High School Memories - PART III

*NOTE* You can read PART I HERE, and PART II HERE

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The meeting was scheduled for 3:15. When Mike and I arrived at the school office, my advocate and Cam were already there. As the district personnel headed to the conference room, we were told we needed to wait in the office until they were ready for us.

I mentioned to the advocate that it was difficult to feel like an equal member of the IEP team when the team needed 15 minutes - without all of the team members - to circle the wagons. She commented that this was pretty normal to which I responded, "Just because it's normal doesn't mean it's right."

I knew at that point that it was time to fire her. Her priority was not fighting for Cam. Her priority was flying under the radar and hoping for the best.

About 15 minutes later, the meeting started as all IEP meetings do - introductions - sign in - a review of why we were there. 

The Director of Compliance Education Services was leading the meeting. Being that the Local Education Agency Representative had been adversarial in our previous meetings, the change was much appreciated.

There were minimal discussions regarding the wording of the IEP. The advocate took the lead on that and ignored much of what I had told her I wanted changed. Discussions quickly turned to placement.

The Director of Compliance Education Services asked Cam what he thought was appropriate placement. Cam was all in for full-time placement at his home high school, expressing his renewed commitment. He told the team that if they were to place him in the self-contained program, he wouldn't go - that he knows that in Illinois, once he turns 17 (March 1st), there are no issues of truancy and he can just drop out.

I echoed those same sentiments, including why I felt the self-contained program was not an appropriate placement.

Then the district team members gave their perspective. Apparently they'd all had some sort of divine intervention, because they cumulatively decided the self-contained program was not the best placement for Cam. Now? They felt it was in Cam's best interest to attend his home high school for periods 1-3 (History, PE, and Band), and then attend the night school program full-time.

This would allow him to stay involved in music and in the high school community, while giving him access to a program that he has shown "significant success" with - computer based learning.

Side note? He has had 1 computer based learning summer school class, and 2 weeks of computer based credit recovery experience ... compared to 2-1/2 years of traditional education where he is still on track to graduate with his class.

This placement would mean he would leave for school at 7:00AM - return home at 10:30AM - leave for night school at 5:15PM - return home at 9:45PM ... Monday through Friday.

Not only that, I would be responsible for transportation to night school (night school is not a special education placement, therefore transportation is not the responsibility of the district) and since it is held at a high school in our district that is 17 miles away, this equates to roughly $100/month in fuel costs.

I thanked them for their time, and let them know that Cam and I would be discussing if this was an acceptable placement and would return all necessary paperwork by the end of the week.

Cam wants to keep fighting for what is right - full-time placement at his home high school. I think Cam's request is not only reasonable, but the best placement option for him, and as his mom, I must advocate for his decision.

On Friday, I checked the "I do not agree ..." box, sent an email to the team informing them of Cam's decision   and thanking them for their attempts at resolution, and prepared - again - to contact the Illinois State Board of Education to request mediation.

Three hours later, things took an unexpected turn ...