A Mother’s Struggle in the Public School System

Oh No, They Didn’t! Unfortunately, upon entering the second grade, he was forced to transfer schools because the speech therapist was no longer working out of his school building. They say that drastic changes can have negative effects on children. This is exactly what happened when a school board’s decision tore our family apart. A week before school started, I received a letter from the Board of Education. This was done every year so that parents are prepared for the first day of school. The notice would have the home room number, teacher’s name, and a class schedule. It also included back-to-school events to kick off the school year. When I opened the letter addressed to my son, everything was as expected until I looked at his placement. It was in a different school zone, and I was sure that they had made a mistake. I figured that his name got mixed up with a transfer student. I checked my emails and phone messages to be sure that no one tried to contact me. Then I dialed the number to the Special Services department listed on the letterhead. “Hello, I’ve received a placement notice with the incorrect information. Can you please direct my call to someone who can correct this?” The operator said, “Please hold.” A few minutes later, the same operator returned and told me that the director was on a phone call but someone would be able to speak to me shortly. I said okay and remained on hold. After another five minutes, a different person introduced herself and asked for my son’s name. When I gave it to her, she confirmed that his placement was not an error. I could not believe my ears. “How is that possible when I have other children in the same household attending another school?” From the change in my voice, she knew that I was very upset. Before I could tell her about herself, she offered to forward my call to the director. I abruptly declined her offer by saying, “No, that will not be necessary. Please tell the director that I am on my way to see her in person.” Afterward, I grabbed my keys and headed straight to the Board of Education. When I arrived, I went to the front desk and printed my name on the sign-in sheet. Then I sat down right outside her office door with my legs crossed. The secretary told me that she was on another conference call. I politely said that I would wait. A few minutes later, the secretary’s phone rang. After answering, she grabbed a manila folder from her desk. “You may go in now,” she said. The director introduced herself and apologized for having me wait. She explained, “Because of the sudden changes in the school district, I had been talking to parents all day. Unfortunately, the relocation of the speech therapist changed the school location of your son as well.” When she was done, I wanted to make sure that I was understanding her correctly, so I asked, “Are you telling me that the speech therapist who was working with his school last year is now working out of another school, so he will have to attend that school in order to receive his services?” She replied, “Yes, I’m deeply sorry that things happened this way. There is nothing that I can do. We only have one speech therapist, and she’s assigned to different school locations throughout the week. The school that your son would be attending is the only school that offers special education classes for the upcoming second grade.” I just broke down and started crying right in front of her. I don’t understand how changes like that can occur without proper notification or consent from a parent or guardian. Also, why was there only one speech therapist for second-graders in the district? There was no time to prepare my son to be separated from his family and friends. Absolutely no consideration was given for the chaos this caused parents like me. For starters, I had to transport my three children back and forth between schools. Each day, I was five to ten minutes late picking up my other children because the schools let out at the same time. When I tried to sign him out early, that caused issues with the pick-up arrangements at the new school because I was disturbing classroom instruction. For the entire school year, our days started and ended in madness, and things did not get better in class. There is a huge distinction between communities that have wealth and others without it. It affects everything, especially the education of our children as they are forced to attend schools in bad areas with limited resources.