Support for me is thin. My ex-husband is a good dad and does what he can to support our kids. My 78 year old mom lives with me and while she is in relatively good health although she doesn’t drive. She loves her grandchildren to pieces - but she does find living with them challenging at times. Working full time while managing my household is exhausting but it is a labor of love that I would not exchange for all the world. I just wish there were more hours in the day and more money in the bank!
I had mentioned in another post that my children’s school has a very good national reputation which is not the norm for charter schools. I believe that one of the ways in which they accomplish this is by weeding out the challenging kids. I am fearful that my son is being steered towards that pool. I will push for further testing but at this point I don’t have much optimism on my such moving on to 9th grade.
I would love to be able to say that you’re wrong and that (some) charter schools don’t try and push out their more challenging cases. Unfortunately, I don’t think you’re wrong. Charter schools are public schools, however, and required to provide a Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE) to students with disabilities. There are also Child Find requirements that they must follow (i.e. identifying students with special needs).
If your son already has diagnosed issues (and they are affecting his schoolwork), then having a professional advocate there is helpful (the healthcare professional, a legal professional, or a parent/student rights advocate). Additionally (or alternatively), find out who authorizes the charter school (probably either the local school district or the state board of education) and reach out to their accountability department. If there is a student rights’ violation (and not identifying and serving a student who qualifies is a violation), then they can also get on the school to help rectify the situation. Also, notifying the authorizer can also help if you fear any retaliation from the school, particularly if you note that in your comments to the authorizer (hence they can be on the lookout for it, or it helps a case if you do think there’s retaliation in the future).
Hopefully, none of that would be needed, but if you think that this school is going to be the best educational spot for your son, they are legally required to meet his educational needs.
I take it the local public school was not a good option? Is there a nearby public school that might work instead? Moving might be an extreme option, but it doesnt sound like the current situation is working well.
Our local public school is HUGE and I fear that my son will get lost in the mix. They do have an exceptional special education program but I fear the distractions of a larger environment will add to the problems. I have no working knowledge of EAPs, special education, and the like. These have never been in my scope outside of the “Gifted” program that my son was in during his K-5 years in our local public school.
Don’t assume the charter school wants him out. If he’s tested well on the state’s standardized exams, they likely need him to bolster their stats… which is more important than a kid who needs support. In my neck of the woods, the charters put up with a LOT to keep a kid who over-performs on the math proficiency tests!!! This is part of their branding- grades are internal and subjective, but to brag “90% of our students score in the top quartile of the state exams”…
So if it were me, I’d be approaching the charter school with the attitude that “we all want what’s best for Joey. Let’s figure out a partnership for the coming year”.
He does test well on standardized test!
I started composing an email to the principal regarding the upcoming school year that touches on a number of things (many of which are from suggestions given to me within this forum) in order to get the most out of the new year - wherever my son lands. I’ll be sure to add this idea of “partnership” into the email. Thank you!
Yes, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, that’s for sure. But…
So I think that OP will need to start the conversation back up and say, the school has done an eval, but outside professionals have diagnosed my son with X, Y, and Z and it’s affecting him at school. Ideally, the school will say, “Yes, we agree! What will help Joey best?” But if their initial eval said nothing was wrong (even though from what OP has shared, a lot of us on the interwebs find a very compelling basis for a 504/IEP), they may well be resistant to writing a 504/IEP.
If OP anticipates resistance, she may find it easier to have a professional advocate with her (a health one would be less adversarial than an attorney type). Going to the charter authorizer is another way of escalating things to get the help needed, if there’s continuing resistance. I live in an area where charter schools predominate and many families do not know what rights they have when an issue arises with a charter school and I think it’s important for families to know what forms of recourse they may have.
A different (or additional) step that could be taken if the school administration does not agree to a 504/IEP after being presented with outside diagnoses and documentation is to go to the charter board. The charter board is supposed to oversee the head of the charter school and is supposed to set policies. You can reach out to the charter board about the situation and/or request a policy that when diagnoses from outside, licensed professionals are brought in that they carry at least equal weight as any evals paid for by the charter school. Sometimes charter board members don’t know what’s happening inside of a school unless families let them know, and that can help to resolve the issue as well.
Just wanted to give @bljhartman and other charter parents out there some information about how the process can work if concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears at a charter school.
The Exceptional Children Department at my kids’ former charter school works with kids who have IEPs and 504s. “Exceptional Children” or “EC” is what they call it in my state. Each public school has someone whose job it is to work with kids who have an IEP. They might call it something different in your state.
My kids’ charter (top 10 in my state) has a lot of kids with IEPs. I’m sure it’s individual but we found it to be a more welcoming place and better fit than traditional public schools.
Possible names of departments/teams dealing with 504s & IEPs are:
Exceptional Children’s Services
Education Services
Special Education
RTI Team (Response to Intervention Team)
SAT Team (pronounced like pat, not the standardized test…Student Assistance Team)
MTSS Team (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Team)
Child Find Team
ETA: SBLC (School Building Level Committee)
Or you can just ask for the educational evaluation/Special Education & 504 team. Whatever your charter school calls it, they would definitely be able to be identified this way.
