The school hates me
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| Fri, 02-03-2006 - 10:20am |
We are having troubles again with Kyle's teachers. We just had an IEP meeting the end of December. Kyle is supposed to have a break card system for when he's overwhelmed. Its purpose is to prevent meltdowns. Well they decided it would be better at first to have scheduled breaks. Fine but I feel Kyle should still be able to request a break at other times if he needs to. Its not written on the IEP that way though. So I sent his teachers an email about it which they never responded to. After 6 days I printed off the email and sent it to school with Kyle.
I also thought at the last IEP we all agreed it would be best for Kyle to only do spelling every other wk so his special ed teacher would have more time to work with him on writing/language. Well this also didn't get written on the IEP. My oversight. So after waiting for her to implement the change I thought was agreed on I email her and asked if I'd misunderstood. She didn't respond so I again printed off the email and sent it to her. She did email me back saying She doesn't have time to respond to emails because she's too busy teaching her 11 students. She said Kyle's language instruction is directed by her and implemented by his aide and if I want she'll change spelling to every other wk. (ugh, I don't want to tell her what to do. I though we all agreed that's what Kyle needed! I'm so sick of the atttitudes)
So now we felt the need to call and IEP meeting to straighten this out since the teachers won't communicate with me. The principal is acting like its my fault because I used email. He wants me to call so there is no record of the communication.
Last yr we had a great relationship with everyone at the school, well with the exception of the PE teacher. This yr they've decided we are the enemy.
Samantha

Keep doing what you are doing and using email. Or even better, send it in through the office in writing, keep a copy for yourself and have the office secretary sign and date your copy or something sort of record that she recieved it and put it in thier box on that day. If you do decide to go to phone calls, keep a phone log. A record of each time you call, date, notes, etc. Then you do have record. I would bet they are as bad about returning calls as they are about returning emails.
It is always best to have a good working relationship with a school but you also need to keep a paper trail and look at it as a business relationship particularly when things aren't going well. We don't have to be loved. We don't have to be thier buddies. It is really nice when we are all on the same page and working together for the same goal and getting along but if that isn't happening then holding them responsible to thier job is.
She doesn't have time to email you because she has 11 students is complete BS. First of all, that is barely any students AT ALL! And second, I am SURE she has breaks throughout the day that she can take time to respond to emails. Even if it is after school or on her planning period, it is 11 kids. How many parent emails can she get in a day? Even Cait's mainstream science teacher who probably has more than 100 kids in all his classes wants parents to email him if there are any problems and he always responds right away. He is busy teaching too.
I would totally call an IEP meeting and take all that info with you. I would try to keep a positive working relationship with them but don't be afraid to call them on what they have screwed up on. Tell them if emails are a problem perhaps you should schedule monthly IEP meetings to go over any concerns.
Renee
"Tell them if emails are a problem perhaps you should schedule monthly IEP meetings to go over any concerns"
Oh, they are supposed to be having monthly team meetings. They conveniently forgot to invite us. I called the principal on that yesterday!
Samantha
I have found that some teachers prefer e-mail (and respond more quickly to it) and others tend to not use technology much and prefer written notes, responding more quickly to those. You might as well use whichever method will get you a timely response. I would ask if written notes are better. I think phonecalls would be a waste of time. They certainly aren't going to interrupt the teacher during classtime and she might be hard to catch before or after school.
If the teacher likes written notes you send in with your child, I would buy a memo book at an office supply store, the kind where you rip off a copy to send in and are left with a copy to retain for your records. Good luck.
Chrissy
Good idea, BUT I find that most of the time my ASD children don't remember to give the teacher any notes. Not even my middle school one and teachers, particularly teachers of older kids aren't going to look for one unless you have informed them it is there. And then only the good teachers do that. Ones that are too busy to reply to emails are too busy to go through backpacks.
The only way it works is if you have a daily communication book with the teacher that they check daily. My son has one and a fabulous teacher who checks it daily as well as emails and phone calls.
That aside, if you are going to do written notes I would recomend leaving it with the secretary to go into thier box. I like the memo pad idea that keeps you a copy. You can have the secretary initial and date your copy when she recieves it and puts it in the box.
Renee
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. You all are great :)
The reason I chose email as the best form of communication was because, like Renee said, Kyle won't remember to give the teacher the letter most times. He has a communication note book already but they also don't reply to that or use it except his aide. And I have to take it out and make copies to have a record. And the teachers have responded to other emails I've sent the same day about stuff not related to Kyle's IEP or educational issues such as I'm going on vacation or Kyle has an appointment. So its not a matter of them not getting the email or not having time to respond. If I have a question or concern about what they are doing or what's going on with Kyle they just don't want to hear it or deal with it.
I think I'll ask at the IEP meeting what form of communicatio they'd like, email or letter. I'll let them know I expect a response. I may even point out that if they don't they are out of compliance with the IEP which states under accomidations "ongoing home-school communication". Maybe I should have them re-write that part of the IEP so its states a definate time line of when they have to respond to my communication. I haven't decided if I'll deliver the letters to the office or just mail them return receipt if they want that route.
Samantha