We are the Experts

If you are behind on reading our story you may want to go back and get caught up before reading today’s post. Our story gets pretty intense at this point, starting with last week’s post, Prior Written Notice. Our battle with our district had come to a boiling point.

And I am grateful that as I am writing this week, I am enjoying the lake view at Keystone Resort. I tagged along with Tracy on his business trip. I did yoga this morning and am enjoying my surroundings. Which is no doubt going to help me get through this difficult subject.

We finally decided to initiate the process of having a due process hearing.

As stated in our local district’s pamphlet, Educational Rights of the Students/Parents, “If you feel the school district is violating special education requirements for your child, you can file a written complaint with the Colorado Department of Education to resolve the problem.

The complaint must include a statement that the school district has violated IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and the facts on which the statement is based.”

We believed that our district was violating Travis’s rights.

IDEA states, “Disciplinary actions that constitute a change of placement require the IEP team, including the parent, to hold an IEP meeting to determine if the child is receiving FAPE (Fair and Appropriate Education) and to conduct a manifestation determination.

This process will determine if there is a relationship between your child’s behavior and disability. If services are not appropriate or if the behavior was a manifestation of your child’s disability, your child may not be expelled or suspended beyond ten days from his or her current placement.”

Remember when I shared that our special education director told Travis when he got to ten suspensions he was out of there. That was when the director advised us to have Travis take the week off before Christmas break so the district could come up with a plan.

Only for us to come back and find that their plan was that they were unable to provide education services at this time. Even though we argued that Travis’s behavior was a manifestation of his disability the district did not conduct a manifestation determination.

We only agreed to an out of district placement because we were told that it would be short term. That the district needed to regroup and see what they could put together.

We truly believed that our district was building a program that would better meet Travis’s needs. We couldn’t be more wrong.

Looking back I realized that we should have pushed for the manifestation determination at that time. When Travis was in third grade.

IDEA also says that if your child is expelled (removed from school) or placed in an alternative education setting, your child must still be provided services and modifications described in the IEP.

This never happened. The alternative settings were not equipped to provide Travis’s services such as occupational therapy as described in his IEP. And the district did not send an occupational therapist to work with Travis at these placements.

And remember when the district decided in between out of district settings that Travis would receive one hour of homebound education? Zero regard for his IEP services.

IDEA also requires that each public agency ensure that a continuum of alternative placements is available to meet the needs of children with disabilities for special education and related services. It was our belief that our district failed and refused to provide such a continuum stating only that the district doesn’t provide these services.

This refusal has resulted in repeated placement of Travis in a highly restrictive setting (day treatment) and failed to provide him a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive setting.

Filing for due process is scary. And I put if off longer than I should have because of my long relationship with this district. The hearing is conducted by an impartial hearing officer.

We hired an education attorney. At $250 per hour.

Travis has encountered many bullies is his life. One of the biggest being this director. An adult.

We found the special education teachers and staff in our district to be very professional and caring. He was their supervisor. I cannot imagine the culture that they must have been working within.

At one of the IEP meetings during this time the special education director told us that we needed to trust him. That he was an expert in the field. Had his doctorate in special education.

Well if that were true, why haven’t you put a program in place that would meet Travis’s needs? I mean if you are an expert and all.

We simply could not make sense of our district sending Travis out of district. Having served on our local school board for eight years, I understood the struggle balancing the budget. And it simply costs way more dollars to send kids to placements like the ones Travis attended than providing services in district. And I knew that there were other kiddos in the district who could benefit from the type of program that we were requesting.

The special education director asking us to trust him because he was an expert really bothered me. At our next IEP meeting Tracy helped me carry in two boxes of books. As we waited for everyone to arrive I started laying these books out on the table. I had a point to make.

The director asked what I was doing. I replied that I wanted the first 5-10 minutes of the meeting.

After all of the books were placed on the table I asked him which of these books had he read.

He didn’t reply. I asked him again. He said that he didn’t know if he had read any of the particular books on the table, but he did remind me that he had a doctorate in special education.

I addressed everyone in the meeting. I have read all of these books in my quest to help Travis in any way I can. Researching how I can best effect change in Travis’s life. And while I do not have a doctorate in special education I do have a master’s degree. So I believe that we can all agree that I am capable of comprehending what I read.

I picked up one of the books. It was tattered, highlighted, had notes written in the margins. And as I held it I reminded the director that I am Travis Kastle’s mom 24/7. So if there is such a thing as an expert, with regard to Travis Kastle that would actually be me.

My point? That parents should be considered an equal member of an IEP team.

In their book, From Emotions to Advocacy, Pete and Pam Wright state, “As you advocate for your child, you must understand that the school personnel believe they are the experts about children and learning. Most believe they know what is best for your child.

Although you have observed your child in hundreds of situations, many educators believe that because you are emotionally involved, you are incapable of knowing what your child needs.”

They also write, “Parents are outsiders. School districts rarely solicit or accept advice from parents when they design special education programs. Most decisions are based on economics, tradition, and convenience.”

An individual can be book smart, but nobody on this planet knows our son better than we do. Period.

I just cannot fathom how an individual that chose special education as his career could present as such a cold and heartless human being. At least regarding Travis. I have a strong belief that it is possible for one person to make an enormous difference in the life of a child.

Unfortunately, it is not necessarily always a positive difference.

And as hard as it was on our family to fight this battle, Travis had to live it. He was at the center of it all. And he was just not equipped to handle it.

I’m sure this constant chaos and frustration exacerbated his chronic depression and anxiety. And I know that he carries these experiences inside of him to this day.

I wish there was such a thing as education malpractice. That our special education director could be held accountable for his decisions. After all, he himself said that he was an expert.

These years that Travis spent in these placements were some of the most crucial in his development. In any child’s development. Not only education wise but also their emotional wellbeing. Their self-esteem.

How much damage was being done? And could it be undone?

Our attorney sums it up in attorney speak in a letter to the hearing officer, “Given the District’s position and its failure to develop a continuum of services as required by law, it’s position that during the ten day period between the end of summer school and the beginning of school (August 5 - August 15) the District will determine whether Travis can attend a mainstreamed placement cannot be taken at face value.

It can only follow that during the ten day period the district will discover that it has none of the necessary services to serve Travis other than a (1) a highly restrictive day treatment of (2) a mainstreamed placement it intends to again reject. Travis is being relegated to a more restrictive placement because intermediate possibilities are not available and reasonable terms are not stated for re-entry to a mainstreamed placement.

Finally, the actions of the District clearly constitute discrimination on the basis of disability in violation of 29 U.S.C. In setting unmeasurable criteria for Travis to meet during the short four weeks of ESY without any transition, and after ten months in day treatment (preceded by fourteen months in another day treatment program) the District reserves the right to exclude Travis for reasons other than the ill-defined “80%”, including their own failure to provide a continuum of services. The District does not subject other students to this indefinite “success rate” as a condition of obtaining a less restrictive placement. Travis, an otherwise qualified person with a disability is being discriminated against on the basis of his disability.”

As the due process filing is taking place, Travis begins his four week ESY (Extended School Year) services through our home district. Come back next week to find out how that experience plays out. And what our district asks us to do.

“Believe in yourself as a parent. No one knows your child better than you. You have been there since their first breath. There is no better advocate for their needs.” - www.crunchyfrugalista.com