[blindkid] school placement told if I want an aid have to go aspecial school

Thu Jun 25 05:27:39 UTC 2009

I agree that letting them know that you know the law and aren't  
backing down can be helpful if things have to go that far, though I  
also know of situations where some officials don't even know what the  
law is. That may sound absurd and unbelievable but it is sometimes the  
case. They just know what they have always done or they've been told  
to do, etc. I'm not excusing their actions in any way, but I'd delay  
the aggressive charge as long as possible because once you start  
talking "law" and threatening to bring (or actually bringing) in  
lawyers, etc., you're more or less locked into a complicated  
situation. As soon as you move towards a lawyer, they'll bring in a  
lawyer and things will get messy. Just try and save that for a last  
resort of you can.

As with Sally's response, not having a great deal of information, I  
hesitate to offer too much advice but one excellent strategy that will  
probably not in any way weaken your alternative remedies may be to  
express your concerns more loosely at first-- that you're unclear as  
to what they are suggesting and why. Sound a little confused-- say  
you're curious as to why they cannot accommodate your child's needs in  
your home school (even if they already told you verbally), and then  
ask them to put this in writing to be clear or something like that.  
Ideally, you want to document that they are following the system's  
policy that kids with special needs a, b, and c go to schools x, y,  
and z.

In many situations (especially if they are aware of being our of  
compliance by their recommendations) they may prefer not to put  
anything in writing which is in fact inappropriate or illegal, so one  
of a couple of things may happen-- they may change their  
recommendations and come closer to (or meet) what you want or they may  
paint themselves into a corner and hand you proof of their misdeeds.

A couple of key items to be familiar with include having a clear  
understanding of what a Free Appropriate Public Education is ("FAPE")

http://www.fapeonline.org/

and what the Least Restrictive Environment is for your child ("LRE")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_Restrictive_Environment

The above begins with the statement: " 'Least restrictive environment'  
means that a student who has a disability should have the opportunity  
to be educated with non-disabled peers, to the greatest extent  
possible."

More on LRE from  wrightslaw.com as Sally also suggested:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/lre.index.htm

One other thing to keep in mind / avoid. We all want what is "best"  
for our child. The schools aren't obliged to provide that-- they have  
to offer an APPROPRIATE education in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE  
ENVIRONMENT, so when you're telling them what you may thing of as what  
is "best", forget that word even exists. As far as the conversation  
goes, you want to ask for what is appropriate and to explain what is  
inappropriately restrictive.

The bottom line is that people who are knowingly failing to follow the  
rules (and the law in this case too is seems) are not too likely to  
continue to break the rules when they are asked to put something in  
writing or to let their comments be recorded, etc. Tunes can suddenly  
change in such situations but even better, if they will not comply  
with reasonable and often legally required policy and you get that in  
writing or on tape, you then have proof of their failure to comply and  
a great place to start heading in the right direction legally, etc.,  
if you must.

The order of what is supposed to happen is SUPPOSED to be to examine  
the needs of the particular child and THEN to move forward and  
determine how best to meet the needs of that child. Once schools start  
making policy about how to deal with any particular situation, be that  
blindness of something entirely different, they are heading into  
dangerous legal territory. The "I" in "IEP" is for "Individualized"  
after all!

Good luck,

Richard

On Jun 24, 2009, at 10:26 PM, Andy & Sally Thomas wrote:

> The child does not move based on the program.  The child's home  
> school is the school of first choice.  You may need some help to  
> convince the school that they must follow the law.  It's difficult  
> to give a complete answer without knowing all the facts.
>
> Right now many of the people on this list with vast knowledge in the  
> law are headed to the NFB national convention and they may not have  
> time to respond to your email.  My suggestion would be to  
> familiarize yourself with the law on placement.  WWW.wrightslaw.com  
> is a good place to start.  Here's a placement specific link: http://www.wrightslaw.com/blog/?p=394 
>  .
>
> I've found that showing the school district that you know the law  
> and aren't backing down can be quite helpful.  That said, you may  
> not be able to solve this on your own.  If you can hire an advocate  
> or get some other help, depending on your situation, you may get the  
> problem solved faster.
>
> Best of luck.
>
> Sally Thomas
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "L W" <mama2sally at yahoo.com>
> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 7:43 PM
> Subject: [blindkid] school placement told if I want an aid have to  
> go aspecial school
>
>
> Help needed Please. Registered the girls for school today and was  
> told if I wanted Joli to have a classroom aid she would have to go  
> to the school with a special education unit because if the local  
> school that Joli would normally attend can't meet Joli's needs they  
> will sent her to the school with special ed needs center. Can they  
> legally do that? The school with the special ed center is the school  
> with the worst academic record in our area, and we bought this house  
> because the school it feeds into is so good. So it would make me  
> angry if J couldnt even go there. Also it would mean she and Sally  
> would be going to different schools. Mama not happy! Anybody know  
> how I can get Joli the services she needs without sending away from  
> her local school? For those that don't know Joli is legally blind  
> and has dyslexia. We are in Carroll County Maryland.
> Thanks,
> Lauren
>
>
>
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