've had to ask over and over, and basically beg the school to provide work for Taz to do). Also, the other problem is that the completed work is not being picked up from the folder by the teachers.
A perfect example of that: we turned in a stack of completed work on the 11th....today is the 16th....this morning I forgot to send the completed math homework with son #2, so before hubby had to leave for work, I drove to the school to drop it off. While there, I decided to check the "new work" folder.....there was ONE single-page science worksheet in it, that's it -- nothing else. During this time, I noticed that the "completed work" folder was rather thick....it sits on a shelf directly above the "new work" folder. So out of curiosity, I opened the completed work folder and discovered that the work we had turned in on the 11th was still in it (it had not been picked up) along with a few other worksheets that had been turned in a few days prior to the 11th. At that moment, I had a WTF episode! Why hasn't this completed work that was turned in almost a week ago been picked up by the teachers? They were all notified by "the powers that be" that this was how we'd be doing things while Taz was on home base....the teachers all go into the office at some point during the day to check their mailboxes, and the work folder area is right next to the mailbox room, thus it wouldn't be that difficult for them to check the folders or drop off work.....especially since son #2 drops stuff off first thing each morning before going to his locker, and from what I've been told the teachers don't check their mailboxes until after lunch.
Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper! Apparently the office staff detected the smoke rolling out of my ears or something, because one of them said "is everything ok?" to which I responded as politely as possible..."no, it's not ok"...then I began to explain the "problem" to them. One person had the nerve to try to make excuses for the teachers...but when I cut her off mid sentence, she switched the excuse to "well they have been doing MEAP testing this past week." Well whoopee freakin' doo! That doesn't excuse the fact that prior to the suspension there were assignments that Taz hadn't received, and according to the school website there were still random classroom assignments that were being done in between the MEAP testing, thus we should have received some type of work. And that doesn't excuse the fact that the teachers are in the office each day, thus SOMEONE should have picked up the completed assignments....especially when I've taken the time to send each of them a "heads up" email on the days that work has been turned in, thus they KNEW it was there. I'm pretty sure the office staff could tell from the "sorry I'm not buying what you're selling" look on my face that it was pointless to try to argue with me. Sigh....I placed a call to our ISD rep when I got home.
Have I talked about our ISD rep yet? I'm sorry, I don't remember...and quite frankly I'm too tired & frustrated to go back and re-read 40+ blog entries to try to figure it out. So....suffice to say, we really like our ISD rep. He is a pretty boy/frat boy looking kind of guy, a real charmer who can convince people to do things his way just by flashing his pretty boy smile and dimples. When he speaks, you can just sense the sugar drippin' from his lips....he's that much of a sweet talking charmer. He's so calm, even when he's upset about something....thus for some reason Taz seems to respond to him really well. Over the past year though, some of the "powers that be" at the Middle School have managed to resist Pretty Boy's charms and dig their feet in, thus making PB's job a bit more difficult. In some ways, I think they have also managed to beat a little bit of the spark out of him....he just doesn't seem to have the drive and determination like he did when he first joined the team, and he doesn't flash those dimples as much as he used to. Although he seems to give in a bit more, the one thing he does well is quote the law and "rules" that they have to follow as per the ISD and the state.
PB was the one who set up the manifest meeting we had a week or so ago. At said meeting it was determined by PB's boss that the incident that took place that resulted in the suspension, was in fact due to Taz's disability. PB's boss also determined that NO the school did not follow Taz's IEP and/or Behavior Plan, thus they were technically at fault for what had happened...case closed, end of discussion.....now they have to do what PB's boss said. By the way, I like PB's boss....she's one of those "I'm not taking crap from anyone" type of gals. Anyhow, I left a message for PB regarding the assignments....am still waiting for a call back. We had a meeting last week with PB, his boss, and some other "boss" woman (I forget what her title is) to discuss what to do from here....they gave the ok for Taz to be put on temporary home base and set up the "rules" and plan that the school will follow during this time. We discussed with them the fact that we have an appointment tomorrow at a place in town....to discuss what services, if any are out there as extra things that could help Taz....and also discuss the possibility of putting him on some type of medication.
Gasp...yes I know, we're giving consideration to the return of medication. Hopefully not the same crap that caused problems with his heart -- I won't go back to stuff like that. No instead, we're looking at possible anxiety medication....but we will have to wait and see what the "new place" and people there suggest. They might not want to go the route of medication, (I hope they say no meds)....they may suggest some other type of therapy or change in his Behavior Plan and/or how the school is dealing with him (different type of classes, etc.). One thing that PB, his boss and the other lady mentioned was wanting us to reconsider the option of sending Taz to the horrid "south side" school.....they really want us to go back for another tour and give that place a second chance as a possible option. I don't want to even think about that place or go visit it again....once was enough....it was a hell hole....but that is another topic for a different post. So for now, we're playing the "let's wait and see" game....hopefully the "new place" tomorrow will have some information and/or suggestions that will help. We'll see....
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