One final word before we move on
Dudes! I am so touched that many of you were inspired to violence on the girl child's behalf, but I think we can put Project Mayhem on hold for the time being.
My problem with this particular teacher begins and ends where her questionable judgment bumps up against my child's emotional well-being. The girl is FINE, she is so OVER that project grade, she knows DH and I are in her corner, and that, to me, is the most important thing. I am not letting it drop so much as tabling the issue for now and taking my cues from the girl and what she seems to need. We ARE monitoring/documenting things, though.
Also, I guess I haven't made this clear but NEITHER of my kids has an IEP. Because, you know, neither of them has AND I QUOTE: "an educational need for services".
Here is something you may not know if you haven't run the Special Ed gauntlet in the Texas public school system: the school does not give a rat's ass what your child's POTENTIAL is. The school only wants to know how your child is performing NOW. If you have a kid who is making what are deemed by the school to be acceptable grades, the school does not care that your kid has to batter relentlessly against soul-crushing obstacles to get those grades. Nor do they care that with the right accommodations your kid could be making even BETTER grades, or at least be more emotionally well-adjusted while achieving the grades he or she is getting now. The kid's grades are fine, so what you are complaining about CRAZY OVERACHIEVING LADY?!
The school does not care if your child is emotionally sensitive and needs an extremely positive environment in which to achieve his/her full potential. Being emotionally sensitive is not a disability. Neither is being socially awkward, being a visual-spatial learner, or thinking so far outside the box that the box itself is IN ANOTHER TIME ZONE. None of these things present "an educational need for services".
The boy child's disability, which is documented and has a handy-dandy label, affects his performance at school just enough that he DOES qualify for accommodations through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and he has a 504 plan stating these accommodations, but a 504 plan is much less extensive and brings with it much less in the way of accountability than does an IEP.
The girl child? Has bupkis. Because she generally gets decent grades, does not have a CONFIRMED diagnosis of any sort, and holds herself together emotionally while at school. (Ironically, she DID have an IEP when she received speech therapy through the school, but she graduated from that three years ago.)
Anyhoo, we're moving on. I am truly grateful for all your words of support. It was especially cool to hear from so many teachers about this. Hello, I could NEVER do your job, and I am forever grateful for the truly wonderful teachers my kids have had over the years. Fortunately they have FAR outnumbered the People Who Suck, and if not for a few awesome teachers saying, "Yes, he makes good grades but BOY HOWDY ARE THERE EVER ISSUES," the boy probably would not have the accommodations he does now.
So. That's where we are with THAT.
In other news, there's no word yet about my dad's test results, and I am sick as a dog with some kind of sinus headache/dizziness/chills/nausea thing.
Oy.
My problem with this particular teacher begins and ends where her questionable judgment bumps up against my child's emotional well-being. The girl is FINE, she is so OVER that project grade, she knows DH and I are in her corner, and that, to me, is the most important thing. I am not letting it drop so much as tabling the issue for now and taking my cues from the girl and what she seems to need. We ARE monitoring/documenting things, though.
Also, I guess I haven't made this clear but NEITHER of my kids has an IEP. Because, you know, neither of them has AND I QUOTE: "an educational need for services".
Here is something you may not know if you haven't run the Special Ed gauntlet in the Texas public school system: the school does not give a rat's ass what your child's POTENTIAL is. The school only wants to know how your child is performing NOW. If you have a kid who is making what are deemed by the school to be acceptable grades, the school does not care that your kid has to batter relentlessly against soul-crushing obstacles to get those grades. Nor do they care that with the right accommodations your kid could be making even BETTER grades, or at least be more emotionally well-adjusted while achieving the grades he or she is getting now. The kid's grades are fine, so what you are complaining about CRAZY OVERACHIEVING LADY?!
The school does not care if your child is emotionally sensitive and needs an extremely positive environment in which to achieve his/her full potential. Being emotionally sensitive is not a disability. Neither is being socially awkward, being a visual-spatial learner, or thinking so far outside the box that the box itself is IN ANOTHER TIME ZONE. None of these things present "an educational need for services".
The boy child's disability, which is documented and has a handy-dandy label, affects his performance at school just enough that he DOES qualify for accommodations through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and he has a 504 plan stating these accommodations, but a 504 plan is much less extensive and brings with it much less in the way of accountability than does an IEP.
The girl child? Has bupkis. Because she generally gets decent grades, does not have a CONFIRMED diagnosis of any sort, and holds herself together emotionally while at school. (Ironically, she DID have an IEP when she received speech therapy through the school, but she graduated from that three years ago.)
Anyhoo, we're moving on. I am truly grateful for all your words of support. It was especially cool to hear from so many teachers about this. Hello, I could NEVER do your job, and I am forever grateful for the truly wonderful teachers my kids have had over the years. Fortunately they have FAR outnumbered the People Who Suck, and if not for a few awesome teachers saying, "Yes, he makes good grades but BOY HOWDY ARE THERE EVER ISSUES," the boy probably would not have the accommodations he does now.
So. That's where we are with THAT.
In other news, there's no word yet about my dad's test results, and I am sick as a dog with some kind of sinus headache/dizziness/chills/nausea thing.
Oy.
Labels: my next post will be a meme that has nothing to do with SCHOOL
posted by Badger at 1:25 PM
9 Comments:
The mighty sick/nauseous/sinus thing has brought down another victim, eh?
I'm sorry to hear that. Take it easy for a few days.
I hope your dad is okay. All good thoughts for him tonight!
It's obvious that the Badger children's mother has a very good grip on things. (But the pounding offer? Still stands!)
Did I offer violence? No? I didn't think so...should I send Oldest over there?
had i known that i would endear you with threats of violence upon your behalf, i totally would have gone there. i think there would have been grenades involved. the thought of grenades exploding gives me some amount of satisfaction, i'll admit.
i think it's nice, actually, to see that you're all mama bear about your kids, and to hear that your daughter is able to write her grades according to her perception of herself. that was so cool!
you are obviously a kickass mother.
Oh, man. I'd have offered violence on Li'l Badgergal's behalf, except that I'm pretty sure I need to save my ammo for my own fight. :0 Speaking from the deep end of the "special" pool, having an IEP doesn't gaurantee any services, either. In fact, all it gave Olive was a formal letter when Chicago Public school declared her inelligible for summer school, as opposed to a phonecall. HUGS!!!!
I think le flu is overrunning the interwebs.
Hugs and kisses to you!
I was too livid at what happened in your last post to comment.
I commend your letting the girl lead and not ripping heads off.
And I still don't have the words for how gut wrenching your last post was for me. No kidding - my innards were doing flips of agony.
Just thought I'd let you know you were mentioned in Redbook again! In the February issue. Page 177. "The creator of this blog, a mom of two in Texas, was tired of cooking separate meals for her husband and kids every night, so she decided to put her 10- and 8-year olds in charge of their own, uh, darn dinner. (One rule: the meal has to include a protein and a vegetable.) Now her site has become a great source of simple-yet-inspired dinner ideas, like cinnamon chicken with couscous abd barbecued shrimp with grilled apricots." Congrats!!
Sure you're not talking about the Victorian State Education System.
Your girl sounds a LOT like mine.
Not that anyone gave a shit.
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