So, if I were told I could not communicate with the teachers, I'd send back an email taking something positive, anything, to show I received the email, but ignoring the part about communication. Or if it's really bad, I ignore the whole email.
Then if called on it later, I would say I didn't understand and proceed to get the person to explain exactly what they meant. Like suppose my child brought home another child's coat, do I need to tell the principal? How about a doctor's appointment early dismissal, run that through the principal? Sending in something for the school party? Is it OK for the teacher to tell me about my DS? Just for clarification so I know how to follow the wishes. It forces the person to think about what they are asking me to do, and it forces more objective (less emotional) communication between the two of us, and leads to a clearer understanding.
This. I've actually DONE this, when I had an administrator tell not only
us-- but also my child's TEACHER-- that we were to have no further contact that didn't go through him.
My solution was to politely document/document/document and to AVALANCHE him. Oh, and to insist that we use proper honorifics. You know, since he wanted to be all proper and polite and all. (No, it was mostly because it really,
really galled him to have to refer to me as "Dr. Howler," and at that point, I simply wanted to annoy him to death and get him to want me to be someone-- ANYONE-- else's problem.)
That administrator was gone the following year, but it was a HELLISH year for my child in the meantime.
Another thought--
in writing, as in, maybe even via certified mail so that you have a CLEAR documentary trail and time stamp--
ask whether or not this "waiver" you've been asked to sign is an indication that they no longer plan to honor requests for a COMPLETE EVALUATION, not limited in scope.That's the phrase that pays here. (Maybe your IDEA colleague has already told you that, not sure).
I'd also start chewing my way up the food chain by CC:ing my communications-- ALL of them, as noted above-- to this person's
boss.
