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A week ago, the Globe had a breathless article about school districts in the state doing .. something or other.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/22/metro/dozens-massachusetts-districts-faulted-asking-parents-sign-away-special-education-rights/
R. mentioned it to me. I was like, what was the problem? Yeah, I signed versions of that waiver at least twice, maybe three times (twice for A.’s testing, which was due in the spring and obviously could not happen, and I think something for T. but I am much less certain about that one). Duh. What were they going to do? All that testing is normed and has to be delivered in a very particular way; you could do it over Zoom but what would be the point? You could not use it for its intended assessment purpose. To be fair, she has a placement that is working fine, and my biggest concern was that they were going to make her go back sooner than she / we were comfortable with; I was not trying to get something changed.
But the article is bonkers in a lot of ways. The only push to adhere to the timelines came from DeVos / Trump, so obviously that is part of the overall Reopen Everything push — not something the Globe or even those particular writers is supporting, so why would they support this leg of that stool? No one seems to have enforced the waivers, and everyone was making a good faith effort. Asking us to sympathize with someone who was concerned their kid was going to mis out on an entire semester well ... join everyone else, please.
Because my kids have had IEPs from the beginning of their schooling (preK) and one had early intervention, and because we do try to get them various inclusive activities, we have made friends with a variety of people scattered around the region and their children. The arc of development is different in every single case, and sometimes you really do have to resort to an advocate or a lawyer to get a district to deliver the education they should.
But C19 is one of those things that means you have to be willing to make some exceptions and be a bit more tolerant. I have friends whose kids are at private special ed schools (tuitioned in by their districts who are unable to provide appropriate placement either in district or through their special ed cooperative). When March happened, day students at those schools went home and did remote like all the rest of us. And the residential students (I do not know anyone whose kid is in that situation) at those schools got to deal with all the negatives of congregate living (C19 hit those facilities, I have no idea how hard, because they are rarely in the news).
I have a hard time imagining — given the kinds of substituted services (which were helpful!) that my kids received — that it really matters _that much_ whether a remote learning kid (basically everyone mentioned in this article) was at one point in their service delivery pipeline or another. You are at home, in front of a device, with whatever support your family members can provide, and whatever someone can do via zoom.
I probably should not go around saying that anyone kicking up a fuss about signing waivers on timelines is being a dick. But I did. Find something more constructive to do.
I had R. sign into PowerSchool and opt for remote for both kids. Woooot!
I walked with M.
I walked the 3 mile loop by myself.
I spent a _lot_ of time on hold with Disney Cruise Line. The first time, after 45 minutes, I gave up to have a phone call with J. It was a lovely call. As always. The second time, I got what I wanted: holiday cruise moved to the following year. Wooohoooo!!!
A box from Imperfect Foods arrived, 1 of a 2 box delivery. However, the other box appears to have never actually shipped out, so I will be contacting them.
The sitter took T. to his swim lessons and then out to dinner (patio dining at Rail Trail). No track today.
A. decided that Adventure Academy did not look as awesome as the ads suggested, so we canceled. Canceling Adventure Academy was a super easy thing, and you get to still use the rest of your trial period. Kudos to them for having a non-evil subscription product.
I signed her up for BrainPop and Flocabulary. She had been asking about RNA, so I had her do the BrainPop about RNA. She watched it twice, and I answered questions. The first time through was super confusing, but the second time through she understood it a lot better and got out a couple jackets with zippers to illustrate her own explanation of it. She also worked on her Spanish in Duolingo. She was bored; I do not have her do enrichment / schoolwork unless she is bored. We also lifted weights.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/22/metro/dozens-massachusetts-districts-faulted-asking-parents-sign-away-special-education-rights/
R. mentioned it to me. I was like, what was the problem? Yeah, I signed versions of that waiver at least twice, maybe three times (twice for A.’s testing, which was due in the spring and obviously could not happen, and I think something for T. but I am much less certain about that one). Duh. What were they going to do? All that testing is normed and has to be delivered in a very particular way; you could do it over Zoom but what would be the point? You could not use it for its intended assessment purpose. To be fair, she has a placement that is working fine, and my biggest concern was that they were going to make her go back sooner than she / we were comfortable with; I was not trying to get something changed.
But the article is bonkers in a lot of ways. The only push to adhere to the timelines came from DeVos / Trump, so obviously that is part of the overall Reopen Everything push — not something the Globe or even those particular writers is supporting, so why would they support this leg of that stool? No one seems to have enforced the waivers, and everyone was making a good faith effort. Asking us to sympathize with someone who was concerned their kid was going to mis out on an entire semester well ... join everyone else, please.
Because my kids have had IEPs from the beginning of their schooling (preK) and one had early intervention, and because we do try to get them various inclusive activities, we have made friends with a variety of people scattered around the region and their children. The arc of development is different in every single case, and sometimes you really do have to resort to an advocate or a lawyer to get a district to deliver the education they should.
But C19 is one of those things that means you have to be willing to make some exceptions and be a bit more tolerant. I have friends whose kids are at private special ed schools (tuitioned in by their districts who are unable to provide appropriate placement either in district or through their special ed cooperative). When March happened, day students at those schools went home and did remote like all the rest of us. And the residential students (I do not know anyone whose kid is in that situation) at those schools got to deal with all the negatives of congregate living (C19 hit those facilities, I have no idea how hard, because they are rarely in the news).
I have a hard time imagining — given the kinds of substituted services (which were helpful!) that my kids received — that it really matters _that much_ whether a remote learning kid (basically everyone mentioned in this article) was at one point in their service delivery pipeline or another. You are at home, in front of a device, with whatever support your family members can provide, and whatever someone can do via zoom.
I probably should not go around saying that anyone kicking up a fuss about signing waivers on timelines is being a dick. But I did. Find something more constructive to do.
I had R. sign into PowerSchool and opt for remote for both kids. Woooot!
I walked with M.
I walked the 3 mile loop by myself.
I spent a _lot_ of time on hold with Disney Cruise Line. The first time, after 45 minutes, I gave up to have a phone call with J. It was a lovely call. As always. The second time, I got what I wanted: holiday cruise moved to the following year. Wooohoooo!!!
A box from Imperfect Foods arrived, 1 of a 2 box delivery. However, the other box appears to have never actually shipped out, so I will be contacting them.
The sitter took T. to his swim lessons and then out to dinner (patio dining at Rail Trail). No track today.
A. decided that Adventure Academy did not look as awesome as the ads suggested, so we canceled. Canceling Adventure Academy was a super easy thing, and you get to still use the rest of your trial period. Kudos to them for having a non-evil subscription product.
I signed her up for BrainPop and Flocabulary. She had been asking about RNA, so I had her do the BrainPop about RNA. She watched it twice, and I answered questions. The first time through was super confusing, but the second time through she understood it a lot better and got out a couple jackets with zippers to illustrate her own explanation of it. She also worked on her Spanish in Duolingo. She was bored; I do not have her do enrichment / schoolwork unless she is bored. We also lifted weights.