's adventure

[Guest guest]

Letter to the principal. The names have been changed to their title for

clarity, and street to busy busy street. School is dismissed at 3:10,

and the busses leave at 3:15, so things empty out very quickly. Busy

busy street is 4 lane, with a speed limit of 45 mph, and people race

along like maniacs, no matter they are in a school zone. And of course,

the horrific thought about children being grabbed and taken away...

happens way too often, so I don't think we're nuts to not want our 12

year old, developmentally delayed daughter standing alone on a busy

street. But we'll see what they say! I called the RSP/Case Manager the

next day to report all this, and she did not tell anyone as far as we know.

Dear Principal,

I am writing to express my concern for an incident that happened at

pickup on Thursday Dec 9th. I was waiting by the stairs after school

like I normally do. Sammy finally arrived at about 3:30 and said that

didn't meet her at room xxx, and that she had gone to the

office and had them call over the PA system. Apparently

(according to Sammy and later verified by the teacher) 's

teacher called the office (while Sammy was waiting there) and said

was coming to meet her sister at the usual spot, so Sammy

returned to her spot and waited, but never showed up. So, we

drove around to the front of the school and came into the office, where

Principal's Secretary said that she had just seen wandering

slowly through the office towards the back door, but didn't know where

she had gone. She seemed surprised at my concern, and chucked a little

bit saying " well she's here somewhere, she's fine. " Meanwhile,

's last period teacher (the sub for science) arrived in the

office and introduced herself and explained that had been

upset because she was having trouble looking through the microscope and

drawing, so that she had provided an alternative to look at. However

this took time, and so when class ended, still had some work

to do and was apparently concerned about doing this as homework. So,

the teacher " didn't know what to do " so she helped her finish the

incomplete work, then sent her off to meet her sister. The aide had

apparently waited with her, and brought her to the office, then left.

When I later asked RSP/Case Manager what the message said, she replied

that it said " Kerrigan, come to the office " so no doubt this

is why the sub aide took here there. All I can figure out is this is

when Principal's Secretary saw her ambling though the office. We

believe that she went to meet Sammy, but by this time, it had to have

been at least 3:30 if not after. I waited at the office and Sammy went

to search the school, *eventually finding not at their meeting

spot but down on busy busy street. She was completely alone.

*Obviously, having her waiting alone out on the street is unacceptable

to us, and hopefully to the school as well.

The science teacher sub bristled when I learned that at the end of the

day, had both a sub teacher and sub aide, and informed me " she

was a credentialed teacher. " I have no doubt she is an excellent

teacher, but my only point was, when 1:1 Aide is out, things are more

likely to go wrong, and when the classroom teacher is also out, the

likelihood of problems is even greater. Sammy could have sat in front

of room xxx until 3:35 or so and would have eventually showed

up. But, Sammy waited plenty of time from when she was told "

left to meet her sister " and never showed up. The last time

went missing, she was found in the PE locker room about half

hour after school had ended, so Sammy knows that when things are not

" typical " she needs to respond right away (which she did by requesting a

call on the PA) We are uncomfortable not knowing where she is.

I can think of several things that could have occurred to prevent this

type of miscommunication, and I invite discussion to figure out a plan

so that is not wandering around school alone. First, the sub

science teacher knew it was getting late after school, and wanted to

hurry her along, but wanted her to finish incomplete work (she didn't

want her upset again.... very good intentions.) knows my cell

phone number, had the teacher simply picked up the phone and said

" is finishing work in room xxx " everything would have been

great (of course, this would have had to be noted somewhere in the sub

folder for this to reasonably happen.) Or, had the sub aide understood

known the teacher told Sammy to go to the meeting spot, and had she not

brought to the office instead, the would have made

it to the meeting spot before we left to come looking for her. I wonder

if the teacher and aide communicated as to where each of them though

was going, as the teacher phoned and said " meeting her sister "

and the aide heard " to the office. " It seemed like everyone we saw,

including office staff, was aware that was not where she was

supposed to be after school, so had Principal's Secretary or other staff

member kept her in the office this could have been resolved without

standing out alone on busy busy street. I am very certain

that encountered at least one staff member who knew her and

had head the " Kerrigan come to the office. " message and yet

she kept on doing her own thing.

As usual, when I relayed this type of situation to RSP/Case Manager on

Friday, she immediately tried to place blame on both Sammy (for not

being where she was supposed to be, even though didn't make it

to the meeting spot until sometime after 3:30), and then ( " she

should know that she shouldn't go down the stairs by herself " ) When I

mentioned that had been noticed " ambling " around by at least

one staff member and wouldn't that have been great if once they'd heard

the message " come to the office " that they actually said " hey, sit down

here " rather than letting her " amble " through, RSP/Case Manager laughed

and said " well, it wasn't unusual to see her walking around, they

wouldn't have noticed that she wasn't where she was supposed to be! "

Really, in all liklihood, it was Principal's Secretary who made the

announcement, as I didn't see any other secretaries in the office at

that time!

As you know, we are very conscious of 's safety, and although

these situations don't happen daily, I am concerned with the cavalier

attitude of both Principal's Secretary (acting like I was crazy worrying

where was) and RSP/Case Manager towards her being unaccounted

for and standing down on busy busy street. Of course we have told her

that she is not to go down the stairs without Sammy. However, what

people seem to forget is that children with disabilities don't always

act in a predictable manner, and that is why we can't just expect that

when there is a change in her routine, that everything will happen just

like it is supposed to. RSP/Case Manager knew that there was a sub aide

and a sub science teacher for last period, and if fact had gone over

late in the class to check on . She recognized there was a

chance with 2 subs things might go wrong. Yet, they still did because

in the end, no adult was responsible for making sure that was

safe. I don't know why the sub science teacher told her to go meet her

sister when the message said " come to the office. " I don't know why she

wasn't kept in the office once the aide dropped her off there. But I do

know that was at significant risk by standing alone down on

busy busy street.

I'm sure we can discuss this further at the Jan 6th IEP meeting, but I

wanted you to be aware of this now and get any questions answered while

it was still fresh in people's minds.

Sincerely,

Kerrigan

[Guest guest]

Did you send your letter? Any response? If you haven't sent it yet, I would

recommend that you CC the Dir. of Sp Ed and the Superintendent and all the

school board members also.