I have. For many years. Also-- if you like what I've written, you'll LOVE Bettina at
The Lunch Tray. She covers a lot of the same ground.
In fact, her
Manifesto is a thing of profound beauty.
Mostly, I've spent those years helping other
parents to get what they (and their kids) need out of schools, using resources that most parents have the ability to muster.
It is true that things have come a long way since my DD was a four year old that a teacher told me to NEVER put into a classroom in our city. Our district had not one school nurse, our state had no laws permitting my child to keep epinephrine unlocked and near her in a classroom, and the district served her allergens at every meal, in every school in the district. At least she could carry epinephrine now-- but it's clear why only half of that assertion about never placing her into a Kindy classroom was about being gifted.
I'm proud that reporting a food allergy
now means that our
virtual school (nationally)
will evaluate a student under Section 504. That in and of itself is huge-- because until my DD, they didn't see
why that was necessary. I have helped them to hammer out and craft a national protocol-- and slowly but surely built in the mechanisms to fulfill elements of those 504 plans. We did that. DD's high ability made them
want to do it so that they could use her as a PR show-pony. We did allow that arrangement, until DD objected.
Even in a virtual school, that 504 plan is all that stands between her and a second-class educational experience (and-- as noted in the Dear Teacher thread, sometimes not even then).
Just this year, during a teacher contact day, the ONE event local to us was specifically labeled "This trip unsuitable for nut-allergic students."
Seriously. So it isn't that there is perfect inclusion even here. There has been significant erosion over the past two years since I quit being rather pushy during annual 504 meetings. {sigh}
I've spent my time helping other parents navigate the system (or decide when to walk away)... and I've made what changes I could
where I could. It's a journey. What has made a difference, I think, is that I don't
fear attorneys. I know that the law is
generally on the side of kids with food allergies (well, it is when the impairment is so clear, and when your specialist is a high roller and agrees with you, anyway). So the school's attorneys are actually on MY team.
I should also point out that I know (somewhat) the parent in the case posted. I help to run a support group for parents, and a depressing number of them are like them. I say depressing because the amount of energy that has gone into things is positively Herculean, and there are still places where schools are so malevolent and backwards about kids' safety. It's depressing in much the same way that fighting for HG+ children to get appropriate education is depressing.
It feels like no progress is ever really made for long.
I have incredible respect for the parents who have the intestinal fortitude to go through with due process rather than just "walking away" (homeschooling). School districts have, for far too long, been able to BULLY or intimidate families like mine, since they all know that they ultimately hold the trump card of safety. Most parents ultimately do what we did-- they fold and homeschool, no matter what that winds up costing them.
I'm awed-- and humbled-- by the will, unselfishness, and dedication of parents like those in the link posted at the start of this thread.
