I spend a lot of time on this blog debunking the myth that schools are simply golden places that never do anything bad because that is just not the truth. Nevertheless, I also feel the need to spend some time officially recognizing many individuals and school personnel that have worked with my son and whom I have worked with as an attorney.
My son has been in the special education system for about 11 years. In that time he has had 2 paraprofessionals who have primarily worked with him. One for the majority of that time and another one this current school year. The level of professionalism and caring has been nothing less than outstanding. His one paraprofessional who was with for many years expended her own time and money and energy to get trained on how to use and program his AAC device.
He has had a few general education teachers who have done exactly what they have been trained to do; apply sound teaching principles and treat him like he was a full fledged member of the class, including verbally rebuking him for being loud in class to the shocked amazement of his peers. One teacher was thoroughly surprised when we complimented her because she called on our son when he raised his hand, something that had not happened for the previous 2 years.
There have been special education teachers that have been firm advocates for him both privately and even at meetings. We have had related services personnel who have spent large blocks of their own personal time preparing materials and undertaking programming, and redoing work that other staff had done wrong, just so he would have what he needed for class.
As an attorney I have had some "Deep Throat" type conversations where a school staff member has "ratted out" the school at the risk of their jobs and professional ostracism. I have seen any number of special education directors publicly take a stand at IEP meetings telling their staff that the child had not been getting a FAPE and things were going to change beginning now. At those moments you could have heard a pin drop in the room. I have also had an attorney who represented the school yell at his client-staff publicly for giving "unfortunate excuses and not taking responsibility for physical harm to a child."
The lesson is one of ownership. I frequently get the question what is a good district. While I can not always give a definite answer because staffs change, the answer as a general matter remains the same; in a good school district the staff and administration take responsibility for issues and earnestly listen to the parents’ position, and in a bad district high walls of secrecy are erected and excuses are created and sometimes totally fabricated to justify bad acts. There are plenty of good schools and exceptional staff that I have seen and worked with, but even in those districts, staff make mistakes that need to be corrected, addressed and recognized. Good districts and their staff do exactly that.
At IEPs we detail both needs and strengths, we as parents and attorneys should do the same for schools. I invite readers of this blog to share positive anecdotes of school personnel.