Formal Complaint to School

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I've finally got round to making a formal complaint to the school regarding the idiot Special Ed teacher. My 9 year old and 7 year old sons are at school and have Asperger's.

Here's a copy of the e-mail: warning .... it's very long

Dear Mrs Principal

I wish to make a formal complaint to you regarding Mrs Special Ed Teacher . I have been planning on making a formal complaint for some time, but have been too busy dealing with my sons. Also, I haven't know who to complain to, or how to go about it.

Mrs Special Ed Teacher has failed to:
assess the needs of my sons
plan an appropriate programme for my sons
implement a programme for my sons
take note of my concerns
I have provided a copy of an e-mail I sent on 19th February, 2008 and sent you an e-mail on 10th March.

I will provide you with some additional information.

During week 1 of the school term I had an informal meeting with Mrs Special Ed Teacher to discuss my sons. She took lots of notes. She also told me how incredibly busy she was with 14 students to look after.

During week 1 or 2 I met with Mrs Vice Principal and Mrs Special Ed Teacher for a meeting to discuss my sons. This included their major difficulties and areas I believed they needed support with. Mrs Special Ed Teacher seemed very focused on academic performance, rather than emotion management and social skills. Again Mrs Special Ed Teacher told me how incredibly busy she is with 14 students to look after.

Mrs Special Ed Teacher did not meet the boys in the early weeks of school. By the end of week 4 I was very concerned because she had not met them. The boys were struggling (as outlined in my e-mail dated 19th February, 2008)

Early in week 5 I informally met with Mrs Special Ed Teacher and asked her when she would start seeing the boys. She told me she had been running a full programme for at least 1 week. I asked her why she hadn't met the boys yet. She told me she had scheduled them in for 1 session per week (it was only one 30 - 60 minute session per week). I was unhappy that the boys were scheduled in for so little support, considering all that had been discussed at previous meetings. Again, Mrs Special Ed Teacher told me about her huge workload of 14 students to look after.

During this informal meeting with Mrs Special Ed Teacher I asked her for her e-mail address. Mrs Special Ed Teacher told me there wasn't much point in giving me her e-mail address because she is so busy and rarely checks her e-mails. She did reluctantly give me her e-mail address.

I'm not sure of the exact date, but it was either 19th or 20th February, 9 year old son came home and told me he had met Mrs Special Ed Teacher . He then proceeded to a full-scale meltdown. It took me a few hours to get information out of him. Mrs Special Ed Teacher had a copy of the e-mail I had sent. She told 9 year old osn that his mother had sent an e-mail and discussed the increased frequency of his crying with him. 9 year old son denied he was crying frequently (he is very private and this is the first time he had met Mrs Special Ed Teacher ) but Mrs Special Ed Teacher told him he did in fact cry frequently because his mother had said so in the e-mail. She then discussed with 9 year old son what activities he had done in SEC in 2007. Jimmy told her about the cooking classes, drama classes, board games and computer activities. Mrs Special Ed Teacher told him that he hadn't done 'work' in SEC in 2007, and he would have to do 'work' with her in SEC this year.

9 year old son told me he did not want to go to SEC because he disliked Mrs Special Ed Teacher . I asked him to give her another chance, maybe they'd get on better in future sessions, but this resulted in a huge meltdown. He refused to have anything to do with her. I told him I would sort it out.

I phoned Mrs Vice Principal and told her about what had happened during 9 year old son's meeting with Mrs Special Ed Teacher . Mrs Vice Principal said she would transfer Jimmy to a new Special Ed teacher who would start part-time work in Term 2.

I sent the e-mail on 19th February, 2008 outlining my concerned. On 20th February I had a meeting with Mrs Special Ed Teacher and 7 year old son's classroom teacher. After this meeting Mrs Special Ed Teacher asked to talk to me. She told me she was an extremely experienced Special Education Teacher with 30 years in this area. She told me my boys did not need the support they had last year. According to Mrs Special Ed Teacher the boys were doing well and she knew this because the classroom teachers had said the boys had settled in well. Mrs Special Ed Teacher failed to listen to my concerns.

Mrs Special Ed Teacher told me that many of 9 year old son's needs were being met in the classroom. For example, he did not need any further input from her the area of social skills because there were drama activities in the classroom. She stated 9 year old son did not need assistance with emotion management because of the 'You Can Do It' programme. While classroom drama activities and YCDI are excellent, they do not address the specific needs of a child with Asperger's.

Mrs Special Ed Teacher attended a German class with 9 year old son's class one week - this was the only input he got that week. I am not sure how this was supposed to assist 9 year old son's emotional management or social skills.

As you know, we met last week and managed to come up with Project Time for 9 year old son.

We've had further problems this week. 9 year old son is experiencing some issues with bullying on the bus. He is becoming more angry at home and has become quite violent towards his 4 year old brother. His 4 year old brother has a fat lip from 5 days ago. Every day 9 year old son has been violent: slamming his 4 year old brother into a cupboard door, punching him, or grabbing him by his throat. I cannot remember this level of violence from 9 year old son before.

7 year old son has been melting down daily in the last week. He has been begging to go to his Nanna' house for respite. I am concerned that this has happened so early in the school year.

Last year, when issues arose I contacted Tony Guthrie (2007 special ed teacher). He would immediately provide extra support to the boys as required. Tony Guthrie and I exchanged regular e-mails and had frequent informal meetings. I trusted Tony Guthrie's judgement and knew he was doing everything possible to support my sons.

Both my sons have Asperger's - I expect there will always be meltdowns and challenges. However, if they were getting adequate support from SEC at school, I believe their behaviour would not be as extreme as it is now.

Would you please advise me on what action you plan to take?

Cool. You've covered a lot and have dates and e-mails.

Don't give up. Focus on the needs of your kids.

Ok. Maybe I have a calculation problem going on here. 14 kids...16 if we include your two. Five days of school a week...maybe 6 hours a day...30 hours or so. Wow. That could break down to two hours per kid per week.

Maybe it's not that simple. I know some kids need a lot more than others do. And I am sure the paperwork she has to deal with is ridiculous.

You will work your way through this!

Great email! I hope it works. Is your principal reasonable to work with?

hope it works.....let us know when you hear something

I am sorry to read all the frustrations you have had to go through. It is a very good letter, and a sad read. It sounds like this teacher is totally focused on acedemics, without understanding how so many things interact with our children. Sure, they seem to do well acedemically, they are smart. But they also run a real danger of getting so frustrated they start retreating inside themselves and tuning it all out.

I believe our special education teacher deals with more than 14 children. Someone good at their job would handle it without any issues. 30 years experience or not, she is not the right support person for your unique children.

[sarcasm]
Dear Mrs Angry Mom,
Thank you for your feedback on our wonderful special education programme. We delight in hearing from our parents, as they are a vital part of our team. Our mission is to promise wonderful things.
About your concerns with Mrs. Special Ed Teacher, we assure you she has 30 years experience and is an expert in dealing with children. Unfortunately, there must have been some miscommunication along the way and she didn't realize your children were a priority for her. You see, not only does she have 14 very challenging students that are not Asperger's Syndrome, but she also commutes on a weekly basis to the States where she has 8 autistic students as well. Sometimes she forgets where she is and isn't that hysterical?
Mrs. Special Ed Teacher has conducted several thorough assessments of your children and sees that they are very bright and good mannered at school. Perhaps, you let them stay up too late or play video games? We know video games and tv are bad and violent. We noticed 9 year old had a biscuit in his lunch box the other day, may be if you fed him nuts and rice he wouldn't be in such a bad mood when he gets home.
We realize that a large family is hard to manage. We have a wonderful after school programme that isn't very expensive. Please remember to keep in touch and let us know how you're getting on.
Cheers,
Mrs Principal

[/sarcasm]

btw, the home references are indeed things that have been brought up to me as possible causes of my son's trouble at school. My parenting skills have been questioned or assumed. I've been accused of feeding my son poorly by strangers. I love it when my child qualifies for an IEP and accomodations but I get to hear how other kids are more challenging or needy or there's too many. Somehow, my son isn't part of that group that needs.

Smelena, good letter.

KimJ, funny!

Kim J I loved your letter!


Smelena's mother- that is me- was a support teacher for many years so she has had first hand experience on how the system works. I remember one day picking her up from an empty school hours after our agreed time. I had been so caught in the job that I had forgotten all else. What I will never forget is a lonely little girl waiting.

great letter Helen, keep me updated on what happens, I am very curious to know. I read about your situation originally when you posted but I have been out for two weeks sick. It sounds to me that Mrs. Special Ed doesn't know very much about AS!! ! Reminds me of the substitute teacher my son had a couple of weeks ago where he had a meltdown in class because she didn't stick to his schedule so she left him in the classroom and took the rest of the class in the hallway until he stopped crying! I was livid when I found out and when I confronted her about it she told me he was just fine and would grow out of his AS. Some of these "teachers" may be experienced but some of them are very ignorant of AS and everything that it entails! I like it that you kept up with all the dates and the emails. You're a good mom! I hope you get it all worked out, you some really wonderful boys!

I hope you get a quick response from the school Smelena. I like how you ended the email with a question - I'll store that away for future use. Please keep us updated. Well done for being such a wonderful advocate for your boys. I am just now getting the courage to be onto issues as soon as they crop up.

KimJ, . That made me laugh!

Cheers,
Temma

[quote="KimJ"][sarcasm]
Dear Mrs Angry Mom,
Thank you for your feedback on our wonderful special education programme. We delight in hearing from our parents, as they are a vital part of our team. Our mission is to promise wonderful things.




Your whole letter made me laugh!

It just gets worse. There was a major stuff up with my 7 year old son today. I have done everything I possibly can to get the message across to the teacher. Here's the e-mail I sent:

Dear Mrs Teacher,

Today 7 year old son was supposed to go to after school care. He told me he was confused about where to go this afternoon so he asked you. You advised him it was bus day.

7 year old son got the bus home (his brother went to after school care as per their usual Tuesday schedule).

I got a phone call from after school care at 3:30 saying 7 year old son had not arrived. I was at work so phoned my neighbour to go check at the bus stop. No other parents had picked up their children at the bus stop that day. Daniel had got off the bus and was stressed that no-one was there.

When my neighbour found him, he was walking in the middle of the road up a hill. It is a curved road and traffic comes flying down the hill. My neighbour said 7 year old son was upset. 7 year old son told my neighbour he was going to go to one of the houses and tell the people there to drive him home. We don't know the people in this house.

Below is a copy of an e-mail of his timetable I sent on 6th March. Please ensure you print it out and keep it handy.

Helen

P.S. Thank goodness I've been communicating via e-mail and keeping copies of these e-mails
P.P.S. It's official - I'm cranky!

OMG!! !! !

Does he have a schedule at school??? As to what to do on what day?? Poor kid, how traumatic that must have been.

Oh, wow, that would have completely terrified me.

Thank God my children do not HAVE bus days.

Getting everyone to the right place when it changes daily is really difficult. I remind my children every morning what is up for the day, and I've been known to call the teachers when I forget to, so that they will, lol. I worry THAT much about it.

this is an issue for the bus company.......yes, it's true the teacher shouldn't have had him go on the bus. what is most alarming, though, is that he was let off the bus without an adult there. the bus company needs a phone call and needs to understand the serious implications this could have had for their company. the driver needs to be reprimanded.