How to handle this ?

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I actually have faith in my SD. It's not that they could never do anything wrong or make a mistake, but I honestly believe that they are invested in doing what's right.

But it's a short-lived comfort because it doesn't help anyone else, so in the grand scheme of things, it's of little comfort.

I like your idea of a tupperware party. I hope it is successful.

HisMom, my son is in a newly formed non-traditional high school, and some of the parents and I are starting a PTO. PTOs are less rigid than a PTAs. Could you start your own? Are there any teachers who you think would be interested? A main focus of our PTO is going to be building a sense of community and encouraging social interactions for the kids (they come from SDs across 2 counties). Also ways of supporting the school to go outside-of-the-box to meet the kids' needs. I really doubt the school could PREVENT you from doing something like that, and they would look like asshats in the media if they tried to prevent it. "School Tries to Squash Parental Involvement for Special Needs Kids."

HisMom wrote:
"Also, there was YET ANOTHER incident involving the student this afternoon which was reported to the Principal who looks thoroughly discomfited every time this child is mentioned. We'll see. Monday is but just a few hours away."

Does that mean another incident involving the student caused by the same adult?
Sorry if I am being dense--I am trying to fully understand.

It seems like there was a problem caused by the way a "responsible adult" treated the child, but the focus (from the prinicpal's perspective) is now on the child as the cause of the problem?

Our district does a PTO not a PTA, and it does include all the parents. I don't think they would occur to them to exclude SPED parents b/c believe me, they want all the help and support possible raising dollar-dollar bills b/c fundraising and providing teacher perks is their main focus.

PTAs have more rules, and money that flows to the National PTA, which is why our district does not do that. That said, I wonder if their by-laws even allow excluding SPED parents. I may not understand the rationale, and that is why it is ringing bells for me. It may be worth an email or call to the National PTA to ask what the rules actually are. If they are breaking them, you may have an in.

http://www.pta.org/about/Join.cfm?ItemN ... umber=3356

From their site:


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Edited to add this as well:

https://www.pta.org/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2100

(Note: Per the PTA website, a SEPTA is a SPED PTA that can group parents of SPED kids across the district.)

My child’s school has a PTA (or another parent organization). Do I need to form a SEPTA?
When a parent organization already exists in a school, parents of children with special needs may want to see if they can form a committee within that organization for families with special needs children. This encourages inclusion and helps keep the lines of communication open to all parent groups. Families can then be a part of all school activities, ensure the inclusion of their children and still have their own format for the special supports and opportunities that they may seek.

Hi ITT and ASD,

Thank you both for the heads-up on forming a PTO. I did not know that there is a difference between a PTA and a PTO, and we have been referring to the outfit as the PTA, not realizing that it may NOT be one.When we met in October to insist on the inclusion of the SDC families in the "PTA", the Principal made a big deal about what a great idea it was and then promptly failed to followup. One SDC Mom accepted responsibility to form a Facebook group for the SDC "PTA", then promptly disappeared from the face of the Earth ! !! UGH.

Anyway, while I would love to poke around and see what the by-laws are, and if the "PTA" is breaking any national charter rules by continuing to not include us (SDC families), we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. Our first order of business is getting the adult in question removed from the classroom but that absolutely entails contacting the parents and seeing what they have been told / what their plans are. Once this is taken care (adult fired), THEN we can go after the "PTA".

Yes.

Well the first thing is illegal under data protection laws. The second thing I don't think you can compel them to do it.

It is illegal for them to give you contact details, the parent have to consent to it. A breach of this can be a fine and sometimes a prison sentence.

It could be that the parents don't want be contacted at this point.

I think you should pursue this but not by pressuring contact with the parents, there are other thing you can do. You could make it public that you want to talk to them, then it is up to them.

They are probably quite shocked themselves.

Sometimes when legal proceeding have started, talk generally stops as not to prejudice the case. There are sound legal reason for this.

What did the adult do? Who witnessed it?

As long as the adult's behavior is just affecting the one child, I don't think there's much you can do about it. The moment the adult does something to any of the other kids, organize a boycott. If 5 kids are kept home from school for 2 days, with a written letter to the principal, superintendent, and school board that multiple parents in the class are keeping their kids home out of concern for their children's safety, the situation will get immediate attention.

Hello zette, nice to see you ! !!

If this individual can be abusive to one child, then the odds are that the person is also being abusive to the others. This is a class full of children who have severe language impairments and a near-complete inability to report their experiences to their families or caregivers, so we may never really know how many other children are being affected by this person's treatment of them. Over the years, according to other parents who have been with this programme for a while, *several* complaints have supposedly emerged about this particular classroom, but very little was done to evict the adult in question or make changes. However, now that there are eye-witnesses to the abuse of one child, that changes everything. I like your idea of a "boycott" and will share this with the other SDC parents. Time this person was removed from this situation - enough is enough.