Comments on: Educating Joseph

By: stephanie

stephanie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:14:43 +0000

VW do I know you? You sound like someone I need to know

By: volkswagon

volkswagon — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:34:28 +0000

I hate to say it things are not changing for the better in special education. The illegal practices that are happening are overwhelming. You can’ t change placement on a student (even if the IEP team says they can’t serve IEP) without going to centraloffice to a meeting and getting permission. That in itself is bad enough, but it can take up to 10 weeks to get that appt. You can’t get support for IEP’s they will tell you, do the best you can…..

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:36:22 +0000

Well said David! Another sped teacher piped in on the thread with the party line about “jumping to conclusions”.
I actually felt bad that the parent who directed me to their offline sped group got skewered in the thread because the point I am trying to make is that the general ed community needs to hear our stories and it was an innocent redirect. I meant my comment to be directed at all the sped groups popping up that I have been trying to spring into action for the last 18 months that do not want to rock the boat. With all due respect to my pals I feel it is not just the people that have been screwed that should speak up. I have had several people tell me that they are worried they will lose the good thing they have fought for if they get involved. What is terrible is that this is a very real fear and I would never ask my friends to put their kids on the line like that. One reason why I chose Ockley Green was because I could foresee being more successful there than Chief Jo in engineering my daughter’s school experience and sped services. I never take for granted that I could also be subject to retaliation but I can’t sleep knowing what I know goes on in PPS Sped. While I am glad things are slowly changing I want our stories told. People need to know and not because I want revenge but so it never happens again.

By: David

David — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:32:28 +0000

The whole “too angry” thing is their way of saying… “We have no way to defend the neglect we’ve been demonstrating, so we’ll change the subject and see if that flies”.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:39:57 +0000

Anne it is so funny that you say that. I linked this story to a google group and someone in PPS responded with a finger wag about being too angry!!

By: Anne Trudeau

Anne Trudeau — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:00:01 +0000

David,
I am following the story too. Keep telling the truth, mister. The stories of disabled children and their families in the Portland Public School system must be told.
I have to know, did they write “Angry Parent” inside his file? That’s what one mother of a child with diabetes told me she spotted written on her son’s file. I can only imagine what was on my daughter’s paperwork when we left PPS!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:31:01 +0000

David I will be following your post. Thanks for sharing, I blog about PPS special education as a guest at http://www.ppsequity.org.