Concerned Parent Group of Colchester

Parent Statement #4





Please read this statement into the minutes and attach it to them. We've been extremely dissatisfied
with the Special Education experience that our family has had to endure. We have brought our concerns to the Special Education Educators, Director of Pupil Services, one Board of Ed member, the Chair of the Board of Ed, and even the Superintendent and have seen no changes. We entered the Special Education department in the fall of 2010, our son was released from Birth to
Three to the Colchester Public School District with services in Speech. After getting no answers, we sought out outside service evaluators and brought the results and evaluations to the PPT meeting in April 2012. We were justly concerned about our son's education and progress. During this PPT meeting, the Director of Pupil Services noted to us, while holding the private evaluation reports in her hand, that she did not have to take any of the suggestions from the private evaluators and the Colchester School District could simply disregard the evaluations altogether. We were taken aback, and appalled, that a school administrator would not consider evaluation results to help better the education and progress of one of the school district's students. We incurred the hundreds of dollars in costs for these private evaluations as the Colchester School District had refused to listen to our concerns and evaluate our son themselves. Consequently, once we commissioned the private evaluations and incurred the costs ourselves, the Director of Pupil Services rejected them. My husband and I left that meeting upset and lost on what the educational future was for our son. 

Due to our frustration and experience with the Director of Pupil Services, we decided to send our son to a magnet school for
Kindergarten. Unbeknownst to us, the Director of Pupil Services continued to oversee and attend our PPT meetings. Our first PPT was held in October 2013 with my son's school administrators and the Colchester Director of Pupil Services in attendance. My son's goals and objectives of the IEP were reviewed and discussed. Our son was doing very well at the magnet school. We were told that it did not seem relevant to address his Sensory Diet, part of his IEP, at this time as it was a new school and his transition was smooth. My husband and I made it VERY clear that we were fine not addressing this part of the IEP at this time. However, we noted that his sensory goals and objectives should NOT be taken out of the IEP. We never signed off on or agreed to the permanent removal of his sensory goals and objectives in his IEP. They were to stay in the IEP and that was the agreement.
 
In the Fall of 2014, my husband I reviewed our son's IEP goals and objectives and were shocked and upset to discover that his Sensory Goals and objectives had been removed from his IEP in October 2013 after our first magnet/Colchester School District joint meeting. This action is in direct violation of the Federal idea law Regulations: Part 300/D/300.324/a (4) (ii) which sates “If changes are made to the child's IEP in accordance with paragraph (a) (4) (I) of this section, the public agency must ensure that the child's IEP Team is informed of those changes.” In the IEP it says that “Mr. and Mrs. xxxxxx are in agreement with the proposed plan.” We were not. We never committed to having his Sensory Goals and objectives removed from his IEP. The Colchester Director of Pupil Services misrepresented the PPT discussion in the IEP documents and this is exactly why she should no longer be chairing PPT meetings. 

In the spring of 2014, a PPT meeting was scheduled to discuss our son's progress on his IEP. My husband was away on business travel on the date the Colchester School District chose for the meeting. I, myself, was extremely ill and had caught the stomach flu bug. My husband contacted all the administrators and educators from the Magnet School and Colchester School District in the early morning to communicate that we needed to reschedule that day's scheduled PPT. The Director of Pupil Services informed us that I “needed to show up because they were going to hold the meeting with me or without me.” This action is in direct violation of the Federal Idea Law Regulations: Part 300/D/300.322/d, which states “Public agency responsibility -general. Each public agency must take steps to ensure that one or both parents of a child with a disability are present at each IEP Team meeting...” We kindly asked to reschedule the meeting and the meeting should not be held without my husband's or I's physical attendance. The Colchester Director of Pupil Services
disregarded our request and showed up at my son's Magnet School anyway to carry out the previously scheduled PPT meeting. The Magnet School staff informed her again that the meeting would have to be rescheduled, as the meeting would not be held without the parents in attendance. She persisted to have a meeting to discuss when they would meet up again. The Colchester Director of Pupil Services was rude, disrespectful, and demeaning. 
 
I'm standing up here to tell you that the Director of Pupil Services has violated laws and on numerous occasions acted unprofessional,
offensive, and demeaning. She has contributed to changing goals and objectives on our son's IEP without consent
from my husband and myself. We want what is best for our children, whether they need special education services or not,
and we feel that the Colchester Public School System would want the same for
ALL children. We are asking you to take these complaints seriously and hold the Director of Pupil Services responsible
for her actions and ultimately hold the Superintendent Mr. Mathieu responsible, as he has been made aware of these complaints and has done nothing to rectify the situation. The Colchester Public School system, specifically Superintendent Mr. Mathieu and the Colchester Board of Education have failed to protect our children and the rights of our children. 


 


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