ADVOCATING 4 KIDS

Hello Blogmates:

Norfolk City Public City has one of the worst records for providing appropriate services for special education students in the Hamptons Roads and Tidewater area. Within the last two months, 3 due process hearing have been filed against this city because of the district inability, to honor the mandates under both federal and state laws.

Today, September 14, 2009, at 9:30 Lois Manes a special education attorney will begin a due process hearing against Norfolk City Public School district and you are invited and welcomed to attend this open hearing. Please come and learn what is involved in a due process case, and offer support to the parent.

Issues of the case include:

Norfolk City Public failed to identify all the student’s disabilities.

Norfolk City Public School committed the student to the Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center for 5  days, but failed to provide the student with any educational services once he was released, failed to conduct a FBA and BIP and refused to provide homebound services after release from Psychiatric Center.

Norfolk City Public School refused to implement the corrective actions plan charged to them by the Virginia Department of Education.

This hearing is scheduled for five days

Dates: September 14, 15, 23, 29,  and October 6th

Times: 9:30 to 5:00 (September 29th time is 1:30 to 5:00)

Location: Norfolk School Administration Building
800 E City Hall Ave Norfolk VA 23510
12th Floor Board Room

Please email Judy Fischer at spedsupportgroup@ aol.com if you plan on attending

PLEASE COME AND SHOW SUPPORT FOR THIS PARENT AND CHILD AGAINST A DISTRICT WHO APPEARS TO USE DECEPTION AND TRICKERY TO HARM SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN!

Hello, this is my first time writing here but I am not sure where else to turn. My son attends NPS and has a visual learning disorder. The binocular specialist said that NPS would not qualify him for an IEP but he would qualify for a 504. I submitted the paperwork and the principal got mad. She said she hated it when doctors try to tell her how to do her job and that it is not up to the doctor to determine if a child needs an IEP or 504, it is the job of the CST. I have been dealing with the NPS for 3 years and everyone says my son is just lazy and needs counseling to learn how to deal with failure. I have pushed and pushed and even after having a diagnoses they still did nothing. It was October 2007 when I asked the teacher if he was on the 504 and if so what accomodations were being made and if not why not. He was finally placed on a 504 in January 2008 (The doctor and I submitted the report in June of 2007). This is sad. My son has a hard time reading words and will change letters or read different words so when he is asked a question he has no idea, as what he comprehended in reading is different from the actual comprehension and all answers he gives are wrong. I said he needs someone to listen to him as he reads and correct any words he reads incorrectly. The principal informed me they will not read for any child as all children need to know how to read. He can read he just does not see the words they way most people do. I also informed her that she had to read to him if I requested it and she informed me I was incorrect with my information. What do I do or where do I go? Downtown will not return any of my phone calls or emails. If anyone has suggestions for me I would appreciate them

 have not posted here before and I am a client of Cheryl, I would like to give people an idea of my experiences with the school district here in Norfolk and how Advocating 4 kids have helped my son.
When my family moved to the area there were problems with my son’s special education service from the start. I sent all his paperwork to the school months beforehand, called them repeatedly to make sure there was a smooth transition into the Norfolk school district and that they had everything they needed. After we got here it took them almost 3 weeks to get my son into school and what they called an appropriate program (ED contained classroom)and it took me calling the superintendent’s office after 2 weeks of being ignored. I talked to the school staff, district special education office and anyone I involved with my sons education. I told them what his needs were in the class room and in the school setting. Every single one of his needs were ignored, he was and still is failing every class and his test scoring has now put him at a lower grade level than when he got there after months of not being given an appropriate education.
During the testing process for his IEP evaluation there were parts of it that I did not feel confident in the competence of the school officials conducting so I decided not to let them and do it myself. Immediately I had district and school officials calling me angrily, lieing to me saying they had the right to do the tests (they don’t) they had an unscheduled meeting where 5 school and district special education employees spent 30 minutes telling me what I had to do and trying to force me to sign for them to do testing, at one point the assistant director of special education said she would not even consider the results if I had the testing done myself (according to the IEP rules they can’t say that, luckily I got it on tape.) This even got to the point where the principal of the school called my wife’s employer and told him my son was in special education and the school wanted to do testing and we were having problems (i.e. didn’t want to sign the paper) and because we wouldn’t sign it that family services should be called (yes I have her admitting that on tape too.) It was at this point that I decided to employ the services of Cheryl Poe because I was getting nowhere except threatened on a repeated basis for not doing things the way the school/district wanted me to and ignored. Since then I can say the road is still rocky but all the sudden my concerns about my sons education are being listened to and some new things have been implemented. Although because of the sheer amount of unprofessionalism of the school/district employees I can’t say for sure that it will all go smoothly but I am much much more confident that with a little more time, letter writing, and

When I found this sight I was already at my wits end. I was fully prepared to go it alone and was completely overwhelmed because I didn’t have any clue as to what little ole me was going to do against the school system. I was so glad when I found this sight and found out i was not alone. Here’s my ongoing story:
My son is a middle school student at Northside Middle school, Norfolk Public Schools and has ADHD and a 504 plan. After numerous suspensions and referrals for behaviors like not being able to stay in his seat and talking excessively, I started to dig deeper. I always believed that the school was really trying to do the best for my son, but when I started questioning them I found out differently. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that there are a few teachers “somewhere” that are really concerned about kids and really want them to have a good education. I have not encountered them at Northside. At the beginning of the school year I advised the guidance counselor that my son will not excel in a traditional setting, I advised her and the 7th grade dean of students (David Bunting) that if you put my son in a classroom with 30 kids that he will not be able to remained focused. This information when unnoticed and my son continued to get in “trouble”.
In January I called a meeting of the child study team to reevaluate my sons 504 plan-which was vague at best and had no real way of really insuring that it was being followed. At that meeting I was told and agreed to have a FBA done and to have a new BIP. These things were never done. We got to the point we are at now because my son was now up for a long term suspension and a manifestation hearing was scheduled. I searched online for many days and hours to find out just what my rights were and during the search I came upon not only this sight but several others for advocacy. I emailed several people including Dr. Katz and Cheryl. Dr. Katz called me the day of the manifestation hearing and agreed to accompany me as my advocate. Here’s where it gets interesting. The meeting was scheduled for 12:45 pm, we arrived ad 12:35 p.m. When we arrived at the school we were invited to go to the guidance offices where the meeting was going to be held. The guidance counselor walked out of her office and said hello to me, as she’d done so many times before, and asked Dr. Katz if she could help him. He advised her that he was with me and introduced himself, she said hello and left the room. She came back about 5 min later and asked for his business card and left the room again not returning for at least 30 min. When she did come back she informed that there were checking down town to make sure that he could be there?!? After all was cleared we went into her office where Dr. Katz asked for an outlet to plug in the tape recorder(I called and advised them beforehand that i was planning on taping the meeting). At this point the other members had arrived one of them stated that we could not tape the meeting. I asked why, and she said that we were not allowed to tape the meeting?!? she then left and got the principal who came in and adv she had contacted the office of Pupil Personnel and was told that we could not tape the meeting, even though we showed her the law and she said she was aware of it, but we cound not record. I asked her to provide me a letter stating that I was not being allowed to record the meeting. She then left and about 20 min later showed up with a Police officer behind her and adv she had contacted the city atty and was advised that she did not have to provide anything in writing. She then told Dr. Katz with police officer in tow that he would be allowed to observe but not participate,and if that was going to be a problem?!? During the meeting I gave release for Dr. Katz to review my sons file and requested that copies be made for both him and myself. As, he was reviewing the file the guidance counselor said she was going to make copies of the information he had already reviewed but tried to take the entire folder, she said this once more and Dr.Katz advised she could do so after he reviewed it, a tug of war insued and she then said she was needed to take it to the principal?!? We kept the folder although 5 days later have not reveived the copies. The meeting continued, we had a notetaker there, whom when I asked her position, she said she was just there to take notes, but when it came time to vote they aske her opinion and she said she was a teacher and had seen my son in the hallway. Does that her make her knowledgeable?!? They deemed that the behavior was not a manifestation and an administrative meeting was to be held right after.It was now 2:30 and we were told that the meeting could not start until the halls were cleared and that would be at 2:45…at 3:15 the administrative hearing was started. Again, Dr. Katz was told that he could not participate and when he asked to speak with me out in the hallway he was told that he did not run that office and he could leave if he wanted to?!? We stayed in the office and when it was noticed that my son was not there they said he had to be there. He had already went home on the bus. The asst. principal wanted me to go home and get him, I told her I was not doing so, and the meeting was rescheduled for the morning. During this ordeal Dr. Katz was speaking with Cheryl, and advised me to give her a call. I called Cheryl and was delighted to know she ran the website that I had just the day before asked for assistance from. I went home that night and spoke further with Cheryl and Dr.Katz. Cheryl provided me with a letter and some advise. The meeting resumed the next morning, but I felt so much better knowing that I had some people on my side. I came to the meeting armed with the letter, but not my son. When the asst. principal(Doris Langhorne) ? my son not being there. I advised her that I was not going to bring my son to be interrogated further and that he had already answered there questions and did not need to be there. She said she did not know who told me that he didnt need to be there, but the meeting continued none the less. She read several documents and statements, some of which were not known to be in existence at the time of the manifestation hearing and would have had a direct bearing I believe on their decision. After an hour of this nonsense, I stated to her that my son has had failing grades since elementary school, he was reading and comprehending at least 2 grade levels behind and all of this was due to schools unwillingness to implement measures according to the 504 plan and the law and that the school was failing my son. I also stated that the teachers statements only reiterated and cemented my earlier request for my son to be in a learning environment with a smaller class setting. I expressed my concern that student statements were being ignored, because if they were addressed correctly, you could see that half of the things they said my son did were discounted by student statements, but they still felt the need to suspend him anyway. I felt this was harrassment. I handed the letter that Cheryl have given me to the asst. principal and the dean of students, and was asked to wait out in the hallway so they could deliberate(2 hours). After 20 minutes i moved from the hallway to chairs in the office.The dean came out of the room and saw me sitting there and told me they were still deliberating and that I could go back in the hall. I told him that I would wait right there, he then said that they were deliberating, I looked behind me and then back at him and asked if he thought that I could hear through the cinderblock wall? and that I would be remaining where I was. There was alot of in and out the office, alot of copying and faxing and phone calls and then I was told that my son would be resuming classes the next day. I have no doubt in my mind that this was due to Cheryl’s letter. She also provided me with a follow up letter to make sure that my son does not receive any more harrasment due to his disability while they get their sh** together.
We have another child study meeting scheduled for Wednesday the 12th, hopefully there will be no police involved and the focus can be on my son. I know this is not the last of my battles, but it’s good to have one victory under your belt.