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They're trying to make me crazy.
The school district, that is.
Everything revolves around budgeting.
No money here, no funding there...
What to do...what to do...
Let's mess with the schools!
The voted on proposal that passed, was to close 4 elementary schools (that's 1/3 of our elementary schools), make the remaining elementaries K-4, have 2 middle schools for grades 5-6, and 2 more for 7-8.
Does that make any sense?
Apparently to someone it does.
*sidenote - One of the schools that's closing, is the craptastic school that treated Jaysen horribly, so... Karma, biatches! *
Jaysen has been doing so well this year, comparatively. I mean so well.
He's staying in the Gen.Ed class almost all day, and tolerating it. He has friends. He's even in an after school tutoring program one day a week.
This is the first year he's actually going to school every day without a fight.
The new plan for our schools means:
Jaysen will only have one more year at The Awesome School. And it will be a transition year, so focus will be put on transitioning, not the things he's just started to work on this year, like increasing his workload tolerance and academics. Dammit- he really needs that extra year at this school.
So. One more year at The Awesome School.
Then he'll go to middle school for 5th and 6th grade.
After 6th grade, he'll go to a different middle school for 7th and 8th grade.
Then to high school for 9th-12th.
That's 3 transitions. And I'm talking transitions in only the physical location sense. I'm not even counting the internal transitions of "new school", "new teachers, peers, classwork, routines, etc".
This is going to be hell on a kid who doesn't transition well.
As soon he gets into a routine and settled, he's going to have to completely switch schools again.
Fuk.
I need to get my advocacy cape back on.
I know this sounds bizarre, but I'm not even sure what it is exactly that I'm preparing to advocate for!
Has anyone else run into anything like this?
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9 comments:
This decision by the school board has A LOT of people upset. But I can see where you would have an even Bigger problem with it. My older son simply said, "I don't have to go to school with my brother anymore? Cool!"
I love how the school board completely ignored the 1200 hours that the advisory committee put into its recommendations which DID not include the option they finally settled on. Makes you wonder if we parents have any say at all in what happens to our childrens education?
I hope that the transitions for Jaysen go better than expected...
Our elementaries are split; K-2 then 3-5, middle 6-8, high 9-12. So we get to leave our Awesome School after THIS year. yuck.
It just stinks that he went through such hell in the prior 2 schools, and had a lot of re-trusting to build up. This is the first year he actually trusts his teachers, peers, etc. It would've been nice to have one prospectivly good year, in its entirety. Lol.
Joeymom- how are you preparing for the transition?
Cs latest transition worked very well as his person centered plan was excellent - maybe cos i wrote it!!!
Really pleased to hear how well Jaysen is doing, hope it continues and he copes well with the changes ahead.
my school district is doing the exact same thing. i'm not sure how i feel about it. my daughter is beside herself because she wants to stay at the middle school she is at now. it doesn't look like that will be the case. 7 and 8 will go to the other middle school. i'm so sickened by what is going on in the school districts. the sad thing is, there is nowhere to move. all districts are lousy or will be lousy in the next year or so. aaarrgghh
The school karma thing is so true - the worst school Nigel ever went to (it was so bad that I pulled him out after four months) closed within two years of him being there. Anyway, that situation with Jaysen's district sounds ka-razy. They have got to come up with a better solution for their special needs students.
That sounds unbelievable, but there are districts around here that do the same thing. We recently moved and elected to move into a neighborhood with older houses that needed updating (in a major way) just so we could be assured of staying at the same elementary school. They switch people back and forth like popcorn here too unless you are in this particular neighborhood school.
I am sorry you are facing this. Glad to have found your blog...
I just found your blog-love it! Love your humor. Love your tenacity. That said, you are going to need it. In most school districts with teacher's unions, (you mentioned a union in your previous post) when a school closes the teachers are allowed by union contract and seniority to move to an open school of their choosing. This can "bump" current good teachers with less seniority. This is true even if the current teachers are better. Your special ed teachers may be safe but your general ed teachers are definitely at risk. Don't wait-start squawking now! Fight for what your child needs and deserves. Above all-do NOT underestimate the power of the unions. Remember your post where the parents of the "bad" school were told they had absolutely no say regarding your son's placement? You will have absolutely no say if these teacher's want to move into your 'good" school. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
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