mental health for LD student vs HS school attendance policy

<p>I am in a big bind with my LD son, a sophomore in high school. He is involved in an extreme sport at the professional level. He has achieved so much social-emotional growth through this sport...maturity, responsibility, goal-orientation, learning to advocate for himself with adults/coaches, self-confidence, organization..the list goes on and on.. it is the only arena where he is a success. It is also his only motivator to work hard in school, as we require him to have Cs or better to participate.</p>

<p>however, at this level he has needed to attend tournaments which involve travel and missing school for a few days at a time every month or two...</p>

<p>He has an IEP and we have been mostly happy with support at his current high school.</p>

<p>We have been excusing his absences with the school. I did not take that lightly but saw no other choice. This sport is his passion and he is very ambitious about pursuing it.</p>

<p>Now the school is taking a hard-line and saying he can't have any more absences this year unless he has a Dr's excuse. There are two tournaments coming up that he was already committed to. He is afraid of losing the spot on the team he has worked so hard to attain if he doesn't make these tournaments. One is more important than the other, maybe he could skip one of them.</p>

<p>We are not in a position to homeschool him. I asked the current school if they could give him an independent study contract for the upcoming tournaments and they said they don't do that. They lose money if the kid isn't there and it's too hard for the teachers to keep track of.</p>

<p>The only option is a private learning center that supports kids with IEPs and has a flexible schedule, but it is really not affordable for us. I really don't want to change his placement anyhow, as he has already switched schools a lot and it takes months to get the new school up to speed, and it is costly to change because I have to pay an educational advocate to oversee everything....</p>

<p>Does anyone have any ideas??? What I would really like is if his current school would give him an independent study contract to make up the work when he is out. I think it is justified as meeting his social emotional goals, but they don't see it that way.</p>

<p>I would go to the school district with your situation. If they value having your child (a celebrity) in their school they might be more inclined to cooperate. I would take any infomation you have about awards, accomplishments, endorsements even letters written by folks from the national level of his sport might influence them to cooperate. I would also contact the local school board with the same information. Good luck!</p>

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We are not in a position to homeschool him. I asked the current school if they could give him an independent study contract for the upcoming tournaments and they said they don't do that. They lose money if the kid isn't there and it's too hard for the teachers to keep track of.

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<p>In California, you folks have an indy studies option for high school. So, if the school has refused the indy studies option, you go to the head of the school district. Do not tell anyone at the school you are doing that, or they will try to cover their rears. </p>

<p>You are being cool because you are trying to make sure that your child still carries on with schooling. So, you are in the right wecandothis.</p>

<p>Also BYU has an indy studies option for the high schoolers. It is over $100.00 bucks a class and maybe they could work with you, for all I should know.</p>

<p>good idea collegemom- we can compose a resume of his awards etc. He was also interviewed for a magazine, but that hasn't come out yet.</p>

<p>thx mildred- we actually do have an independent study type program, but I don't think it will meet some of his educational needs based on his learning disability..not that I would rule it out though. I just wanted a little independent study contract for the few days he would miss and they turned that down.</p>

<p>well, when I saw how devastated he was about not being able to attend the next tournament with his team (all expenses paid, to the East coast) I started re-thinking things. We met again with his advocate and brainstormed some more about options. She hasn't had concrete experience with this exact situation, but gave us some things to follow up on.</p>

<p>After a lot more research and soul-searching, we are considering a private independent study option. For each subject, he would meet with a teacher 1:1 for 45 minutes per week, and then complete on his own about 5 hours of work, then return for another meeting with the teacher. He can go at his own pace and choose from three levels of difficulty for his classes. The cost is fairly reasonable. We are visiting there tomorrow.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, the public independent study option is not good here..it is basically the last stop on the way down the tubes.</p>

<p>There is another private option, but it is very expensive. There is more class time involved, but the attendance policy is flexible. We will try to visit there too.</p>

<p>It is just very scary to remove him from the support system he has had at his school. </p>

<p>Interesting that if it was a sport that the school supported, there would be no problem missing classes...for example, the baseball team often leaves at 1 pm for games. It was also an eye opener to me that even if a parent excuses the child's absences, the legal system can still step in and dictate "punishment" if they deem that there are too many absences.</p>

<p>I wish I felt more optimistic about negotiating with the school district..I actually had started feeling that out and didn't feel like I was getting much give and take..and I'm kind of at the point in my life where I'm a little tired of swimming upstream..I have fought too many battles with the school districts over the years</p>

<p>Today my son and I had a meeting with the director of Futures/Halstrom. It is almost like homeschooling, but more like what I'd call teacher-directed independent study. They provide curriculum, teachers and materials. Basically he meets with a teacher in each subject for 45 minutes and then completes about 5 hours of work. He goes at his own pace. We think it could work. There is a lot of flexibility in terms of schedule and what classes he takes. He can even get credit for working, and he can use his sport for PE or an elective. It did appear to be very book/pencil/paper oriented though...</p>

<p>We also took a peek and picked up literature at Fusion Learning Center..that has a few more bells and whistles, and more of a direct focus on learning differences, but also a higher price tag. This is also one on one teaching, but less independent than Futures. Can't meet with director there for another 2 weeks and don't even know if they have an opening.</p>

<p>My s is just so happy and relieved that it looks like we can work things out. He is very motivated to make it work.</p>

<p>(If you look over in the Parents Forum, I have received some great input there as well, particularly some good advice on teaching reading to LD kids)</p>

<p>I'm confused, your son has LD? How does that relate (I'm not saying it doesn't, I'm just not understanding how)?</p>

<p>If he's having trouble motivating himself in school I would not recommend putting him in self directed classes like BYU. I did that to make up for a very poor math teacher and had a very hard time completing the class. </p>

<p>I do have heath issues and it amazes me that I'm allowed to miss as much school as I do. Probably at least a 5th, with more absences in some classes than others. However I'm pulling a A- average so that might explain why.</p>

<p>i missed SO much school in high school. like 20 days a year. </p>

<p>big problem now that i'm in college. you just can't miss days. </p>

<p>i remember my freshman year i called my mom and said, mom, what do college students DO when they have the flu????</p>

<p>take vitamin c and go to class anyways, apparently :)</p>

<p>Congrats on your son finding a sport he loves and is so good at! </p>

<p>I was thinking you were probably doomed in negotiating with your school until I came upon the part where kids in school supported sports, such as basketball, get to miss a bunch of school, whereas you kid doesn't. Hmmmm. So some kids get to miss and others don't? </p>

<p>I was wondering if you had spoken with a lawyer to make sure the school can do this to you, or if there is a formal appeal policy you could use. I mean, what do they do if a child is working, as with a child actor or musician? I would think that there would have to be a permit process for those kids, as I think they still have a right to have access to public education.</p>