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| Tue, 08-29-2006 - 8:33am |
We had the 504 meeting today. My son is great and everyone who observed him thinks he is just fine. He is above grade level academically. He has a hard time focusing once in a while but other then that he is a remarkable student. Thank you GOD he has been healed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
********Imply serious sarcasm to the above**********************************
Here is what it boils down to, we are 18 days into the school year and the beginning is always the easiest. They do not have an accurate picture of my son. He qualifies for nothing. We aren't poor and we are of white race- they know that we will provide the services to him outside of school at our expense- so why should they.

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I know you are venting...but what does this
"We aren't poor and we are of white race"
have to do with it???
even tho it's the law not to discriminate, it's not the reality in many school districts. Been there!
Betsy
And in some cases, it can go in reverse. Many poorer districts will go out of their way to help all of their students, they will pour the money into more special ed programs and extra help programs many times because they will(because of the race, finanacial problems)qualitfy for the grants and extra money ear marked for these purposes.
For what it is worth, richer, white districts are usually more college track and acidamically geared (wrong yes all students should be encouraged to be on the college track) but lets face it richer disitricts mean parents will pay for special programs for their kids. The structure of the district may not include special ed in the building because snobbery in reverse occurs. Yuppies don't want their precious children mixing with special ed kids. No matter what the race.
Rina
wow.. 3 'knocks' in one post - lol.... but in all seriousness, i am not sure what the OP meant, outside the venting aspect, but it 'sounded' as if she was suggesting that because she is NOT poor nor, for lack of a better term, a minority, her child was getting the short shift and I asked why because in my experience, it is the school systems with the most resources, not the least, of which the described demographic most often attends, that provide the superior services, be they regular or special education related.
I'm not sure if I am the only non-white parent on this board but I'd be surprised if other parents have had experiences that contradict this on a regular basis. Alas, I am not poor and live in a predominantly white, wealthy area and my experience so far has been one of bending over backwards to provide services because the resources were available. Now, I am aware of the differences between the differing interpretations of the law (geez i'm a lawyer too - lol)but it would seem that the quality of the special education services is relative to the to the quality of the regular education programs.
sigh, as a family that meets the definition of yuppie, although the term more appropriate is buppie -(sort of as we are not so urban as suburban now) even prior to my dd's diagnosis of PDD, I can't imagine feeling that i didn't want my child around special needs children. No one is perfect and everyone has challenges and I can't imagine a better learning opportunity for NT kids. Now if a child is a beahvioral problem, yep, i have issues but only if that child's behavioral issues inhibit my childs ability to learn.
I guess my point to all this is that we need to be careful what we say - we don't know how it may be perceived by other readers. And yes, I understand frustration and venting, but even in venting,there is often a little bit of truth in between the words spoken and i don't think we need to blur the lines.....
I don't believe funding is a huge issue at our school as the school itself is in a high tax area. I believe it is more race/economic related due to the fact that these chidlren's parents are less likely to pay for these services independently. The school knows we will so why should they provide them? Also, the test scores of non-white/economically disadvantaged are lower and in order for the school to have a good grade they need to make more strides with these students.
I am not sugessting that they don't need services, but so does my child however he doesn't get them. Why?
Oh my!!!
We seem to have strayed very far off topic and into some controversial areas.
I want to remind everyone that this is a support board for people who deal with a lot in their
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
first - I am not arguing or debating with you - i don't want you to think i am - I just think its an interesting discussion----
You said "The school knows we will so why should they provide them?" - how do you know this to be true? did someone tell you this, or are assuming this?
Are their students being bussed in from an area that has a different demographic or or is your particular school zone on a cusp between a more economically disavantage neighborhood and a more affluent one? I guess I am trying to figure out how the school would have real insight into the financial situation of say your family vs a non-white family in your school.
Generally more affluent communities have better educated members and while it certainly isn't beyond the realm of possibility, it strikes me as off that a presumption that the parent of a non-white child wouldn't provide services for their child that a white parent would would exist without a lot more knowledge into the personal finances of each family situation. Financial ability certainly plays into the discussion but there are so many stories of moms/dads sending their kids to college while waiting tables or being maids/janitors etc that to assume that a less affluent family or a minority family wouldn't do everything they possible could for their child is... really really condescending at best. Now, if this were a private school then perhaps they'd have access to some of that kind of information, but not in public school.
If you say the kids receiving the services do in fact need them, have you asked why your child isn't getting the services he/she needs? Is this new this year, ie were you receiving services and stopped, or changed schools etc???
The statement that the poorer non white students have lower test scores, despite its sweeping generalization, suggests that there may be some shenanigans going on in regard to the test scores or possibly the lumping of students who are behind, but not because of a disabilty of some sort but because they haven't had adequate resources/attention academically with those who have developmental delays. If resources aren't the issue, then the question that needs asking is whether the resources for developmental special needs are separate than the resources for students who are behind for non-developmental reasons. I don't do education law, and haven't poured over the statutes but I am pretty sure that being behind academically doesn't qualify you for an IEP or 504 plan - please anyone correct me if I am wrong. You have to have an articulated disabilty right?
Paula-
As I said in the post after yours, i am not trying to make debate, but please remember thie discussion is not 'outside' for some of us, it is very inside and as a mom of a brown child with pdd, i'd be horrified if another mom thought my child was receiving services preferentially over another child because of race, not need. For us, this is a third issue (brown/female/autism) and i think it is not off topic if we are discussing how to secure services for our kids and to insure that the resources federally mandated for ALL of our kids isn't being skimmed off to other problems in the school or school system. But if we are going to secure the services we need, it has to start with an honest assessment of why the services are being denied.
i feel like you saying please lets not bring outside in as a response to comment regarding race is asking me to leave an intrinisic part of who i am at the door. i'm sorry if your "outside, non politically correct" is my inside. I come to this board for support in raising my PDD child but if I am not welcome thats fine.... i guess inside has become outside yet again....
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