Not a good sign

[beachbum22]

Seriously, I am so angry on your behalf. The incompetence is astounding, really.


And hugs for having to deal with the poopocalypse.

[pipsqueak]

And it's the third consecutive day that Pip's bus has been delayed. Pickup is again between 845 and 930.

[pipsqueak]

It is now 1010 and the bus has not showed up nor have we received further communication from transportation.

[pipsqueak]

So the bus finally arrived at 1015. I decided not to send him because he would have arrived at school at about 1045 and be at school for at most 1 hour before getting back on the bus to come home.

[freezorburn]

Ok, this is just beyond what you should reasonably have to deal with. They've had months to fix whatever issues are preventing them from picking Pip up on time. Who does the transportation director answer to? Time to go above their heads. Are other special ed families experiencing similar issues with transportation? Maybe you'll find some allies.

[pipsqueak]

Mar 2, 2018 0:10:08 GMT -5 freezorburn said:

Ok, this is just beyond what you should reasonably have to deal with. They've had months to fix whatever issues are preventing them from picking Pip up on time. Who does the transportation director answer to? Time to go above their heads. Are other special ed families experiencing similar issues with transportation? Maybe you'll find some allies.

Transportation director reports to the Chief Operations Officer. I am writing up a formal complaint letter and sending it to the COO, the superintendent, school board representative, and state department of education.

I requested the transportation plan be changed to reimbursed parent provided in an email to the transportation director on Wednesday (day 2) and he responded back that I will need to contact a different person in the district administration and he gave me the name and phone number for this other person because heaven forbid the TD contacts said person and says we need to change this because we F'd up.

I also found out today that the school Pip is scheduled to attend this summer and fall also has an ECSE preschool class - contrary to what I was told shortly before Pip's 3rd birthday. So now I'm debating do I go for reimbursed transportation or a change of placement to the neighborhood school or do I say F the school district altogether and withdraw him. I'm planning to stop by the neighborhood school for more information after I drop Pip off at school. (Waiting to see if they actually dispatch the bus on time tomorrow)

[pipsqueak]

FTR, bus IS delayed again today.

[pipsqueak]

Just because this situation "couldn't" get any worse.....

I spoke with Pip's teacher briefly this morning when I dropped him off. The way she spoke to Pip sounded like the only student in class other than Pip was another boy who lives close by and his mother drops him off. None of the ESCE students who ride buses were there by the sounds of it.

She also mentioned that this fvckery is impacting the afternoon class dismissal routes because yesterday the buses didn't arrive to pick up students after school until 445 - when dismissal is about 4-405.

I'm speechless. I'm flabbergasted. I don't know what I am.

[freezorburn]

Sounds like a systemic problem. Time to make a big stink. Get in touch with your elected officials. And if anyone is up for re-election, anyone who is running against them.

Also, local news. See if you can find a reporter who covers education and/or civil rights.

[pipsqueak]

Well we have officially terminated our relationship with the morning driver. We are set for reimbursed parent provided drop off transportation and bus return.

Unfortunately moving Pip to the neighborhood school was not a valid option so he will remain at his current school until May.

After I get Pip down for the night I will finish writing up the formal written complaint and have dh review before sending off this weekend.

Pip's teacher forwarded the email I had sent her yesterday with my comment about wanting to change transportation plan to reimbursed parent provided. It was forwarded to a "school support" person. I got a call from this person this morning. We talked about options and put the options in order of my preference and then SHE went and called the people that needed to be called to find out which of the options were valid and then got my highest preferred valid option put into place for us. Big relief from the feeling of having to track down everyone I would need to talk to for information regarding options on my own.

I'm not 100% happy with the solution tonight but that may come with a good night's sleep or at least be close enough to 100% as is realistic.

[pipsqueak]

Letter has been sent to the superintendent and the COO.

Next on the agenda is addressing the envelopes for mailing the letters to the school board representative and the state department of education.

[pipsqueak]

Letters to the school board representative and the state were mailed earlier this week and so far the only response to the emails was confirmation of receipt from the COO.

Add in the comments from the SLP at parent teacher conferences on Tuesday evening and I have about decided to homeschool Pip with or without dh's agreement.

[freezorburn]

I’m sorry to hear you’ve reached this level of frustration.

What happened with the SLP?

[pipsqueak]

The SLP tried telling us that Pip would be potty trained if we had used disposables, if we put underwear on under his diaper so he could get the feedback of the wet cotton (we use some pockets but also flats/prefolds wrapped/pad folded in covers) but somehow the cotton underwear would give better wet feedback than a wrapped cotton flat, and that we need to just put Pip in underwear because he associates diapers with going in his pants. It was like she doesn't think low tone in the core has any impact and that he's not potty trained because we don't want him to be.

Then both the SLP and the teacher we're trying to tell us why we shouldn't be considering homeschooling him - because he needs to learn to stand in line with his peers, and he needs to be around other kids to learn how to talk, etc.

[pipsqueak]

Received an email from the COO this evening. Basically everything I said in the letter was confirmed by staff members and she apologized for the inconvenience and frustration of our experience. No indication of any real solutions being pursued at this point.

Found out this week that due to the beginning of construction at the school Pip currently attends that parking/drop off will be harder than previously experienced so I'm expecting problems to arise with that next.

[freezorburn]

Mar 8, 2018 18:29:26 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

The SLP tried telling us that Pip would be potty trained if we had used disposables, if we put underwear on under his diaper so he could get the feedback of the wet cotton (we use some pockets but also flats/prefolds wrapped/pad folded in covers) but somehow the cotton underwear would give better wet feedback than a wrapped cotton flat, and that we need to just put Pip in underwear because he associates diapers with going in his pants. It was like she doesn't think low tone in the core has any impact and that he's not potty trained because we don't want him to be.

Then both the SLP and the teacher we're trying to tell us why we shouldn't be considering homeschooling him - because he needs to learn to stand in line with his peers, and he needs to be around other kids to learn how to talk, etc.

The diaper vs. underwear stuff is nonsense. I'm not going to even.

And um... I think the SLP and teacher need to be making a case FOR keeping Pip in school, vs. making a case against homeschooling. 

[freezorburn]

Mar 8, 2018 22:15:38 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

Received an email from the COO this evening. Basically everything I said in the letter was confirmed by staff members and she apologized for the inconvenience and frustration of our experience. No indication of any real solutions being pursued at this point.

Found out this week that due to the beginning of construction at the school Pip currently attends that parking/drop off will be harder than previously experienced so I'm expecting problems to arise with that next.

[pipsqueak]

Yep, Charlie Brown says it best - even without a word.

[freezorburn]

Been a while ... how is it going?

[pipsqueak]

Fortunately, the construction drop off change just resulted in returning to how things were two years ago so that has gone smoother than I hoped.

I still haven't received a final copy of the IEP from 2/14/18 and the kindergarten IEP is scheduled for 4/12/18. I decided that I am taking homeschooling (parenting decision) and potty training (I'm considering it a medical issue for now) off the table and not open for discussion at the 4/12/18 IEP meeting based on the parent teacher conference.

The 4/12/18 meeting was scheduled for noon but the PT couldn't make it so then it got scheduled for 230 and someone else couldn't make it. I told Pip's teacher we have the entire day blocked off, figure out when they can meet and just let me know the time to show up.

We're at <45 days and counting down.