The Hurry Up and Wait Shuffle

Sellene turned 10 last week.

A few days before her birthday we had the IEP meeting at her school. The District had a few meetings as well. We are nearly two months in to the school year and this is where we are at;

• Sellene has participated in 0% of the grade 5 science cirriculum
• Sellene has participated in 0% of the grade 5 Social Studies cirriculum
• Sellene has done none of her completed work within the classroom. It’s all done with a one to one support person outside the classroom.
• Sellene participates in about 5% of what her class does during a day.

That’s not inclusion. That’s not education. And it’s sure as not fair.

School District 73 has a Special Education Policy. It states, in part, that ;

The Board of Education recognizes that all students should have the opportunity to develop to their individual potential. The Board supports the provision of the most enabling learning environment for all students.

I brought a copy of this policy to our meeting and asked the question to our school staff. Do you feel Sellene has been placed in the most enabling learning environment given her needs?

Since then, I have been informed that the District Resource Program Screening Committee will review Sellene’s file and make a decision about possibly placing her in a resource setting. This isn’t the best place for Sellene either, and I question how much instructional time she will receive, but it can’t get worse than what she is going through right now. That committee meets November 14th. So another three weeks floats away while Sellene reads Captain Underpants books in the back of the room.

They sure play fast and loose with the school year. Remember, we asked them to start planning in January. November 14th is nearly a year later…