So, I left work early today (11:30ish) to pick Jon up from school because he was suspended.
The note from the principal states:
"Dear Ms. E****** & Mr. C*******,
This is to notify you that your child, Jonathan C*******, has been suspended from McGalliard Elementary School for 2 days effective Thursday, November 16th and Friday November 17th.
Jonathan has been disruptive in class, which has interfered with the learning for other students. He has thrown chairs, refused to cooperate, chased students around the room and was defiant with Mr. H****** and me. When given the choice to apologize to the other student, he refused.
I am aware Jonathan has a psychiatric evaluation on Monday, November 20th. The Child Study Team, Ms. W******* & I will need to meet with you on Tuesday the 21st at 8:15 before Jonathan returns to school.
I am hopeful that the disciplinary action taken will help Jonathan to see that there are consequences for his actions, and hopefully he will make better choices for himself in the future. We are open to any suggestions the psychiatrist may provide.
Sincerely,
Mrs. D****"
This is beyond frustrating. He's in a special class for a reason. Just because the main teacher is out due to having her tonsils removed, doesn't mean they have the right to give up and suspend my child. Yes, I understand that his actions were of an "abusive/violent" nature, but still, they've redirected him before and it turned positive.
I am probably going to lose my job because of this. I've had numerous phone calls (at least 1 or 2 a week) because of Jon's behavior where I've had to leave work in order to get him. It is interfering with my job performance and will probably be a "to work on" point in my 6 month review!!! I don't want to lose my job over this! This isn't my fault or Jon's fault. I don't know WHO to blame for Jon's behavior.
WHY?!?!?! AGH! I'm sooooo aggrivated!
I think you should request in writing, a Behavior Assessment by a certified professional. They are at a loss as to how to manage him, and they need professional assistance. Whatever they are doing is not working. Just say something like you are requesting it , and you are concerned that it has not already been done because of all of the suspensions, and that you want a Behavior Intervention Plan included in the IEP. They have a certain number of days to respond to your request (you can look this up)--- to grant or deny your request. Either way, you'll document that you are making efforts to resolve the problem.
Hello, and many hugs for you! I am still pondering your post, actually since early this morning around 2:00am east coast time. Are they legally aloud to do this? There are people who can help both your son and you with these issues. Have you contacted the head of special education for your state and told them what is happening to your son?! There are laws protecting HIM! there are also advocates who are FREE, you need to call your state house and speak with someone there from the education department and explain what has happened and let them lead you by the hand! The school needs to know that what they are doing is just plain illegal! The website Wrightslaw.com is a great to visit also. You will find legal information for you at this location. Pete Wright is an attorney who has adhd and has 2 sons who also have it. The sons are older, however, Pete is still fighting all the way up to the supreme court for families! Find out your SON"S rights and protect him! Can you remove him from this school even and go elsewhere to give HIM a new start?? The labeling is horrible in these schools!!
Regards!
I am sorry...I don't have much advice for you, but wanted to send you some support.
Hopefully the school will begin to work with you for the best of your son.
There is an IEP in place, as well as a Child Study Team member that evals him once a week. I'm hoping that this will pass, and his psychiatric appointment proves successful. :-)
I'm beyond frustrated and I'm slowly coming to grips with this...hopefully once all is said and done (ie medication rx'd etc), I'll do better. ;-)
Thanks for all the kind words!
First, I don't think they can legally expel him or give out of school detention until they have tried and failed with all other intervention methods. You can fight it if you want to and force them to keep him in school and prove to you that they have tried everything.
If he doesn't have a behaviour modification plan in place in his IEP, call a meeting ASAP and have one put in. Insist that they deal with this behaviour in school, in an agreed upon way that is acceptable to you, and only call you for real emergencies.
Good luck!
HUGS...I had the same question as NoTellin.....do you have an IEP in place and maybe even a SST (STUDENT SUPPORT TEAM) I did the same thing last year I got a call everyday from school and had to leave work to fix or just take Cody from school
(((hugs))) I am so sorry that this has happened to you and your son...I really don't know what else to say but to hang in there...hopefully the psych eval will shed some light and lead to some help for him.
Anne
Do you have an IEP in place?Look at www.wrightslaw.com for information concerning their rights. Some of the issues are very clear cut but being in a special classroom setting already may alter the way they can deal with them. If they are considered a danger to anyone, that probably affects how they are allowed to handle them. Its best to be informed. You can go there and look up the laws concerning their specific circumstances.I have been a lurker for a little over a year now. I'm not someone to post normally but I couldn't resist this time. I have a 7 year old boy with ADHD on Concerta 36mg Tenex for the tics. I was actually trying to look for posts on the new Daytrana patch before I speak with his doctor about it for his appointment this week. After his parent teacher conference, there are still concerns about his ability to focus. Anyway, your post caught my eye because my son is on his second strike and one more he will be suspended too. The main reason I am responding is because my son went to your son's school last year. I know exactly who you are talking about because he had Ms. W******* for a teacher. He was there for 1st grade and then in November we moved him to University Heights because Ms. W felt that he didn't belong in the class. He is now in a wonderful class at UH but there are still issues that tend to happen particularly during transition times and when he is not under his teacher's supervision, ie. lunchtime, bus line up etc. The first time, he pinched a kid in the neck because the kid butted him in line. The second time he and another boy were messing around playing some kind of hand game and Tommy got out of control and flicked him near the eye. The principal has informed me that one more strike and he will be suspended. I am very scared everyday when I send him to school that this will be the day they call me and suspend him. I am aware that they need to protect the other children but I also feel that they need to take into consideration his issues and that when these things happen is a transition time which is particularly difficult for him and he is not in his normal classroom surroundings. I think a suspension in 2nd grade is quite severe. I am actually surprised because I feel our Township has a great system in dealing with our special children but I guess there is only so much tolerance. It would be interesting to find out what our rights are about that, especially since we are in the same township.
Anyway, it's nice to know someone in the Hamilton area on on this board. Maybe we can commiserate together. My son is a little older too so I've already been through a lot of the crap so maybe I could offer some advice to you.