update

Wednesday I had the meeting at my daughter’s school to set up her 504 plan. Beforehand, I met with the algebra teacher about her progress report. The teacher said she would not be coming to the meeting because she met with students for extra help at that time. I told her we really needed to talk, then, since my daughter’s OCD involves numbers obsessions and really affected her performance in math. The teacher looked stunned. I explained about problems with lateness and OCD as well, and pointed out that her tardiness policy (deducting half a point from the quarter grade for each tardiness) made it impossible for my daughter to earn a grade that reflected her understanding of math. She was very apologetic (“I had no idea, no one told me!”) and agreed to remove the penalty. She also agreed that it was next to impossible for anyone to go from English class at one end of the school to a locker at the other end and then get to the math classroom in 3 minutes, and that the buses do leave the school 2 minutes after the final bell, so she wouldn’t be able to catch the bus if she went to her locker after class. I offered to have her get her stuff before English (which would make her late for that class), and she is beginning to see the bind kids are sometimes in….

The meeting itself was not too bad. Appropriate accomodatiions were agreed upon. However, her first period teacher was not present, and lateness to school is one of the areas where there is an accomodation. The English teacher handed me her progress report at the meeting (another D)! The reason is late work (“I have 120 students. I don’t take late work”) I hope we can get her to come around a bit too (I also have 120 students, and I manage to take late work, with a 20% penalty….)

Friday I called the superintendent, who, luckily, is an old friend (we worked together for 10 years). He is new in the position,and was principal at the high school before he became superintendent. I think he is responsible for some huge improvements in the high school. I told him the whole story—how it took 5 weeks from the start of school to get the 504 plan set up, about the math and English teachers’ grading policies (not good for any kid!), and about the bus schedule….and about the horrible phone system at the high school, one of those automated systems where you can never get a human voice. He was very sympathetic. He has plans to have some mandatory inservice for teachers on 504 plans, and much of the administrative SPED team is new. He will speak with the principal at the high school about the grading stuff. It was something he was combatting when he was principal, and the new principal was his assistant then, so something can probably be done. He will also issue a directive about the buses. And hopefully he can do something about the phones!

It feels like the usual SPED soap opera right now, but at least it looks like some issues may be resolved. I must say, I’m glad this is my last child going through this high school, though. 20 years of battling this nonsense is enough!