Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional how patient am I supposed to be?

Now DS principal has ignored two emails from me (he is working--summer school). In the last one I asked him to meet with me to discuss abusive/retaliatory behavior and referenced ADA and 504 and wanting to make sure things are "better for everyone" next year. It's been a REALLY long time since he promised to look into it (upon first request) and a fairly long time since I emailed again asking about appealing the grade.

NP has ignored two emails and a phone message, asking her when this "interview about developmental questions" is going to happen (fwiw, she told me she would have report to me by May 19--I'm not being pushy--and I've paid her big bucks out of pocket).

I called district office today and requested DS full educational record, including grades, test scores, disciplinary action, etc.

Are there any rules about how the district has to respond to me? All emails from the last two weeks of school were unanswered--school's out for two weeks now.

Can they do this? Because the situation is so dicey (with all the nepotism and my relationship with the district gifted program), it all makes me really uneasy. Seriously--I'm considering an attorney consult. There is a special ed attorney who has many mutual friends with me and does initial consult for free.

I'm kind of (really) tired of this...waiting. I've done every single thing I can think to do. If it had just been the "DS nearly tanked out of 6th grade" issue (he didn't) then I could probably relax but that horribly ugly, damaging teacher has kind of put the fear of God in me and I'm feeling like protecting DS at whatever cost from future disasters.

Before the attorney, I would:

--try to get the principal on the phone (some people just don't do email well), noting time and date of the phone call attempt in your communication log (you have one, yes? if not, start documenting everything in writing, in ink, with dates)

--if that doesn't work, send a paper letter that outlines the needs and asks him to respond by such-and-such a date. Copy the person in charge of special ed in the district and/or the superintendent, and put the CC line at the bottom of the letter so the principal knows they've been copied.

--then, yes, outside help. Do realize that once YOU have an attorney THEY will start bringing one to meetings, too, and it can become more confrontational on the whole. You may want to go to an educational advocate instead as first line of defense.

Sorry about the NP. Hang in there and persist. I think it will be worth the trouble in the end.

I agree with the steps DeeDee stated above. Try to phone, send a paper letter before you seek outside help.

If it's not too much hassle it may also be worth it to send the paper letter via 2-3 day mail (in a one of those big cardboard envelopes).

This is the mail equivalent of the restroom key chained to a giant log - it makes the letter harder to ignore or misplace (as a bonus you can get delivery confirmation - which is a great entree to a phone call - "my letter was delivered on XYZ date ...".).

Yes. It feels like overkill-- but it gets everyone's attention.

The perception (and it's just a perception) I get from reading advocacy stories is that some schools will try to "run out the clock" on parents who are advocating for anything different from the one size fits all "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger" model of education.

Does it make sense that every time from now you you have direct communication to (politely) conclude the discussion with a specific list of "next steps" each with a corresponding date?

You want to use certified mail, return receipt requested.

Then you get the little green card with a signature or a signature stamp.

What Jon said

And then do you staple the little green card to a photocopy of the letter that was sent (in case you ever do need to get an attorney involved?)

If you don't want to go the mail route, you could also take the letter into the office and have the secretary date stamp it as received, then ask her/him to give you a photocopy with the date stamp on it. This gets people's attention as well.