Buh-Bye 2016

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye…

V’s been watching Sound of Music a lot lately! But no matter how you say it, we’ll be happy to have 2016 in the rear view. It’s been a tough year.

I’ll share a little about it…

Last school year, what started as a battle with the district over V’s program brought so much more to light, including abuse. It was such a slow process of discovery, we thought we were just dealing with program issues and the teacher seemed so compassionate and convincing, that we didn’t understand fully what had been going on until the last month of school, when we immediately withdrew V.

That abusive situation caused so much stress for V that it impacted her health. She’s a healthy kid, but at 55 pounds with compromised lungs, she has no reserves. Her doctor calls it “thin ice disease;” when something changes her status quo, she can get dangerously sick, quickly. She ended up in the PICU for pneumonia during a road trip over the summer. As one of her doctors said, “When your body is under that kind of stress everyday, it comes out in your health.”

After the initial transfer request to a different school in the district was met with “the deadline for a transfer request has passed,” we had a lawyer request V’s complete file, hoping the transfer would be taken more seriously. What we found in that file was a shocking discovery of how deep the injustices had been. In fact, nine different people, including specialists, therapists and district administrators had been involved in IEP violations. It was heart breaking.

V had always loved school, she’d had many years of a great program with wonderful people and good friends. With new personnel, that all changed and nobody cared. Realizing things could never be the same (the Director of Student Services told our lawyer that she had never even read V’s file) there was no other choice than to consider a home program. I have a full time job and have never really wanted to home school, but here I am. We just finally settled with the school district and V now has a home program that I manage.

V’s still working through issues caused by the school, its been a long haul. But knowing that she is safe and has better options for the future gives us hope.

I’ve been pretty quiet on my blog this last year, oh but I plan to more than make up for that in 2017. In addition to telling more about V’s school story, we’re planning a lot more adventures. Come along for the ride!

So buh-bye 2016 – Bring on 2017, we’re ready for a fresh start!