The IEP battles continue...

The war with the school continues though it has gotten to be a quieter battle ground. We had Gabriel's IEP meeting on September 1 where it was quite clear that the school was not on the same page we are with our son. It's been a huge disappoinment.
We refused his IEP and placement due to a number of issues. The biggest obstacle is that his Iowa IEP isn't relevant to where Gabriel is academically and socially and the school is not listening to us. They told us that their hands are tied due to the IEP. Through futher inquiries, we discovered that the school can overrule the IEP and make it applicable to him. They appear to have no interest and want to tell us that they don't have what Gabriel needs rather than what they CAN offer.
It breaks my heart because it is a good school. In fact, if it wasn't for this issue, I would think it's a GREAT school. His teacher is fantastic with him and he's learning a lot this year. I love living in Celebration. It's a fantastic little community and fits exactly what we want at this point in our lives.
Andrew and I agreed to visit the school with the autism program. I thought - maybe they have a gem of a program that the autism groups don't talk about yet. We also compiled letters from his former K teacher, the asst principal of his former school, the principal at the school he would be attending, and the school psychologist who has known Gabriel and our family for the last three years. All of the letters state that Gabriel should be placed in the least restrictive environment and a general education room is the most appropriate placement for him.
We took time out of our day to visit the autism class room. To our dismay, the counselor there told us that she recived a phone call from our school telling her to only show us the autism class room, not the general education room. Since we asked to view both, she was more than happy to show us both rooms. The autism room was a room with 8 low functioning students of mixed grade levels and abilities. The aide was dealing with behavior management, the teacher was working with another student, two children were stimming in the corners, and the others were staring at computers. This is NOT the room for our son. We then saw the general education first grade room and it's the same program our school has here.
We were told that there was an autism teacher who assists the gen ed teachers at the other school. We found out that isn't true - she assists the higher grads, not first grade. What is going on here? Who the hell knows what is going on? I, of course, will consider another school if they truly have what my son needs but I won't deal with new transitions and daily long car rides when the program isn't appropriate.
After two weeks of emailing and calling the school adminstration with no results, I had to take another route. Thus came the following letter: (I've removed specific names)

On Thursday, September 1, we met with several people to discuss the educational plan for our son, Gabriel Mai. During that meeting (A) and (B)felt Gabriel was not appropriately placed at Celebration Elementary and after their conversations with the district, Gabriel should be moved to Boggy Creek Elementary. During this meeting we requested another IEP meeting based on the following:

· On Friday, August 26, (B) told Jessica and Andrew that Gabriel was going to have to be moved to Boggy Creek Elementary.

· A meeting was called for September 1, yet we didn’t receive written notice of the meeting. As a result we didn’t know exactly what was to be discussed at the meeting and we did not know who was going to be there.

· (B) stated that the new placement was determined by a phone conversation she had with the school district and from information on Gabriel’s IEP from Iowa. We disagreed with the decision. In our opinion, (B) and (A) had already decided that Gabriel needed to be moved before they walked into the meeting. It was not a “team” decision in the true spirit of IDEA. We clearly had no input.

·We explained several times that Gabriel’s teachers and principal in Iowa were intending for Gabriel to go into a regular classroom in the fall of 2011. Although this was not indicated on the IEP, we said we could get written statements from them that would attest to Gabriel’s ability. We felt this information was critical to consider, but we were repeatedly told that the IEP had to be written that day – including officially changing placement and schools.

It has been two weeks since that meeting and we have not heard anything from Celebration Elementary or Osceola County School District. In addition, our advocate made several phone calls to (D), (B) and (C) at the County, and none of those phone calls have been returned. This is disconcerting to say the least.

On another note, since the beginning of school, we have not been allowed to walk Gabriel to his classroom. Apparently this is school policy. However, Gabriel is a child with special needs, as is supported by his IEP, and part of Gabriel’s disability makes transitions difficult for him. This is particularly true in the morning when Gabriel has to leave mom to go to the classroom. At the start of the school year we were told that we could not walk Gabriel to the classroom and instead, Gabriel would have to wait in the front school office with his mother until a school employee can walk Gabriel to his classroom.

In an effort to comply with school policy, we acquiesced to this request against our better judgment. Most of the time Gabriel is not in his classroom in time for the first bell. Many times he arrives late to his classroom despite the fact that Gabriel’s mom is with him in the front office before 8:30 a.m. One day last week, Gabriel was not escorted to his classroom until 9:05 a.m. No staff member even acknowledged Gabriel’s presence until that time when someone looked at him and said, “Oh yeah! I’ll take him to class.”

This morning we were informed that his temporary aide will come and get Gabriel, “after her duties are over” which isn’t until 8:45 to 8:50 a.m. This is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated any longer. To delay our son’s access to the classroom past the start of the school day is to deny him a free appropriate public education. Furthermore, we believe our son is being singled out and treated differently because of his unique special needs. The school staff has never requested a meeting to develop an appropriate transition plan for Gabriel. The insensitive and rude way this has been handled is causing undue stress on our family and it will not be tolerated anymore.

Please be advised that we are preparing to pursue our legal rights as outlined in the IDEA Procedural Safeguards. We would like to settle this amicably, but thus far Celebration Elementary School and Osceola County Public School district is not demonstrating they would like to do the same.

We are requesting an IEP meeting, with school district ESE administrative personnel present, in order to settle these issues and give Gabriel the education he deserves. Our advocate will be in attendance and we will be tape recording the meeting. A prompt written response is appreciated.


I emailed the letter at 2 and received a phone call from the district office at 4:30. I hope things will change when we have our next IEP meeting this Tuesday. I never knew school officials would act like this. If adults aren't going to get into education for children, they have no business being there. I hope my view of Celebration isn't tainted by our next meeting.