[nobe-l] nobe-l Digest, Vol 120, Issue 8
Tammy Robar via nobe-l
nobe-l at nfbnet.org
Sun May 25 17:07:55 UTC 2014
Hi Nicole, I know we have to keep after people which may seem unfair, where you able to remind them about the accommodations? I work with students and in legally blind myself and often I have to remind the teachers to do the enlargements or give me materials ahead of time on the whole other subject, I was just going to post something myself about being legally blind and using a cane. Do you want to talk off-line? Best, Tammy
Sent from my iPhone
> On 2014 Mei 24, at 05:00 AM, via nobe-l <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. need advice (via nobe-l)
> 2. Re: need advice (Gabe Vega via nobe-l)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 22:59:24 -0400 (EDT)
> From: via nobe-l <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> To: nobe-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nobe-l] need advice
> Message-ID: <2c977.410d4547.40b1650c at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
>
> Hi,
> I am not one to put messages on the list very often and when I do, it is
> typically responding to someone else?s message.
> I am looking for some advice from others though?to get an idea of what
> others might do in my situation. I apologize for the length.
> Just some quick background information first. I am legally blind. I am
> finishing my 12th year of teaching in an inner city public school system
> as a special education teacher. I have taught in the same school district
> for my entire career. They hired me knowing that I was legally blind and
> might need a couple reasonable accommodations. For 10 years or so, the
> district?s administration was very helpful and very willing to provide any
> reasonable accommodations to me I requested. I certainly wasn?t pushy and only
> asked for things that were essential. They were always more than willing
> to comply with my requests and never questioned anything. Even during
> those 10 years, I had several different principals, 2 different Special
> Education directors, and a couple different Superintendents that I worked under.
> For the most part, with the exception of one principal that caused
> problems for everyone, I had no issues with any administration and any requests I
> made. The one issue I did have with the principal, the Superintendent at
> the time quickly corrected the issue.
> In the last couple years, we have acquired a new Superintendent, a new
> Special Education director, and new principals. The response I have
> received from the current administration has been very different.
> At the beginning of December of last year, I made a request for a
> reasonable accommodation to my principals. They ignored my request. I again asked
> a couple more times, getting more specific and more direct each time?
> .while still being professional and respectful. I was still ignored. Then at
> the beginning of January, I contacted the Superintendent in an attempt to
> resolve the issue, which had worked the one other time I had had issues with
> a principal. The Superintendent also ignored my attempt to contact him
> and never responded. After discussing it with our union?s attorney (who
> also happens to practice disability law), it was decided that I would file an
> internal ADA complaint within the district. I filed the complaint and
> chose to have our union?s attorney act as my representation. The district
> contacted their attorney who then contacted my attorney. After some
> discussion and despite my anger, I agreed to mediate the issue without the district
> having to go through the investigation process first. Although I was
> angry because I felt that the district?s actions were totally out of line and
> unnecessary, I was not going into this with an attitude of ?I?m out to get
> them?. I just wanted to continue to be treated in the same manner I had
> been for 10 years and be provided reasonable accommodations when I
> requested them, nothing more. We held a meeting where it was myself, my attorney,
> the district?s attorney, and administration. We came to a written and
> signed agreement between the district and myself as to the reasonable
> accommodations that I needed and the district was willing to provide. I thought
> with the signed agreement and my dismissal of the complaint, that we?d all
> be able to move on and I?d get what I needed. The agreement was supposed
> to be distributed to all administrators that I work with or under so that
> they were aware of the agreement and its contents. About 2 weeks later, I
> was speaking to one of the administrators and I mentioned the agreement?.and
> they seemed to be unaware of the agreement or its contents. This concerned
> me. I asked a couple other administrators and received the same response.
> So I called my attorney and told her my concerns. I said ?How can I
> expect these people to follow an agreement that they don?t even seem to be
> aware of? I mean, that doesn?t seem very fair to them.? She then contacted
> the district?s attorney and we ended up on a three-way conference call. I
> explained my concerns. She did have documentation that all the
> administration had been informed of it but stated that she would make contact again
> with the Superintendent?s office and tell them that they needed to check
> again with their administrators to ensure they were well aware of the agreement
> and expectations. Again, I wasn?t out to ?get them??I was simply just
> trying to prevent another issue. This was like 2 months ago.
> So, now comes today. I was at a district level professional development
> meeting in which I was to be provided a reasonable accommodation that would
> allow me gain the information I needed and fully participate in the
> professional development. Mind you, this professional development is information
> and training on our new state level teacher evaluation system?.which in
> turn, directly correlates to my evaluation and ultimately, my job. So, yes,
> it is extremely important stuff. The accommodation I was to be provided
> today was on the signed agreement we made months ago. The two
> administrators who ran the professional development were both people who were provided
> the information?.one of which was ironically, the Special Education
> director. Despite the agreement, I was not provided the accommodation. I had to
> go through the training without it. Needless to say, I am angry and
> frustrated. I had 10 great years with no issues. I?ve tried very hard to
> work with the current administration and have tried to be understanding and
> forgiving. I?ve given them chances to make things right and do the right
> thing. They just don?t seem to care!!!
> So, my question is??..what avenue would you do next? Would you try and
> mediate yet again, even though they are obviously refusing to follow the
> agreement that is already made? Would you file a complaint outside the
> district? What direction would you take from here? What suggestions do you
> have?
> Any thoughts are appreciated!
> Thanks in advance,
> Nicole
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 21:41:19 -0700
> From: Gabe Vega via nobe-l <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> To: NMPBRAT at aol.com, National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing
> List <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nobe-l] need advice
> Message-ID: <93ADF09D-E15F-444B-A53B-53B880E18BFE at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> 1. I would take other options outside the district since it is obvious that they are really tending to the issues at hand.
> 2. call the NFB, they seem to like this kind of stuff.
>
> Gabe Vega
> CEO
> Commtech LLC
> Web: http://commtechusa.net
> FaceBook: http://facebook.com/commtechllc
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/commtechllc
> Email: info at commtechusa.net
> Phone: (888) 351-5289 ext. 710
> Fax: (480) 535-7649
>
>> On May 23, 2014, at 7:59 PM, via nobe-l <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>> I am not one to put messages on the list very often and when I do, it is
>> typically responding to someone else?s message.
>> I am looking for some advice from others though?to get an idea of what
>> others might do in my situation. I apologize for the length.
>> Just some quick background information first. I am legally blind. I am
>> finishing my 12th year of teaching in an inner city public school system
>> as a special education teacher. I have taught in the same school district
>> for my entire career. They hired me knowing that I was legally blind and
>> might need a couple reasonable accommodations. For 10 years or so, the
>> district?s administration was very helpful and very willing to provide any
>> reasonable accommodations to me I requested. I certainly wasn?t pushy and only
>> asked for things that were essential. They were always more than willing
>> to comply with my requests and never questioned anything. Even during
>> those 10 years, I had several different principals, 2 different Special
>> Education directors, and a couple different Superintendents that I worked under.
>> For the most part, with the exception of one principal that caused
>> problems for everyone, I had no issues with any administration and any requests I
>> made. The one issue I did have with the principal, the Superintendent at
>> the time quickly corrected the issue.
>> In the last couple years, we have acquired a new Superintendent, a new
>> Special Education director, and new principals. The response I have
>> received from the current administration has been very different.
>> At the beginning of December of last year, I made a request for a
>> reasonable accommodation to my principals. They ignored my request. I again asked
>> a couple more times, getting more specific and more direct each time?
>> .while still being professional and respectful. I was still ignored. Then at
>> the beginning of January, I contacted the Superintendent in an attempt to
>> resolve the issue, which had worked the one other time I had had issues with
>> a principal. The Superintendent also ignored my attempt to contact him
>> and never responded. After discussing it with our union?s attorney (who
>> also happens to practice disability law), it was decided that I would file an
>> internal ADA complaint within the district. I filed the complaint and
>> chose to have our union?s attorney act as my representation. The district
>> contacted their attorney who then contacted my attorney. After some
>> discussion and despite my anger, I agreed to mediate the issue without the district
>> having to go through the investigation process first. Although I was
>> angry because I felt that the district?s actions were totally out of line and
>> unnecessary, I was not going into this with an attitude of ?I?m out to get
>> them?. I just wanted to continue to be treated in the same manner I had
>> been for 10 years and be provided reasonable accommodations when I
>> requested them, nothing more. We held a meeting where it was myself, my attorney,
>> the district?s attorney, and administration. We came to a written and
>> signed agreement between the district and myself as to the reasonable
>> accommodations that I needed and the district was willing to provide. I thought
>> with the signed agreement and my dismissal of the complaint, that we?d all
>> be able to move on and I?d get what I needed. The agreement was supposed
>> to be distributed to all administrators that I work with or under so that
>> they were aware of the agreement and its contents. About 2 weeks later, I
>> was speaking to one of the administrators and I mentioned the agreement?.and
>> they seemed to be unaware of the agreement or its contents. This concerned
>> me. I asked a couple other administrators and received the same response.
>> So I called my attorney and told her my concerns. I said ?How can I
>> expect these people to follow an agreement that they don?t even seem to be
>> aware of? I mean, that doesn?t seem very fair to them.? She then contacted
>> the district?s attorney and we ended up on a three-way conference call. I
>> explained my concerns. She did have documentation that all the
>> administration had been informed of it but stated that she would make contact again
>> with the Superintendent?s office and tell them that they needed to check
>> again with their administrators to ensure they were well aware of the agreement
>> and expectations. Again, I wasn?t out to ?get them??I was simply just
>> trying to prevent another issue. This was like 2 months ago.
>> So, now comes today. I was at a district level professional development
>> meeting in which I was to be provided a reasonable accommodation that would
>> allow me gain the information I needed and fully participate in the
>> professional development. Mind you, this professional development is information
>> and training on our new state level teacher evaluation system?.which in
>> turn, directly correlates to my evaluation and ultimately, my job. So, yes,
>> it is extremely important stuff. The accommodation I was to be provided
>> today was on the signed agreement we made months ago. The two
>> administrators who ran the professional development were both people who were provided
>> the information?.one of which was ironically, the Special Education
>> director. Despite the agreement, I was not provided the accommodation. I had to
>> go through the training without it. Needless to say, I am angry and
>> frustrated. I had 10 great years with no issues. I?ve tried very hard to
>> work with the current administration and have tried to be understanding and
>> forgiving. I?ve given them chances to make things right and do the right
>> thing. They just don?t seem to care!!!
>> So, my question is??..what avenue would you do next? Would you try and
>> mediate yet again, even though they are obviously refusing to follow the
>> agreement that is already made? Would you file a complaint outside the
>> district? What direction would you take from here? What suggestions do you
>> have?
>> Any thoughts are appreciated!
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Nicole
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