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I's Story
"I" is a little girl who is ten years old and is in the fourth grade of Elementary School. She just happens to have Down syndrome which serves to be more of a challenge than a roadblock; for "I" has always functioned more like the rest of us than otherwise. As long as she has her family or an age appropriate peer to emulate, she gets along fine.
"I" has always been placed in an inclusive setting throughout her educational experience. Thus, in August of 1995, "I" joined her classmates in a classroom in the regular setting. Within the first three weeks of the school year, her teacher and her assistant reported that everything was progressing impressively; attributing the success to a change in greater maturity over the summer vacation. Everyone seemed encouraged.
In mid-September, we became aware of some controversy concerning "I". One evening we received a phone call from an attorney's wife, a family who has a child in our daughter's class and also on the same swim team with all of our children. She was crying and said that they had had to make a tough decision about their child's school placement and wanted us to know first hand before we heard from others that they had requested that their child be moved to another classroom. She explained that their child was particularly sensitive to the issue of special needs and that she was so overcome with concern about "I"'s treatment, etc. that she talked about it incessantly and had become unable to sleep and was making bad grades. She also explained that after being in a classroom with much structure in the past year that she didn't think that her child was adjusting well to the chaotic atmosphere present in this most recent setting. She stated that her child liked the teacher and was worried that "I" would think that her child didn't like her but that they felt this change in placement was best. We stated that we understood and were sorry that there had been a difficult time for them but had we known we would have been glad to help in any way we could. A few days later, another child's mother stopped us in leaving the local soccer field and showered us with all kinds of accusations about "I" attacking her son and how all the children had begun to hate her and were no longer tolerant of her. Throughout these reports, school personnel claimed to be unaware of these issues as stated and they offered that except for sporadic episodes of harmless infractions, all was still under control.
By the first of October, everything seemed to have escalated to a new level. We learned through a newspaper article one day that the mother of a child in "I"'s class had spoken in public session at a school board meeting about the concern she had for her daughter's safety while at school. She went on to state that our daughter had abused and assaulted her daughter and that she had spoken to school officials to have her removed and they wouldn't respond. The next day there was another newspaper article and radio reports in response to a visit from TN U.S. Senator Bill Frist at a "Town Meeting" where this same family was represented by the father who spoke about people taking responsibility for their children's actions in reference to his child having been assaulted by our child. The next morning, this family phoned the principal of the school to say that their child had suffered spinal injury during an incident that the teacher and assistant characterized as a non-incident and which was never reported at all by the child during the day of the incident. They said that they expected the system to be responsible for the medical expenses ($250) already incurred and all thereafter. (These expenses have never been reported for reimbursement or documentation by this family to the school system through to the present time.) Around this time, this family removed their child to a private Christian school. A few days later, a mother and child from the class volunteered the information to us that they were not involved in "what everyone was doing to us" and that this family had been calling all of the other parents trying to get them to join in their endeavor. This little friend also stated that the child of this family had been harassing "I" and "pushing her buttons" to get her to misbehave as well as she and another friend spitting in their own food and reporting to school personnel that "I" was responsible. She also reported that this child told "I" that "she didn't deserve to live in this lifetime". The whole scenario had seemed so bizarre and contradictory but at this point began to take a different twist.
On the fifth day of October, the superintendent of schools received a three page letter from an attorney/parent whose child had already been given alternate placement out of our child's classroom on his official legal firm letterhead. This made it seem that he might be representing someone else as he indeed mentioned details of the position of the family who claimed spinal injury but also discussed his own family's position. Generally, it was a horrid expose of libelous innuendo which was very inflammatory and injurious of the reputation of our child and family. Normal, typical behaviors of third, fourth and fifth grade children found in our child with down syndrome were exploited and sensationalized into being otherwise known as abuse and assault. A friendly plea to "scoot over beside me" accompanied by a gestural pull of the elbow was diverted into long term medical implications and possibly even eventual disability of a child for reasons of prejudice and monetary gain. Those parts which spoke truth proved obvious leaks from the educational system about our child's multidisciplinary team decisions, her educational program, and her Individualized Education Plan which threaten the perception of the general public regarding the success of the principles of least restrictive environment (inclusion) and endanger a child's right to placement with her typically developing peers. These are the kind of people who look for any excuse to justify their bigoted view of who has the right to exist and who doesn't. Children with disabilities such as ours are very vulnerable to the prejudiced and discriminatory acts of people who for their own agenda would indict defenseless voiceless, children in the name of bigotry.
The receipt of the letter from the attorney/parent and the allegation of spinal injury by the other parent set off a scenario of spiraling events which seemed to be a chain reaction. The first reaction was by the school system who was understandably "rattled" at being "put on notice" by the receipt of the letter from the attorney/parent. They tried to convince us of the need to temporarily mandate a "cooling off" period of three weeks whereby "I" would be changed to the alternative placement of the resource room with no contact with her peers. Suddenly we found ourselves involved in many tedious meetings, the threat that if we didn't agree that "I" would be out of school suspended if she as much as touched another child, as well as our intention to file due process which would include a "stay put" until resolution. Finally, we were able to compromise on a plan which involved less time in the regular setting but not as much less as had been originally proposed for the remaining two weeks as it had taken the first week's time to come to an agreement. We felt very strongly that this whole idea involved a punitive action and since our child had done nothing wrong except her very existence, it would send the wrong message to her peers and to everyone else to agree with it in whole. Other byproducts of the situation included one parent in a public forum speaking at length about how our child was abusive, assaulted others with no provocation, etc. at 3 school board meetings, a federal OSEP compliance meeting, TV interview, radio, numerous newspaper articles, etc.. They tried to file a juvenile petition against "I" in juvenile court, reported us to Social Services, went to the District Attorney's office, the state attorney for Special education, and the state special education director and all in an effort to have "I" removed from the regular education setting, luckily, to no avail. After many months, we are still dealing with the fallout which ensued as it seems that once someone creates the perception that something is true, there are others who continue to try to validate its existence.
"I"'s Story an Update
Re: Discipline amendment to the reauthorization of IDEA
Open Letter to all concerned:
Update 1/30/97
In the months following the Fall of 1995, much time was spent just maintaining placement, composure, and some order of security and stability for "I" and her classmates until the end of the year. We, as parents, watched very closely to make sure there were no possibilities of any other problems. This meant that our goal of increased independence for "I" and a greater measure of movement, just like "everyone else", was delayed again because of the need to micromanage. The assistant was also rescheduled to be there at all times. The spring IEP-team looked very closely at placement for the fifth grade to insure a really good match so as to incorporate a better measure of success. This issue of a "match" had always been important to us but not necessarily to school officials in the past. We felt this was a good first step. We also met with the superintendent and requested a system wide person who could serve as an "inclusion specialist" to assist all teachers who deal with inclusion, as far as best practices and methods in modification of curricula. We also requested the choice of a multiage classroom (3rd, 4th, and 5th) for parents and children at this level. Both requests were denied. Then, summer came, we rested and prepared for the next crossroads. The week before school started, we found out that all the families who had been in opposition, except the one who moved, had requested the same teacher placement as "I"'s. We did not respond and moved forward to find that this teacher is truly a gift and is dedicated to insure success!! She has developed meaningful curricula which parallels the regular class and is unconditionally "I"'s ally, as she sincerely respects and loves her. Entering the second half of the fifth grade, we can report that everything is great, even in spite of an allegation a few weeks ago of a "stabbing" (as "I" held the flagpole for the pledge, the end got too close to a young person.) When the parent came forth to complain, this teacher simply laughed and stated that she felt it was an innocent incident but had checked for injury only to find none. The teacher then went on to explain to this oppositional parent that "I" is a permanent member of this classroom family. The state complaint which we made (Fall 1995) came back as a breach of confidentiality by the system which allowed certain families to perform bigoted acts, a rap on the hand of the system. It just proves that when there's leadership and the right things in place, things work quite nicely!
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