High School Vent

I am furious from a recent meeting at our high school. I just simply don’t understand how the school system is suppose to help kids. It seems to only help those that would be fine if left alone in a well stocked library. The High School offers no pre Algebra class. If a child is not ready for Algebra the expectation is the child will enroll in a two year general math course which start around a fouth grade level. This will leave little time to get the math needed for a college prep path and I have my doubts if these math classes are meant to be a bridge to algebra. I was concerned that the counselors were only enrolling my son in a minimum number of courses and was told not to worry that he would get credit for job training in the junior year. They had barely known my child for less than 8 weeks, why would they assume the only path for consideration is job training in high school? The school only would start to look at classroom accomodations in the last three weeks of the semester. Duh - he is not doing well. What type of awareness does it take to figure out a child who tapes the classroom lectures would not do well in an open notes classroom test, without the notes. I wanted my LD son to take Spanish with a verbal approach, he has terrible fine motor control. The high school says no can do. Also, the community college will not let a 15 year old enroll in the credit or in the noncredit program. The High School offers a mind boggling array of electives, but they can’t find enough Spanish teachers? Like a large part of the US it has become more necessary to understand Spanish. Our public schools seem to think it’s nice for someone who wants to go into the media, banking, or trade careers. However, it would also be hard in our area to be a day laborer, work at a fast food resturant, nursing home and the like without knowing Spanish. Also, foreign language is required for the major universities in our state. So what gives with the school system! LD kids are prevented from taking foreign languages because many have writing and grammar difficulties which is true. However, a verbal oriented approach to foreign language is not offered. I believe my son could learn to speak and understand a foreign language and that would be valuable in itself. I have heard that American Sign language (ASL) is frequently used to fulfill the foreign language requirement, however the high schools do not offer this subsitute. It just seems illegal/wrong. I have been told by many that we should change the school system instead of leaving. But, it is too big, too arrogant, and too uncaring. I am so disgusted. I am home schooling.