Here is a copy of the letter I received from our district's superintendent after Colton was removed from the middle school.  I laughed and was angered at the same time.  I wanted to show what the school district's "stance" was in regards to our situation before sharing the rest of the story.  This letter was the pretty much the end of communications with the district.  The names of the school district and people involved are marked out to protect the "innocent."  Again, this is a copy of the actual letter I received from the superintendent.  I only blacked out names.

 

The letter was supposed to be in response to a letter I sent dated November 14th, 2012 asking for mileage reimbursement and a conversation which took place in the district office on the 19th after I had been threatened by the school principal to be turned over to the county attorney for truancy.  For the record, Colton had not missed enough days to be truant.  I contacted the Nebraska State Department of Education and they told me to contact our county attorney which I did.  The attorney who handles truancy cases did not bother to call me back.

 

There are many "incorrect" statements made throughout this letter.  It starts out with a mysterious follow-up call to him on November 19th.  I obtained copies of our phone records and there were no phone calls made to or coming from the school district office on that day, days before, or after that date.  Another statement made was Colton had problems with "two students" while riding the bus.  One punched Colton in the arm and the other "hit" Colton in the head with her pen several times. 

 

In the third paragraph it was stated Colton suffered in other ways while riding the bus, but the video on the bus nor the driver can not verify my belief.  My concerns were taken seriously.  It also states that the IEP Team ultimately concluded that a para would not be educationally appropriate for Colton.  The team wrote goals for him.  James and I are supposed to by federal law, be a part of that team.  We did not have ANY say!  Members of the IEP team got up and left the meeting before it was half way over!  It also states in this paragraph that while Colton works on issues, he would be transported in a SPED vehicle.  He would then be transitioned back to the school bus with enhanced adult supervision. (This meant that the bus driver would actually pay attention to what is happening behind him?)

 

We refused to allow Colton to ride in the district provided transportation, because it isolated him from other students. A child on the spectrum should be able to participate with other students in normal everyday activities, not be isolated.  The school district did not offer any other options but the one they proposed.  Colton would be in a school vehicle with a medically fragile student who at any time possibly would need to be rushed to the emergency room.  The student was also unable to communicate. We could not see how "the plan" would work.  How would he learn the skills needed for riding the bus when he would not be on the bus until the school felt he learned skills to communicate with the bus driver?  The bus driver failed to do his job which is why we asked for a para for Colton on the bus, yet we were supposed to eventually have him go back on the same bus with the same students and have the same driver not pay attention?  The school made no attempts to offer a different bus route.  I requested a different bus and they did not bother to act on it.

 

James and I transported Colton too and from school and requested mileage reimbursement.  As you can see we were denied. 

 

The last paragraph made me laugh.  "As I was finalizing this letter...", yeah right.  I am sure the copy of our letter to withdraw Colton the day before got his attention.  "Colton was making excellent educational progress..."  Colton's grades were starting to slip because of what was happening at school.  We watched A's and B's start slipping.  We watched him become withdrawn and depressed.  And that last touching piece at the end: "we will miss him at school."  I wonder if a tear was shed while he wrote this?  I doubt it.

 

This letter was the icing on the cake for my son's experience in public school.  We misunderstood, we chose to not do what the school wanted, Colton had issues...There is more to come.  My next entry will go back to December 2011.  This is the time I started documenting everything that happened to Colton.  After I am done it will paint a clear picture of what my child went through and what so many families go through dealing with the "system" that is supposed to "educate" our children.