A very happy day due to a supreme court ruling.

We tried public school, two times in fact. The first time I did not tell them about Spencer's special "issues". The second time I was very up front with the school.
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The day before school actually started we had a"meet your teacher" event. This was at Howard Elementary. Spencer's teacher was brand new and oh so young. She wore a cross necklace, so I had hoped there was some hope. The reality was she was NOT ready to deal with 30 or so wiggly kids and she actually quit half way through the year. Now, the other 4th grade teacher was a man, I can't remember his name, and wouldn't post it here anyway.
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I was told he would be teaching the higher level of 4th grade math, so I went to talk to him about Spencer. The conversation went a little like this:
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Me: "Hi, I hear you will have my son in your math class"
Him: "Maybe, they have to be tested and placed first"
Me: "Well, you teach the higher level math then?"
Him: "Yes"
Me: "Well, then you will have Spencer."
Him: "We will see about that"
Me: "Well, then you will have Spencer and I wanted to give you some information"
Him: "Ok, what?"
Me: "Well, though Spencer is in the 4th grade he is way above grade level and easily gets bored. So it will be necessary to possibly provide alternate work for him so he does not disrupt class and can reach his full potential"
Him: "He will do the work with the other kids, I don't have time for special requests"
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So that was neat. They do special requests for kids who don't speak English as their first language, they do special requests for all sorts of kids, but just not Spencer I guess.
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Spencer was sent to the office nearly every day. He was even suspended. They treated me like I was some terrible mother and wouldn't give me any respect at all. We even gave them authorization to speak with Spencer's therapist. They wouldn't call and get the records.
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Spencer has one of the forms of Autism. He can't handle lots of little people moving around, he can't handle noise on both sides of his head, and he has a VERY strong sense of right and wrong and will not tolerate other kids not behaving. His sense of just is very advanced as well. When the other kids were acting out and he was punished in the group for it, he couldn't handle it.
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So they wouldn't verify he had a diagnosis, they wouldn't give him special help, and they kept writing him pink slips or whatever they are called, so we left.
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We couldn't affor the private school tuition, but I had to make it happen. The last day he attended Howard, he got in the backseat of the car, all curled up in a ball. He started sobbing and said things like "They hate me", "I don't want to live if I have to go here", and just a influx of other terribly negative things he was feeling about himself.
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Spencer's therapist had been working for years to get him to walk away from a situation instead of blowing up. One day at Howard, Spencer couldn't take another kid who kept hitting him. So he went to the office. He was suspended for it. The therapist was livid. We worked so hard to get to that moment, and they punished him for it.
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Well in Forest Grove the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of families being reimbursed for private school tuition when the public school is not able to meet the child's needs.
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I have wished for this for SO LONG!!!
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So I called the 4J office yesterday. I was directed to Larry Sullivan's office. An assistand answered the phone, she was annoyed the second I told her why I was calling.
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Her: "Have you retained legal counsel?"
Me: "No, should I?"
Her: "Do you plan on hiring counsel?"
Me: "No, I was hoping we would not have to go there, but if we do, then I certainly can"
Her:" Well, we might have to send this to our counsel"
Me: "Are you saying I have to sue the district to get the reimbursment?"
Her: (getting more aggitatied) "I am saying you are asking me a questions about a ruling that just came down yesterday and I don't know"
Me: "Well, then why don't you just say you don't know instead of asking me about lawyers and then get the question to a person who does know?"
Her: "I am just saying you might want to contact a lawyer"
Me: "Well, why don't we just figure out how to solve this without them and save all of us a lot of money"
Her: "This ruling could put a huge crunch on the school district"
Me: (getting more than mad) "Well, that is NOT my problem, tuition has put a huge crunch in my budget for years now. Now, IF the school had done their job well enough I would not be here right now asking for reimbursment, we gave your school and your district a chance and you blew it. And if you think just becasue you brought up the "lawyer" word you have intimidated me you better just think again"
Her: "Well, I will need to get your name, phone number, and the amount you are requesting and send it to somebody"
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And that is as far as I have gotten. It makes no sense to me that the Supreme Court would make this ruling and then each and every family wishing to make claim would have to file a suit in a court of law. Talk about wasting even more budget money.