[blindkid] Pressure on the school

[EMMOL at aol.com]

Holly, 
I was wondering... where in NJ you are located & which school district  you 
are in?
Although I live in eastern PA and have had  great deal of  success with our 
district (although not every year is easy or perfect), I work  in NJ and have 
had many dealing with the Commission, most of them frustrating.  Although I am 
a speech pathologist, I am in a small school district in  NJ and wear many 
hats, one of which is that I coordinate the I&RS  Team. Having a blind son I have 
become the building "expert" on  blindness related issues, so I deal with the 
Commission for our Visually  Impaired Student. Carol has been a great 
resource for us over the years  regarding our son, who is now in high school, but if 
there is some way I might  be of assistance regarding your son in NJ, please 
let me know. It seems  like you are on the right path, but it does take a lot 
of time and energy  to fight the good fight!  
Eileen
 
Message: 14
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:18:51 -0500
From: holly miller  <hollym12 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Putting pressure on the  school district
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,    (for parents  of blind children)"
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Message-ID:
<7d85dc6d0903110818t6afd98fcha3ef9e8e7322e552 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Ok, this is the letter I just sent to the  district caseworker, cc'ing the
sp-ed director and school  superintendent.

Wonder how long before the phone  rings?




Dear Dr. M,

As you know, at Hank's October 1,  2008 IEP meeting I requested that Hank
receive
Braille instruction. As of  today's date, Hank is still not receiving Braille
instruction as is required  by law.

On February 18, 2009 a meeting was held at my request to discuss  my concerns
that Hank had not been receiving instruction in Braille as well  as the
issues
with additional assistive equipment and staff training that  was needed but
had
not been provided. At said meeting it was agreed upon  that Ms. S TVI
would provide the information regarding starting Hank on  Braille instruction
within two weeks of said meeting. This coincided with  Hank's Annual IEP
review
meeting scheduled for March 3,  2009.

Unfortunately, due to the weather the District had to cancel the  March 3rd
meeting. In response to my email on March 11, Ms. D informed me  that a
new date had not been determined yet. Hank's IEP review due date is  April 2,
the meeting will be scheduled sometime prior to that  date.

Even though the meeting was canceled, I am assuming Ms. S has  provided
the District with the necessary information and that instruction in  Braille
can
be started immediately. If I am wrong in my assumption, please  contact me
immediately.

Please place a copy of this letter in Hank's  permanent file.

Sincerely,
Holly Miller

hard copy to  follow


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