A Mother's Freedom

Have you ever read an article on the President? I'm sure each of you have. Now with that taken into consideration, do you think that every article written has been consented by Mr Bush? Not even a chance. I've read articles that slander him up one side and down the other; more so, I've seen television shows that are rude and crude..... to the PRESIDENT. Do you know why this is, and how this can be done?

Let's take a walk down memory lane..... 1st Grade

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

That's right boys and girls; it's the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This is how those articles are written and published; freedom of speech. Now that our history lesson for today is complete, shall we move on with the regularly scheduled post?

Today I was finally able to speak with a gentleman from the BOE about my complaint on "the aide and the missed meds". He stated that in section"blah blah blah" article " blah de blah" that if a complaint was filed 10 days after the incident we didn't have a leg to stand on (my words, not his). Now this is the first I've heard of this 10 day rule; it's funny how they want to enforce these day rules when it's to their benefit, but God forbid if parents want to enforce day rules when they fail to follow procedure and not give an 8 day notice of an IEP. Pffft, but who are we? Ya know?

Back to the facts at hand. Upon him advising me this, I advised him that I would then just contact the state and go from there. He asked who it was we had been talking to at the state. I advised him that was something that I'd rather not disclose, seems this upset him and he made it a point to advise me that they are open to the public and anyone could contact them. I agreed and again advised him that I didn't wish to disclose that info. He asked that after speaking with the state contact that I could have them to call him directly to discuss anything further.

He then proceeded to advise me how he'd been given printed copies of Faith's blog and how several staff members were upset about their names being mentioned. Well now, is that so? First of all they are PUBLIC servants who work for the PUBLIC, anything I wish to say (reminder, our history lesson on Amendment 1 of the US Constitution) about them to the PUBLIC is just that. My freedom of speech. I haven't "slandered" anyone, or for that matter said anything untrue. Now take more time to ponder this. They're upset? Why? They don't like this being brought to the public attention? After his statement of their "unhappiness"; he proceeded to tell me that he would "have to contact their lawyer to see what could be done about this". Guess what? NOTHING!!!! Reminder: 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution (God I love my country!) Lastly let me say that this gentleman was very nice and professional; even after the point in the conversation when I became an emotional train wreck, he was very kind and stressed "off the record" how he respected me for standing up for my child.

Beyond all this drama; I've been calling for the past 2 days to get Faith's school records, from the first day her foot went inside the door to the last day that I drug her out because of an aide attitude problem. Needless to say, I've gotten from everyone (aside from the very helpful school secretary) a "we'll get to if we can, when we can" attitude. I'll be paying a visit to the school tomorrow morning to see if it's complete. If not, then I have the right to stand there and copy each and every page; oh yes. Let's not forget, they're charging us 20 cents per page copied. Unbelievable. But, that's fine. I'd pay as much as it took to get those records.

I also would like to take this oppurtunity to clarify a few things. First of all, not all of Faith's school years have been like this. The first two years of Faith's schooling were wonderful, however we've still fought for Faith to have a 1:1 aide from day (1); as we knew all good things must come to an end. . Wonderful teachers, wonderful aides..... small classroom. Faith got the attention she needed, even though one person was not assigned to her. I didn't worry and I didn't feel Faith was falling behind because of the lack of attention. She then moved on to the larger classroom with more needs, this is where it started to get alarming. In the middle of the school year the BOE made us remove Faith from that school (Nutter Fort) because it was not her "home school". We had moved to another town and the BOE advised us Faith could no longer attend Nutter Fort. They called us after dropping Faith off at school that morning and advised us that we had to come get her, no waiting and no notice and it couldn't wait until the end of the day. We had to come get her "now". This of course ended up being an absolute blessing in disguise! Faith started Big Elm and the teacher and aide there were as wonderful as when Faith had first started school. I dropped Faith off in the mornings and not one worry came to mind about her; I trusted these people with my daughter and I knew in my heart that they were there to make a difference in Faith's life.... and they did! The improvements Faith had made were wonderful; these teachers/aides were there because of the kids. I miss them so much; I really do. I would do anything for Faith to be able to be in one of their classes again. I've seen Faith regress so much from just last year leaving Big Elm to this year going back to Nutter Fort . It makes me so sad. I have not taken the opportunity to thank these teachers/aides for what they've done and I would like to do that now.

For all the teachers, aides and therapists who have made a difference in Faith's life, and been so much a part of her growth: Thank You. I truly love you all dearly for what you've done for my little girl. I miss you so much and I'm sure if Faith could do it, she'd express her thanks also. I know she remembers you all and misses you as much as I do. I'm sorry that I didn't take the time to do that before, but you know who you are when I express my gratitude.