Just to clarify - this is full on blindsiding. No advance notice that led us to come to meetings unprepared.
Another concern that I have with so many families here saying they left the schools when they encounter these situations is that may very well be the intent behind some of this. I had been warned about our horrible principal's history of making life miserable for anyone she considered "a problem". I was told numerous stories about students, teachers and staff who left after she seemed to target them. I fully believe that was her intent with DD, especially since we had been on the fence between enrolling her in public with an IEP or at a wonderful local private. I am convinced that she believed if she made DD (and us) miserable enough we would remove her and she would become someone else's problem.
She did not count on DD's needs being so extreme that the private had to be removed from consideration. She didn't count on us getting very serious about educating ourselves about DD's rights and insisting that the district meet their responsibilities. She didn't count on our willingness to spend money and go up the food chain to get the state dept of ed, the superintendent and attorneys involved.
Ironically she got DD out of her school, at great expense to the district, but simultaneously was removed as principal herself. Both parts of this outcome are much more rare than parents throwing in the towel and moving to a new district, placing their kids in privates or deciding to home school. Because of DD's situation none of these options were available to us or we would have indeed removed her.
Just some food for thought about *why* some of these hostile situations may occur with our kids whose needs can be so difficult to meet.
