(snip) do we avoid potential escalation during the meeting itself, and instead just firmly express our dissatisfaction at the time, and then later, maybe after thinking it over, then go ahead and make our complaints/appeals, and/or make plans to leave the school?
Thoughts?
Okay-- if they say something
unexpected (distinct possibility, right, since they've left you in the dark)--
be noncommittal.
"Hmm. That's interesting. We will need to consider this. Can we follow up in a week?"DO NOT commit to anything if they surprise you, and my recommendation is that as far as possible, you should attempt to not even RESPOND to it one way or the other. At the time, I mean.
I
always vote for passive resistance and inertia w/r/t escalation-- because it's SO hard to deescalate later. At this point, you don't even know for sure who is invited to this meeting-- whether it involves corporate/national or just local administrators.
Remember, virtual school means that you
can just flat out ignore it for a week or two if they seriously tick you off, or radically alter placement against your wishes. Your child's environment ONLY changes in a pragmatic sense IF you agree to it. So you don't have to TELL them anything at all-- you can be enrolling somewhere else effective immediately-- or homeschool-- and not tell them for a few weeks.
So you don't have a lot at stake, realistically. You can afford to be patient and play the long-range game, because you have control of your child's educational setting from day to day.
Remember that.
