High School Memories - PART II

*NOTE* You can read PART I HERE

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The end of Cam's first semester this school year was bad. He was suspended for the 4 days preceding finals for pushing a friend of his in the lunch room (resulting in the friend putting him in a choke-hold and taking Cam to the floor) during what could only be called a 7-second, 16-year old, alpha-male, pissing match ... where no one was injured. The administration made it impossible for Cam to get any of the review information for finals that was presented in class, going so far as to tell me that district policy was that suspended students were not allowed any instructional information, and could turn in no assignments, during the period they were suspended (a policy that does NOT exist). He failed his Algebra class (by 2%), but managed to eek out a passing grade in his other classes. 

He was also charged with battery and disorderly conduct by the School Resource Officer (SRO) - charges that are currently in the hands of the State's Attorney's Office.

But that really wasn't what initiated the school administration's plot to have Cam out-placed. It was back at an October 30th meeting when it was first brought up. What I didn't realize then was that the school administration was beginning to lay the groundwork for removing Cam from the high school. After that October meeting (not an IEP meeting, but a meeting that was presented to me as informational only) all hell broke loose when I declined a voluntary change in placement.

That is when Cam started being sent to the Dean's office at least twice a week, for things as minor as having a backpack in class, wearing earbuds in the hallway, and not doing his work in class. The Dean even went so far as to arbitrarily change a 1/2-day suspension (for disobedience/defiance) into a 2-day suspension because he didn't like the way Cam reacted to his consequences. There were daily calls from the school that disrupted my work day and eventually led to performance review issues and the loss of 25% of my year-end bonus.

It became clear the administration had a plan of action, and they were hell-bent on bringing it to fruition.

I was no longer a member of the IEP team. I was that parent who needed to be forced to do what was easiest for the administrators.

I wasn't expecting much from the January 22nd meeting. The team was still district personnel with the addition of the Director of Compliance Education Services.

I did hope to get the corrections made to the wording/facts that were screwed up in the 7-day old IEP, but I figured placement wouldn't change. How does the administration back down from recommending a self-contained program, just 7 days after that recommendation? Even if Cam's performance was measurably better than it had been the previous semester?

See? This is the rub ...

Since second semester started (January 7th), Cam has had no referrals to the Dean. He's had no tardies. He's not only passing all of his classes, all of his teachers are marveling at the 180 turnaround he's made. For whatever reason (and he has yet to be able to articulate it), Cam has finally made the decision to do better.

That has been my proof that out-placement was unnecessary.

The meeting invitation included TEN district personnel. I had Mike, my advocate (the one who has since been fired), Cam, and Cam's band director (who has been AMAZINGLY supportive during this process - fighting to keep Cam at the high school full-time). 

This wasn't going to be an IEP meeting ...

This was going to be a Beat-Em-Down ...