All of my children have been homeschooled and have never
been enrolled in a public school k-12 class.
My children did attend a parent participation preschool through the
continuing education program, but technically I was the student. However, I still have had many contacts with
the public school over the years.
We’ve had many foster children enrolled in public schools. I still drop off and pick up two of our former
foster boys at school from time to time to help at their parents.
Our son has also received speech therapy at my neighborhood school
from the age of 3 to nearly 7 years old.
We would still be receiving speech therapy at the school, but the
district found a way to get out it on a technicality, something to do with the
fact that we homeschool by registering that we are a private school. This
change in policy was motivated by the recent budget/staffing cuts. The staff at
my neighborhood school would love to continue to provide services if the school
district would allowed it.
Recently, I requested a full evaluation for my son from my
neighborhood school. The school district
is obligated to provide this service even if the child is not enrolled at the
school. I found the information in the evaluation very useful and appreciated
hearing their recommendations. In some
ways, it was easier for the staff than a typical IEP (independent education
plan) meeting. They could make
recommendations but they were not obligated to provide services since he is not
enrolled at the school. Since I was only
looking for recommendations, they were able to speak freely. If I had been interested in enrolling our son
in school, the meeting would have been less relaxed since then the school would
have been burdened with the legal requirements of their suggestions for the
IEP.
The bureaucratic red tape was still pretty amazing. The special education teacher wanted to
indicate that our son qualified for special education service even if he would
NOT be receiving services since he is not enrolled at the school. The school psychologist insisted he didn’t qualify
because a child has to fail first before special education services can be
offered regardless of how obvious the child’s needs.
I found it interesting how surprised the special education teacher and the school psychologist were by son's demeanor. Our son has a significant speech impediment which was characterized in their evaluation as moderately severe. However, he has no behavior problem or social anxiety. The report said that he "came to the testing situation willingly and appeared at ease....answered questions when asked and initiated conversation....." The school psychologist was impressed by how animated he was when he talked and how "adult" his facial expressions seemed.
I explained that he had three teenage sisters that spend a great deal of time with him. Also, he has never been teased about his speech and there is a teenage boy with Tourettes who attends our homeschool co-op. Struggling or being different is just normal in his world. They were impressed but still seemed to think that it would be harder for him when he hit the "real' world. After the meeting was over, it occurred to me what I should have said. Both the special education teacher and the school psychologists were foreign born and spoke with an accent. One of them had a very heavy accent. I wish I had asked her when was the last time someone teased her about how she speaks. I doubt it has happened recently.
I sat in on an IEP meeting for one of our former foster
children. The child did not qualify for
services under the district rules even though he badly needed accommodations. A certain staff member talked openly about
how she could thwart the district rules by claiming to provide a different
service under a different regulation when the intent was to provide the
services that had originally been denied.
I admit that sometimes my interactions with the school have
been a little awkward. I may
come across as condescending since there are so many aspects of public
schooling that are so broken. Sometimes, the school staff and parents seem
overly defensive to me. I realize that parents
and staff alike are trying to make the best of it but I keep wondering why so
many people are content to put up with it.
Other times, the roles are reversed and I feel a little defensive when
dealing with school staff. I have gotten that
tone of voice that suggests that homeschooling is equivalent to child neglect.
Still, I have really
like the school staff that I have worked with over the years. I especially love the secretaries at my
neighborhood school and how they treat me son.
I have noticed many school staff going the extra mile to do what they
can in spite of district policies.
I don’t know how to “fix” public education. I respect the people who try (as long as they
don’t raise my taxes to pay for it.)
