Savor Summer



As I've mentioned in previous posts, I work in a public school. I provide a special education service which means that I must follow a federal law governing the rights of the students. One of those rights is that parents can sue the school district if they make a case that appropriate services are not being provided to their child. For the first time in over 25 years in the schools, I was involved in such as case. The issue was more with classroom services than with my services, and our lawyer feels strongly that the school district will win. Nonetheless, I had to participate in the legal proceedings last week and testified for two hours. It is an understatement to say that it was a nervewracking experience, one that I hope never to have to repeat. I spent most of the day following my testimony laying around the house and trying to regroup. Gradually over the weekend I managed to pull myself together and my energy is returning. I'm now allowing myself to fall into my summer schedule--leisurely reading the paper in the morning, doing a major cleaning project in the morning, reading, stitching or quilting in the afternoon. Ahhhh. . .

(The design on the pillow? It was a freebie several years ago.)

Comments

  1. DebJuly 7, 2009 at 9:15 AM

    It is too bad that you had to go through all of that. There are always parents out there that have to raise a stink about something. Hope that everything goes well from this point on. And very cute pillow - maybe from now on you can savor your summer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Natalie SchwartzJuly 8, 2009 at 3:21 PM

    It’s unfortunate when parents feel compelled to file a lawsuit to address their concerns because it is often a lengthy and inefficient course of action. And I wonder if the student ultimately benefits. Lawsuits also force school districts to allocate precious, limited resources to legal fees. And, as in your case, lawsuits place teachers in yet another stressful, emotionally draining situation. You’re not alone. Several of the teachers I interviewed for my book, "The Teacher Chronicles: Confronting the Demands of Students, Parents, Administrators and Society," described similar situations. I believe many of these situations could be avoided and children would be better served if parents approached teachers as partners, recognized that teachers share their goal (the academic success of their child), valued the input of teachers, and respected teachers as experts in the field of education.

    Natalie Schwartz
    http://parentteacherpartnerships.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. MysteryKnitterMay 1, 2015 at 7:49 AM

    I am sad for such a mess you're in. I am glad you managed to stitch such a beautiful little pillow, though.

    ReplyDelete

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