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SHAKING THE TREE -
VARIATIONS ON THE STATE
COMPLAINT THREAT
This is an example of a
confrontational approach to the Director of Special Education
where a teacher has clearly crossed the line into La-La land
and has broken the law every which way to Sunday. From what
you read below,note that everything that can go wrong has gone
wrong. If a parent gets an attorney involved the attorney must
be ready to follow his letter with action. This is an
expensive fix, but an occasionally necessary one where the
parent encounters an errant teacher and an unresponsive
system.
From:
askotis@shoreham.net
Re: Teacher Acountability
"Sped teacher has written a
quarterly report for student. Teacher had made false
statements in report about at what levels student is
accomplishing objectives.,. . . "
1. The teacher's statements
are only alleged false statements without proof they are
false. Goals and objective, written into the IEP or IAP
correctly, would be measurable. A statement unsupported by
measurements are founded upon subjective observations.
"Parents have asked that
teacher select samples of the students work, to show the
levels that teacher is reporting. Teacher is refusing."
2. Send a written request to
the teacher with a cc to the special education director and
the LEA. Next, ask the parents to collect a representative
sample of the student's work product prepared while doing
homework for the subjects in question. It might be possible to
find a retired teacher or a teacher in another school to
review the work product and render an independent opinion as
to whether the work is grade and age appropriate work (also a
subjective assessment).
"Sped Director is not
available for phone call. Suggestions?"
3. Always follow up a
telephone call or attempted call by letter. Remember to always
keep a copy of your correspondence and a handwritten note of
each attempt or completed telephone call. In the case of
schools, someone always answers the telephone. Make a note of
who answered the telephone and at what date and time the
attempt was made. After several unsuccessful attempts are
made, a letter similar to the following is suggested:
Ms. Doo - Fuss,
Special Education Director
High Hopes Middle School
One Performance Lane
Telephone, TX
In re Johnny B. Goode
Dear Ms. Doo - Fuss,
I represent the educational
and civil rights interests of J.B.G. and his parents. An
executed release and authorization are attached to this letter
for your files.
During the past several days
I have attempted to reach you by telephone with no success.
Please review your contact log for times and dates of my
attempts.
The reason I am trying to
reach you is to discuss a situation that the parents in this
case believe to be potentially harmful to the educational
welfare of J.B.G. Perhaps you can help.
A dispute as to the
correctness of the assessment of J.B.G's latest goals and
objectives has arisen and the parents are attempting to review
J.B.G's educational record with his teacher, Mr. Upyours. To
date Mr. Upyours has refused to provide the parents with
either the records upon which he relies for his assessment or
the courtesy of an explanation as to his assessment procedure.
As you can quite imagine, the
parents have concluded that Mr. Upyours is not being
reasonable and have asked me to consider preparing for a more
formal method of obtaining the records. The enclosed courtesy
copy of the parent's complaint for a due process hearing on
the matter is for your review and consideration.
Please contact me or, in the
alternative, have an authorized designee contact me so that we
can discuss obtaining the records for the parents to review. I
will expect to hear from your office no later than the close
of business on April ___, 1999. The parents have authorized me
to file the enclosed complaint on their behalf if your office
has not contacted me on this matter by April _____, 1999.
Respectfully,
Karen
cc: Commissioner, Vermont
Department of Education
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