[blindkid] Need help

[Carol Castellano]

YAY!  Made my day!
Carol

At 03:03 PM 12/17/2009, you wrote:
>I would like to thank everyone for your help 
>with this "musical" matter. As always, I was 
>given a wide range of directions I could 
>take. Your advice always makes me stop and 
>think about what I'm doing. Especially, I would 
>like to thank everyone for allowing me to lean 
>on you when times get tough. Your support is 
>what keeps me from going crazy sometimes! Late 
>yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from 
>my daughter's caseworker. Apparently, a young 
>lady accepted the plea for help. Kayleigh met 
>with her and they have come up with several 
>rehearsal dates. The young lady is a ballerina 
>and has no problem with helping on body 
>movements. Time is on our side now as the kids 
>are out for Christmas break too. Musical 
>rehearsal will still take place, but Kayleigh 
>will have more time to catch up. I canceled the 
>ARD, but did request the principal speak with 
>the choir director about his requirement to 
>follow the ARD. There have been other issues 
>with this director. At least he knows the 
>principal (and momma) is watching him now. I'm 
>not sure what conversations took place within 
>the school yesterday, but Kayleigh came home 
>from rehearsal yesterday evening and said the 
>choreographer praised her for her improvement 
>and told her she was doing a great job. He also 
>said he could tell how hard she was working. 
>Kayleigh's spirit was lifted. She is bound and 
>determined to be on par with her peers. Knowing 
>my daughter, I don't doubt her for one moment 
>either.... Keep your fingers crossed that it's 
>smooth sailing from here on! Sincerely, Kim 
>Cunningham --- On Wed, 12/16/09, DrV 
><icdx at earthlink.net> wrote: From: DrV 
><icdx at earthlink.net> Subject: Re: [blindkid] 
>Need help To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, 
>(for parents of blind children)" 
><blindkid at nfbnet.org> Date: Wednesday, December 
>16, 2009, 5:41 PM Hi Kim, How very frustrating. 
>I suggest that Kayleigh join the NFB's Sports 
>and Recreation Division list-serve today & ask 
>for their suggestions on how she might most 
>effectively approach this. If she posts this 
>today, then she may get back some useful 
>suggestions as early as this evening. The Sports 
>& Rec members are very open & have been a great 
>resource for us & I suspect Kayleigh would get 
>some concrete suggestions & insights there. 
>Sincerely, Eric V ----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Kim Cunningham" <kim at gulfimagesphoto.com> 
>To: "Blindkid" <blindkid at nfbnet.org> Sent: 
>Tuesday, December 15, 2009 12:52 Subject: Re: 
>[blindkid] Need help > Thank you Sandy for your 
>warmth! I have called an ARD for Thursday 
>morning. After speaking to the case manager this 
>morning, I asked "What is it going to take? Do I 
>need to contact the director of special 
>education?" The case manager informed me that 
>the director already knows about the 
>situation........I was dumbfounded! So the CTVI, 
>case manager, choir director, school principal, 
>and the director of special education are all 
>aware that Kayleigh is looking for help with 
>learning the routines and nobody has offered to 
>help her????? Do you think these people just 
>can' t imagine how to teach a blind person to 
>dance and are stuck in their tracks? Surely this 
>can't be the reason, but I'm beginning to 
>wonder. Kayleigh knows exactly how she needs to 
>be taught, but she just needs to find a person 
>willing to help her. > There is nothing as sweet 
>as parenting my lovely daughter, but life has 
>been nothing but hell in every other area. We 
>have all felt it. This shouldn't be allowed for 
>other people to have so much control over your 
>own happiness or sanity! > We'll see what 
>happens at the ARD. I did ask for the choir 
>director to be there. Of course, I requested 
>that Kayleigh not attend as I'm sure it won't be 
>pretty. This man needs to know that he is 
>messing with the wrong momma! > Regards, > 
>Kim > > --- On Tue, 12/15/09, Dr. S. Merchant 
><smerchant at vetmed.lsu.edu> wrote: > > > From: 
>Dr. S. Merchant <smerchant at vetmed.lsu.edu> > 
>Subject: RE: [blindkid] Need help > To: "'Kim 
>Cunningham'" <kim at gulfimagesphoto.com> > Date: 
>Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 2:29 PM > > > Hi 
>Kim, > > I feel your frustration and your 
>tiredness. Too often we don't want to talk about 
>us adults just being tired of the fight. But... 
>it has certainly happen to me, many times, and I 
>just make do. But... here we go again. I would 
>probably have a meeting with the school 
>principal. An email does seem to have gotten you 
>anywhere. If you want to kill two birds with one 
>stone and you are up for it, I would request 
>that the choir director be there (unless you 
>think it will get ugly and there will be a back 
>lash against Kayleigh) because choir director 
>presence will be more confrontational. Then I 
>would change tact and ask the school principal 
>for help with this matter - make is a personal 
>plea.. ask him to be discreet and you also need 
>to voice concern of a potential back lash. When 
>push comes to shove (and it seems to be there 
>now), you need the principal on your side. So a 
>personal meeting will go a long way. If the 
>principal is a chauvinist > or has a tendency to 
>be one, you may want to bring your husband - 
>unless it will get too confrontational if you do 
>this. > > Just my thoughts. > > Sandy > > 
>-----Original Message----- > From: 
>blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org 
>[mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf 
>Of Kim Cunningham > Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 
>2009 10:04 AM > To: Blindkid > Subject: 
>[blindkid] Need help > > I am having a problem 
>with my daughter's school and I need your help. 
>I have composed the letter below to send to all 
>the school board members as all of my other 
>pleas for help have fell on deaf ears. I would 
>appreciate your opinions on how I should handle 
>this matter. I have done nothing but fight for a 
>equal education all my daughter's life. She is a 
>senior now and I am at the point where I just 
>want to throw the towel in and say "whatever - 
>I'm too tired to continue this!". I'm sorry the 
>letter is long, but I needed to state all the 
>facts. My daughter actually gave a speech to the 
>school board two years ago about the problems 
>she has had in receiving an education as a blind 
>student. Of course, this only led to bickering 
>within the board members and the school lawyer. 
>Not much came of the ordeal.... > Please give me 
>your feedback...I will not send the letter to 
>the board until I calm down. > Regards, > Kim 
>Cunningham > > Dear All, > > I am so upset right 
>now that I pray I can write a civilized email to 
>everyone. There has been an issue for the past 3 
>months or so, concerning my daughter, Kayleigh 
>receiving extra help to learn the dance routines 
>for the upcoming PHS school musical. Kayleigh 
>tried out and won a part as a member of a 
>singing and dancing group. Kayleigh was very 
>aware that her dancing part of the audition 
>didn’t go very well, but she was chosen 
>nonetheless. Kayleigh knew from previous small 
>routines done within the choir that she was 
>going to have a hard time "visually" learning 
>the routines since she is partially blind. 
>Kayleigh is very capable of learning the 
>routines, but she needs someone to give her more 
>than visual instruction. > We all know that 
>Kayleigh is considered "special education" due 
>to her blindness and has IEP's as part of the 
>ARD process. One of Kayleigh's IEP's has been to 
>advocate her needs. Kayleigh has done this 
>repeatedly with regard to looking for someone 
>who could give her extra instruction to learn 
>her part. Kayleigh has asked for help from her 
>case manager, Mrs. Harris (numerous emails and 
>conversations), and her choir teacher, Mr. 
>Bready. There have been four or five rehearsals 
>so far and NO ONE has been designated yet to 
>help Kayleigh before, during, or after 
>rehearsals! Kayleigh says she feels "foolish" 
>because she knows she isn't dancing and moving 
>like everyone else. Last week, Kayleigh asked 
>Mr. Bready again for help and was told by Mr. 
>Bready to ask Shannon (a student and 
>choreographer/helper with the musical) to help 
>her. The girls decided to meet on Monday, Dec. 
>14 prior to the evening’s rehearsal for one on 
>one help. Of course, Shannon was > not there 
>after school yesterday and Kayleigh again 
>received no help during rehearsal; however she 
>continued to try to do the best she could. > I 
>requested two weeks ago in an email to Mrs. 
>Harris, to have an ARD to discuss how we were 
>going to assist Kayleigh with this problem as 
>everyone was ignoring both our requests for 
>assistance. I emailed Mr. Bready asking about 
>Kayleigh getting help, and I also email Mr. 
>Berger (school principal) requesting assistance 
>with this matter. NO ONE CONTACTED ME ON ANY 
>ACTION! NO ONE CALLED ME! NO ONE EMAILED ME! > 
>Now......now, I find out that the choir 
>director, Mr. Bready had the audacity to say 
>during last night's rehearsal to Charles (the 
>main choreographer). "When are we going to start 
>removing some of the bad dancer's and 
>specifically stated Kayleigh as being a bad 
>dancer. This was told to me by someone who heard 
>this discussion. She is a trusted student who 
>knows my daughter and knows of Kayleigh's 
>troubles in finding help. Thank God, the main 
>choreographer said that he didn't want to pull 
>Kayleigh as he could see she was trying to learn 
>the routine. Ultimately, I don’t know who will 
>have the final say ­ the choreographeer or the 
>choir director. How can Mr. Bready call himself 
>a teacher? Kayleigh asked him for help and now 
>he wants to punish her for not learning what she 
>asked help for? This must have crushed Kayleigh 
>as she learned of this as I was dropping her off 
>to school. What kind of school is Pearland High 
>School? What kind of message are > you sending 
>to my daughter? I am hurt and deeply angered 
>that Kayleigh heard this. She is already 
>self-conscious about her dancing ability. I am 
>sure her spirit is deeply wounded. > Kayleigh 
>designed her whole schedule this year around the 
>fact that she wanted an opportunity to be in a 
>musical. This was a goal of hers for the year. 
>She told the entire ARD committee last year of 
>her plans. She tried out for musical and made 
>it. We were so proud of her. Kayleigh is so 
>distraught over the situation that I wished she 
>would have never even tried. It breaks my heart 
>to see my daughter hurting. > I'm not sure what 
>my next step is concerning this matter. I do 
>expect that a dialog should happen with Kayleigh 
>and let her know if she is a valued part of the 
>musical cast or if she is going to be removed. I 
>don't want her anguish to continue.... > Mr. 
>Bready has been mainly non-compliant with 
>Kayleigh's accommodations. He often forgets to 
>have her work enlarged and gives her no 
>considerations for her blindness. I enlarge many 
>pieces of music (at my own cost) so she will be 
>sure to have it. I also paid to have the script 
>printed in large format and bound, again, so she 
>was sure to have it. Kayleigh's accommodations 
>are meant for ALL classes. Kayleigh has not 
>wanted me to say anything to Mr. Bready about 
>these issues because she wanted to try on her 
>own and is afraid that he will hold it against 
>her if I complain. This has moved out of her 
>hands now and into mine as I won't take it any 
>longer. > I don’t know if this problem 
>warrants a complaint against Kayleigh’s right 
>to participate as a student, or if this is a 
>discrimination issue because of her blindness, 
>or simply a moral issue about attitudes of 
>differently abled people. > I just thought that 
>you should know how my daughter has been 
>treated. If this can happen to my daughter, how 
>many others is this happening to? You are the 
>society that deems her as "disabled" when she is 
>perfectly able...... > Regards, > Kim 
>Cunningham > > > > > > > 
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