untitled...because I couldn't think of a good one anyway... alonewith2: Tonight was the Title I conference for parents to go in and see how their kids were doing. I have a thread here buried from last year, but I didn't feel like searching for it.
In a nutshell, my son has been doing poorly in school. I blame myself for slacking on his educational needs pre kindergarten era when I was depressed and mourning the loss of my marriage the first time.
Last year, I finally put my foot down and demanded more attention from the school in regards to my son. Basically after the first few months of the school year, they slacked off. At the end of the year I was hit with the "we feel your son needs to be held back. He's a whole year behind in his learning needs." I made them pass him and hired my sister (who is a special education teacher) to tutor him through the summer.
Then school started. He was hit with a lot of work right off the bat. Cursive writing, spelling lists of 18+ words, etc...all that he wasn't prepared for or warned he'd be doing. (What's wrong with teachers anyway?!! Why didn't they send a note home on the last day of 2nd grade stating that he would need to know cursive writing by the first day of 3rd grade?!!! He didn't even learn it in 2nd grade!!!)
It took a month before the school finally decided to look into the needs of their students and decide which ones needed special attention. ::) I had already hired my sister to keep tutoring my son 2x a week. And lucky for me, my sister is really good friends with a teacher at my son's school so she told this friend all about the problems we were having with my son. This teacher went to the principal and was able to get permission to send copies of all of my son's school books to my sister's house so that she could really keep up on his curriculum and tutor him using his own school books.
He seemed to be coming around. So I was feeling pretty good going to tonight's conference. But boy was I floored. His reading teacher told me that she still hasn't gotten my son for any special attention sessions yet. Those sessions aren't even going to start until NEXT WEEK!! So he's been put on hold for not just that 1st month, but for the second month as well....great... And she told me that his name has come up at several meetings and the school has finally decided to test my son for learning disabilities. It's not like I haven't been asking for that EVERY year only to be told "well, let's just wait and see how he does...." THANK YOU, finally!!
Then I met with his math teacher. I've been waiting 3 years to find out how he's been doing in math. It seems every time I have a parent-teacher meeting, the math teacher isn't there and the other teachers can never give me any info on how he's doing. So I've been clueless for the last three years on what areas he needs extra help, etc.
Anyway, his math teacher tells me that he's doing excellent and that she thinks he'll soon place out of the special math classes and be moved into the regular math classes. YAY!! At least that much is going well. ;D
The guidance counselor has been trying to contact me for the past week, but I'm never home during school hours. I will definitely have to make time at work tomorrow to return her call.
Re: untitled...because I couldn't think of a good one anyway... TeddyR: Thats great and looks like your perseverance has paid off.The school is pretty damn slack by the sounds of it.Maybe other Mother's should be clued in on whats going on,if they are not as involved as you are.
It's nice to hear a positive story and "3 cheers" for making your child's education a top priority!
:D :D :D :D
Re: untitled...because I couldn't think of a good one anyway... alonewith2: Thanks TeddyR! I think we still have a long ways to go, but I'm confident that we'll make it. ;)
Re: untitled...because I couldn't think of a good one anyway... alonewith2: Finally had a chance to talk to the guidance counselor. Seems my son scored the lowest in the whole third grade on his reading proficiency test. I guess they expect the students to have 74% accuracy/min and he only had a 24% accuracy/min. What does that mean?!!!
So I had to give my permission for the testing. She said the reason they waited this long (since kindergarten) is because they had to try every single method possible and he had to score low enough before he could qualify for the testing. What BS is that? So my son had to struggle to the point where he gave up before they would consent to testing him?!!
I'm not sure about the legal issues here. She asked if his dad would need to give approval for the testing. I said that legally he does have joint custody and shares in the decisions, but he never seemed to care before. I do not have a mailing address for him, but she's going to send the paperwork here. Anyway, I will let his dad know what's going on, but if he doesn't care about signing the papers or not, can I still legally sign them and have my son do the testing?
Re: untitled...because I couldn't think of a good one anyway... TeddyR: "He had to score low enough before he could qualify for the testing".Yes,it is BS!
Wouldn't they want to address learning ability early on like in Kindergarden or first grade and then tailor a plan to help with individual learning?It seems they put this off way to long.They are going to address this now,in Third Grade?
I would question the methods they are using with Legal advice.You have been dealing with this for some time now.Not like it just cropped up recently.If nothing else,maybe changes will be made and many other children could benefit.
So Much For "No Child Left Behind"
>:(
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