Right Before I Go to Bed, I Read This Sh*t - Almost another $200,000 worth

Deaf student left miles from home

"Pinellas school officials are investigating an incident Tuesday that left a 13-year-old deaf girl at the wrong bus stop, in the rain, more than two miles from her home"

"She tried to use sign language and other hand gestures, said her father, Joe Catalano. But the driver seemed frustrated and hurried her off the bus. Asked whether Heather tried to communicate with the driver through a written message, Joe Catalano said, "It never got to that point."

He added: "My daughter panicked and didn't know what to do.""

A 13 year old deaf girl.

Signing to the bus driver. Sign language we will presume that was professionally taught to her by an education system that recognizes special education.

Not a 13 year old girl saying "Fu*k you bro, I ain't gettin' off here!". Not a 13 year old girl all up in the bus driver's face. Not a 13 year old girl yelling and screaming. Because if she had done all of the above, a frickin referral would have been written, she would have been suspended from school transportation and sent to alternative school.

But no, we have a meek disabled, educated kid trying to tell an adult that the adult is wrong.

Fat chance that an adult that works for a public education system would even have a second thought about their actions being questioned, much less be questioned by a disabled kid (or parent for that matter).


I am quite sure this is forgotten:


Right bus, wrong stop, devastating consequences
Eric Martin died three years ago when a car struck him as he walked home from the wrong bus stop, 5 miles from home. Could it happen again?
By LOGAN D. MABE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 3, 2002

“Eric Martin, a sixth-grader at Walker Middle School, was 10 years old and 5 miles from home when he was dropped off at the wrong school bus stop Oct. 28, 1999. It was the first day of an after-school tutoring class, so he went home on a different bus with a different driver who had different bus stops.
In the growing darkness, Eric set out on the long walk from VillaRosa to his family's house in Wyndham Lakes. He was hit and instantly killed on Lutz-Lake Fern Road.
Kimberly Martin sued the Hillsborough County School Board claiming negligence on the part of bus driver Linda Moore, who was driving Eric's bus that day.
The case never went to court. The School Board settled out of court for the state-mandated maximum of $200,000. Martin says she didn't sue for money but to bring attention to what she calls a flawed system. “

"On the advice of legal counsel, the district's director of transportation declined to discuss procedures in the context of the Martin case. Mark Hart, the district's spokesman, released a statement saying that dismissal procedures are regularly reviewed. Bus drivers now get a "rollover" list of student passengers to help drivers at the beginning of the school year. And elementary school officials now have an instructional video tape on effective dismissals to watch.

Hart emphasized that these changes were in the works before Eric's death. "

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"Eric made it about 3 miles trudging along busy Lutz-Lake Fern Road before a Dodge Ram, driven by University of South Florida student Christine Matanane, hit him. Matanane said she tried to avoid the boy but couldn't. It was about 7:25 p.m., 40 minutes after sunset. Eric's parents had been driving all over looking for him.

A little after 9 p.m. sheriff's deputies delivered the news to Kimberly Martin. She knew why they were there before they said a word. "


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"The case never went to court. The School Board settled out of court for the state-mandated maximum of $200,000. Martin says she didn't sue for money but to bring attention to what she calls a flawed system.

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I despise the arrogance and ignorance of those who have the authority to abuse it.

The very ones that need our help the most are used for a cathartic expression of power and authority because they can't fight back without the unchallengeable retaliation that they face.

I fight the fight because they can't.

I mock and make snide, sardonic comments about the system because it is what it is, and I recognize it.

Prove me wrong.

"Suing the District" or "Filing a State Complaint"

Special Education is not for the faint of heart. It is about big money as much or more as it is about specialized instruction that is designed to meet the needs of a student with disabilities.


A comment from Personal Experience 6:28 about a parent having "sued the district time after time" gives rise to the question if the commenter understands the difference between due process, which is a highly formalized legal procedure (suing), and a state complaint:

§ 300.153 Filing a complaint.
(a) An organization or individual may
file a signed written complaint under
the procedures described in §§ 300.151
through 300.152.
(b) The complaint must include—
(1) A statement that a public agency
has violated a requirement of Part B of
the Act or of this part;
(2) The facts on which the statement
is based;
(3) The signature and contact
information for the complainant; and
(4) If alleging violations with respect
to a specific child—
(i) The name and address of the
residence of the child;
(ii) The name of the school the child
is attending;
(iii) In the case of a homeless child or
youth (within the meaning of section
725(2) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)),
available contact information for the
child, and the name of the school the
child is attending;
(iv) A description of the nature of the
problem of the child, including facts
relating to the problem; and
(v) A proposed resolution of the
problem to the extent known and
available to the party at the time the
complaint is filed.
(c) The complaint must allege a
violation that occurred not more than
one year prior to the date that the
complaint is received in accordance
with § 300.151.
(d) The party filing the complaint
must forward a copy of the complaint to
the LEA or public agency serving the
child at the same time the party files the
complaint with the SEA.
(Approved by the Office of Management and
Budget under control numbers 1820–0030
and 1820–0600)
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e–3)
(not suing)

*****************
As we should all know, the District has an obligation to provide the parents the rules of the game. This may be difficult if the front line District people don't know the rules themselves.

"§ 300.504 Procedural safeguards notice.
(a) General.

----
(2) Upon receipt of the first State
complaint under §§ 300.151 through
300.153 and upon receipt of the first
due process complaint under § 300.507
in a school year;

(c) Contents. The procedural
safeguards notice must include a full
explanation of all of the procedural
safeguards available under § 300.148,
§§ 300.151 through 300.153, § 300.300,
§§ 300.502 through 300.503, §§ 300.505
through 300.518, § 300.520, §§ 300.530
through 300.536 and §§ 300.610 through
300.625 relating to—

----
(5) Opportunity to present and resolve
complaints through the due process
complaint and State complaint
procedures, including—
(i) The time period in which to file a
complaint;
(ii) The opportunity for the agency to
resolve the complaint; and
(iii) The difference between the due
process complaint and the State
complaint procedures, including the
jurisdiction of each procedure, what
issues may be raised, filing and
decisional timelines, and relevant
procedures;

The Sound Of A Closed Door Can Be Deafening

There is something very intriguing about the doors to public education. I don’t know who built the first one, but I am sure that information could be found if one took the time. I have no doubt that the study of the origin and progression of public schools in our country would be a fascinating endeavor . I am also sure the following statement made by a former Teacher of the Year would not go without challenge:

“ The secret of American schooling is that it doesn't teach the way children learn
- nor is it supposed to. Schools were conceived to serve the economy and the social order rather than kids and families -- that is why it is compulsory.”



I throw that out there for others to attack or defend. The premise is why I have chosen it. The fact that even today there is much discussion about whether current influences on public education are self serving and not truly aimed at education is no different than the above premise.

I do know of two major social issues where it took the Federal Court to pry open the doors of public education that were obviously closed for two identifiable groups. One major door opening to the public as a whole was Brown v. Board of Education. Another major door opening to the public as a whole was the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA or the Act). One must read about the many other doors that had to be pried open before these two major doors were forcibly opened.

Since the mid 1990's this writer first learned about the secret that when the teacher's door is closed, it is their realm. In fact it was told to me in that way almost verbatim. The secret was dirty then, and it remains so today.

I have previously asked the question "what rights does a regular education student have to their education." The answer to that question increases in intrigue and difficulty when one compares it to the answer of the question "what rights does a special education student have to their education."

Understanding case laws that have shaped our public education system is a formidable task. Many of the people who work day in and day out may not even know or understand where the pressures come from that effect their daily routine. A door may be physically closed, and a parent may be physically kept out of the classroom, but is that really keeping the parent out of the classroom?


I have chosen a passage from a federal case HONIG, California Superintendent of Public Instruction v. DOE, et al. to make a point:

"Envisioning the IEP as the centerpiece of the statute's education delivery system for disabled children, and aware that schools had all too often denied such children appropriate educations without in any way consulting their parents, Congress repeatedly emphasized throughout the Act the importance and indeed the necessity of parental participation in both the development of the IEP and any subsequent assessments of its effectiveness. See 1400(c), 1401(19), 1412(7), 1415(b)(1)(A), (C), (D), (E), and 1415(b)(2). Accordingly, the Act establishes various procedural safeguards that guarantee parents both an opportunity for meaningful input into all decisions affecting their child's education and the right to seek review of any decisions they think inappropriate. These safeguards include the right to examine all relevant records pertaining to the identification, evaluation and educational placement of their child; prior written notice whenever the responsible educational agency proposes (or refuses) to change the child's placement or program; an opportunity to present complaints concerning any aspect of the local agency's provision of a free appropriate public education; and an opportunity for "an impartial due process hearing" with respect to any such complaints. 1415(b)(1), (2)."

If we examine this part of the statement, does this not "put the parent in the classroom" : "guarantee parents both an opportunity for meaningful input into all decisions affecting their child's education and the right to seek review of any decisions they think inappropriate?"