[blindkid] Putting pressure on the school district

Wed Mar 11 17:30:51 UTC 2009

First of all Holly, (IMO)

********It is better to do this CORRECT now than in a rush, BUT the time to
do action rather than waiting any longer for them is also now**********

They are already out of compliance with the IDEA 2004 law-the Provision for
Braille portion, since day one he has been in their district and they have
not either (1) provided braille or (2) evaluated, found Braille was not
appropriate and put in file why Braille was not appropriate for Hank now and
never will be. So how much time is that? You have more than been
accommodating in "friendliness" and giving the benefit of the doubt. They 
are out of compliance here period. 

It also sounds possible that they are out of compliance clearly in another
area (Prior Written Notice)[why it is ALWAYS good to make ANY request for
change or improvement in services or placement in writing]and to request an
IEP meeting (which you apparently did last fall. If you request a change
(and actually in this case it is a change but you are also just requesting
that they do what they were required to do in the first place)and the school
refuses to act or refuses the school is REQUIRED by law, they MUST according
to the law, provide written notice about what they refuse to do, an
alternate proposal, must include their rationale for refusing and must
provide specific documentation describing  eval, assessment, record and
report procedures they used to form their rationale, it must include what
else they thought of and why they rejected that. The new IDEA strengthened
this portion of the law. This is mid march-they obviously had to have acted
in a timely manner and made Braille goals and evaluated by now or given you
timely refusal of that proposal.

Maybe Carlton can step in here as well...anything Carlton? 

You can choose to do five things and I advise working closely with Carol all
the way through, including making sure you know the steps to complaint and
or mediation in your state and follow them to the letter.

(1) Write them (the district) a letter: stating the facts ([A]when you asked
for consideration of Braille and evals, when you brought the law to their
attention (the IEP meeting date you had, dates of follow-up and what you
have asked and if you do that you have a record of all these requests in
writing-documenting it again. [B] what your concerns are again and the dates
you have brought those concerns forward. [C} stating they are out of
compliance (paste in the Braille law and its requirements initially and as a
considering special factor in every year the new IEP is developed)[D] notify
them you have not received the law requirement of refusal of service (prior
written notice). [E] state you have now waited nearly an entire year for
them to act and that you now feel they appear to be failing to act and it is
preventing a free and appropriate education and what are they going to do to
come into compliance with the law?

*****************************
******Go to www.wrightslaw.com and read letter writing strategies AND
"Letter to a stranger" ask Carol to edit at the least.*************

(2) Write not only the district but warn them your next step is to write a
formal complaint if their noncompliance to the New Jersey Dept. of Ed.
(Again have Carol review and help and get NJ procedures)

(3)Skip the district and write a letter of complaint to the Dept. of Ed,
just notifying them you have done so and following the procedures in your
state.

(4)Request mediation in writing following NJ procedures to the letter, doing
the IEP there, starting the calendar for that now.

(5) Do nothing but get frustrated, call them, and wait for the next IEP
meeting, hit them hard there and hoping they will get it right this next
time.

And six you do always have the right to call due process ( I do NOT
recommend this first)but it is your right and they are out of compliance.

Carrie Gilmer, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
Home Phone: 763-784-8590
carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
www.nfb.org/nopbc

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of holly miller
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 2:57 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: [blindkid] Putting pressure on the school district

Hi!
I popped in a few weeks ago asking for some LMA evaluator names.  It turns
out asking for an independant LMA didn't come up in the meeting we held but
I've got new questions.

Recap...my son is 8 yrs old, 2nd grade, has Albinsim (legally blind,
nystagmus) and was adopted from China in July 2006.  We're in NJ.
I've been very fortunate to have some great conversations with Carol
Castellano (thank you Carol!!!!) but wanted to toss this out there for
everyone.

Very little vision accomodatoins have been provided aside from the most
basic things like enlarging work, a slant board, dark pencils, preferential
seating.
We did finally get a CCTV at home 3 weeks ago, does not have one at school
yet.
The first week in October I called an IEP meeting with the district staff
and the TVI (tvi is a state employee, not district) and said I wanted Hank
to get started in Braille.  TVI said an LMA would need to be done, she'd get
right on it.  Months dragged by, I followed up regularly but kept getting
pushed off.
In the mean time, his teachers were getting very little guidance about how
to make things managable for Hank.  I was trying to educate them the best I
could but it always seemed to be fixing things after the fact, they weren't
troubleshooting on their own or coming to me with questions.

Feb 18th we had a "momma ain't happy" meeting with the district caseworker,
district sp-ed director and the TVI.
His annual IEP review meeting was already scheduled for 3/2 and I explained
I had huge issues with what was & wasn't happening this year that I wanted
to get cleared up before trying to construct a plan for next year.

At the 2/18 meeting I felt I made a lot of progress with the district staff
& getting them to understand why Hank needs Braille (as well as pointing out
the law says he's entitled to it).  The TVI comes across as very
anti-braille if the student has any sight and I am not pleased with her at
all but I *was* feeling hopefull about the district staff and a newfound
understanding.

The meeting ended with the TVI saying she could offer him once a week of
"pre-braille" (the other thread was very interesting to read!) for the rest
of the year *if* her supervisor would sign off on it, and he would be out of
the office for two weeks.  After the TVI left, I informed the district
ladies that once a week was *not* sufficient.  The director said she wanted
to see what the TVI supervisior had to say and would work from there.

Two weeks would put us right at the already scheduled IEP meeting so I was
willing to wait.

We had a huge snowstorm here last week and due to a delayed opening, our 3/2
IEP meeting was cancelled.
I emailed the caseworker & director on that day to let me know of the new
date ASAP and send me a copy of the IEP draft for review.
I called two days later, the secretary informed me a new date hadn't been
set but she'd call me back by the end of the day.
Today I emailed the caseworker & director again to let them know I hadn't
been given a new meeting date or the IEP draft.
The director emailed me back saying a new meeting has not been schedule,
his IEP "due date" is 4/2 so they have until then.
No mention of sending me a copy of the draft. No mention of any follow up
with the TVI about braille.
Now, school was closed 1 day and a 2 hr delay the 2nd day.  Exactly how many
meetings really have to be rescheduled?? 10 at the most???  We're a teeny
tiny district....  I am not feeling so hopeful anymore.

I need to reply to her email letting her know I don't intend to let them
sweep all of March under the rug without addressing getting him started in
Braille.
Of course I should probably use some tact & decorum ::::grin:::::
Any suggestions and wording would be greatly appreciated.

Holly
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