August 21, 2007

• UPDATE:

  Thank you for asking - yes, the Minnow made it home.

  

  The Michael Report

  Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak again with Mr. O'Toole.  I'll tell you, every time I talk to this guy I like him better.  He told me that he'd spoken again with all the teachers on Michael's team and essentially they have agreed that whether he is officially in Special Ed or not, they are all going to act as though he is and they are going to make sure he gets all the services they can provide. 

  Because it's important to me (and Michael) that as much as possible he is in "regular" classes, the only "Special" class he needs or that we would ask for is language arts.  We're still hoping to have him switched into that class as soon as possible.  In the meantime, his Language teacher is giving him extra time, extra help, and basically as much as possible he IS getting Special Ed. 

  Also, the team of teachers told me through Mr. O'Toole that they are astonished at the ... well, the phrase they used was "criminal stupidity" of the person in Colorado Springs who disqulified Michael from services.  And they offered that just in case I wanted to hire an attorney that they would provide me with whatever documentation I needed to make my case against that district. 

  It's good to hear from people who are in a position to know that we were right all along.  It's especially good to know that we are in a place that gets it.  They aren't offering special ed because it's a Federal mandate and that they might lose funding if they fail to comply, these people are doing it because they are good teachers, dedicated to their students, and determined to do what is in the kids' best interest.

  Which brings me to whether I will hire an attorney to deal with Colorado Springs.  Right now, I have no plans to do that.  I have limited resources, obviously limited financially and more importantly limited in terms of how much I can reasonably expect of myself.  (Some of my very good friends have suggested that what I expect already is a little outside the realm of reasonable, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.)  The question is what do I gotta do as far as Colorado Springs is concerned.

  I think it would be the healthiest thing for me psychologically and for my kids in terms of the fact that they need 100% of their Mom NOW, to let it go.  I get that there is a slight chance that a lawsuit could result in a monetary settlement and that it would be really helpful for Michael to have a little bit of a cushion because of the massive challenges that lie ahead of him.  But I'm not convinced that the cost to our family would be worth it.  People don't usually get large settlements from school districts. 

  The more likely result would be that the woman who did this would lose her job, or at least be required to take classes in issues related to autism.  A probable result would be that the district could lose some or all of it's special education funding and that would harm a great many other kids. 

  So although there's a slim chance that I MIGHT still go that route, it's a very slim chance.  It would almost require an attorney willing to work on contingency basis, a proveable misstep on the part of the person in Colorado Springs in terms of her admitting that she discriminated against Michael, and some sign from God that He would give me the time, strength, and bull-dogged patience to see it through.  One thing I won't do is start a fight that I can't see through to the very furthest end.  I believe that when you get into a fight, you follow the Machiavellian dictum to destroy your opponent, or why fight? 

  Keeps me out of a lot of fights because I'm not much of a destroyer.

  So that's where we are. 

   

  • 10:41 pm
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