OUT OF COMPLIANCE
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| Sat, 09-03-2005 - 2:55pm |
Last year the DOE agreed to implement a classroom in a specific methodology (VB/ABA). I recieved a phone call on 5/7/04 from the special ed superintendent and the director of speech services saying that they would implement this class room. Now fast forward to my IEP meeting that took 5 months and 6 impartial hearings. The district CPSE administrator put on my iep that:
'Ds requires instruction through the verbal behavior applied behavior analysis approach,as well as a 1:1 paraprofessional. The SEIT program will be provided in the vb/aba methodology" this is written on page 3 of all three of the ieps.
Now from 9/04-8/05 my vb/aba classroom was developed and my children did very well with a trained teacher using the component of VB along with ABA. They also provided a VB -BCBA to assist her with any issues monthly.
Now yesterday I contacted the principal because I wanted to make sure that my paras from last year would be assigned to my boys. He informed me that due to excessing (too many teachers because some are back from sabbatical) my teacher would be sent to another school and I would be given another teacher. I then asked if the teacher has training in VB/ABA (I know that they had a six hour workshop at the school and that does not make you trained ) He then informed me that they do not have a trained teacher in VB/ABA .
I then informed him that they were out of compliance on my iep and that there was no appropiate placememnt for them in my district. I then called the superintendent office to inform them of what was happening . I was told that there is nothing that they can do and that if I dont bring my kids to school they would send the truant officers (do you believe that) well that me me laugh and I informed her that they were only 4 years old not five.
So she said that she would make inquires and see what she could due to fix the situation . But informed me that I should consider sending them to school anyway and consider my options ( I guessing she meant an impartial hearing). Well I am beside myself it is a long weekend and no one is back until Tuesday and school in set to begin on 9/8 and the boys have no school program to attend. ITs very late to create a home program in the daytime plus all of the related services @ school they recieve ot,pt,st,feeding and counseling and one sone is in RDI). I run a home program in the evenings and on saturday with SEIT ,ot,speech,feeding,counseling,pt.
I am in such shock right now that I dont even know how to begin . I need to write a letter to the principal and the superintendent office stating what transpired during our conversation but i cant even set my mind to it right now and I just need to focus and write the damn letter. Also I need to begin to write a letter and request an impartial hearing .
WHat are the laws rewgarding out of compliance . The classroom is driven by my iep and they do not have a sufficiently trained teacher. I will have three four year olds home with no socialization and no access to a FAPE. NO RELATED SERVICES DURING THE DAYTIME .
Jackie~

Well, yours is a special and extreme case but I do know that typically in out of compliance issues when a district is found to be out of compliance then they will owe you ALL the services your child did not recieve as compensatory services. So say if they missed out on 20 hours of VB/ABA that 20 hours would need to be made up in addition to the regularly agreed upon hours.
But from what I recall you may be well beyond that. Is there any private schools in the area that would be good placements for your boys? If there is at this time I would perhaps look into making them pay for such a placement. You would definitely have a good argument for that. They have no appropriate placement as deemed by the IEP fiasco you have gone through and the one they set up in district is out of compliance.
I know from the news and from Sarah that there is little good public school choices in NY and perhaps a specialized school may be a better option than reinventing the wheel and arguing with them every darn year.
At the very least you need the good old lawyer again. But even if you went to a different school they would still owe you all the back hours they didn't provide in some way.
Renee
Jackie,
I am sorry they are being such louses. You are on solid ground and should send a letter to the Regional office immediately. Send a letter to EVERYONE. How about the NY Times?
I'm sure you have this info, but just in case you forgot, I found this on the NYS VESID site.
http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/quality/qaresolv.htm#Step%202:
I remember sitting on a CSE meeting as a parent member that was held to grant services after a lady had won a series of impartial hearings and appeals against my SD. Anyhoo, the district was ordered to pay for all of the services she had implemented at home, (FOUR YEARS worth, -big chunk of change) and to implement those services going forward. The district still tried to wriggle out of it as best they could. (It was kind of funny; because I was getting ready to make a huge fuss -getting into it with the Director, but the mom shook her head and signalled me back "It's really OK" she said).
So my understanding is really limited to that case, but if you win your case the SD will have to pay for any out-of-pocket expenses you incurr while implementing the correct program (assuming you can afford to do this in he first place!). However, at least ib the case I witnessed; there was no real restitution, no punitive judgement, and no way for that mom to claim back anything lost to her child in the intervening years, such as social skills etc. Sorry to be so negative, but that was the case there.
I think it's time to lawyer up.
Good luck to you.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Dear Jackie,
Welcome to NYC! I have heard story and after story exactly like yours, no kidding, here in NYC public school hell, and I suspect you will have to play nasty to get anywhere. Yes, lawyer. Yes, for sure you should consider going the private school route. It's late for this school year, and you have 3 kids to place, and this is the last year before elementary school, still, but there are openings that open up all the time, so start looking ASAP at private schools and keep calling often.
Once you get them into the world of private special needs schools, it is a world unto itself and you don't have to fight the system every other second to get what your kids need. You can just focus on your children. I recommend this route highly!!!
Of course, they will not get any inclusion and not really a FAPE, BUT they will get a good education and help with everything they need help with. So, that's the trade-off.
Here are some good pre-schools that take kids like yours as far as we know:
Central Park Early Learning Center (ABA)
Herbert G. Birch (ABA)
School for Language and Communication on Long Island (far, but can be bussed!)
Child Development Center on 57 Street (terrific!!! Malcolm went there.)
McCarton Center (not sure how young they take)
Go to vsid.com which will give you list of pre-approved private pre-schools in NYC area in all boroughs. There are more that are not funded, but in your situation, you could so get reimbursed for ANY private school as they are not providing appropriate placement.
Actually, simple answer in all this would be to get placements immediately in private school(s)and go to school district. Likely, they will simply agree and change placement on IEP rather than go through legal wranglings. Been there, done that.
Go talk to Steph at IEP Board here at iVillage about how to fight this. She is the expert at forcing school district to provide FAPE. I go often to read her posts just FYI.
Good luck.. Hope you have some good combat boots. Stay in touch and let us know more. If you want to email me directly, I'm at sara@speakeasy.org.
yours,
Sara
ilovemalcolm