A Very Long Post with a Questionn at the End

[Guest guest]

I have a question. A year ago(school year), I spent from August through

May trying to put a 504 plan in place for my then 9th grade HOH son. He

has attended private school since 1st grade (which he repeated). His

progressive hearing loss was finally diagnosed in the summer before 4th

grade. He began wearing hearing aids. At the time, I contacted the

Providence Special Education department, but was told that given his

private school status, they did not have to work with him. (Keep in

mind that at that time our mayor was a convicted felon who has since

been reincarcerated for breaking federal laws-this is revelant in

understanding the climate here.)

Eventually, I learned that my son was entitled to IDEA services and

began to work with a special ed committee in the summer of 2004. He was

evaluated at School. They made many recommendations. Most of them

were easily dealt with. I met with my son's teachers and asked them to

make the pertinent accomodations and they did, as they always have. For

the official 504 Plan, I asked only two things, both recommended by

: a new FM system (the old one, which we had purcased was broken

beyond repair) and a note-taker for history and English classes. I met

with the special ed committee every 2-3 weeks for 9 months. While they

were outwardly pleasant, they avoided serious discussion about the

recommendations. I wouldn't agree with their non-accomodations and we

continued to meet.

I eventually got in touch with someone higher up at the RI state board

of education. She felt that I had cause and advised me to call a final

meeting to determine if I would go to mediation. She didn't think that

I would have to go to mediation, but that given the group of people I

was working with, the threat would be enough. She told me what to say

and even coached me in the words I should use in order to set the

proper foundation for later action. I prepared handouts for everyone at

the meeting to make sure that they would have to admit that various

topics had been covered in specific ways.

The meeting was held at my sons school with the committee, his

teachers, academic advisor, and others involved with him. He goes to a

small school with pre-K-12th grade where everyone knows each other.

That meeting has become famous (or infamous) as " the bizarre meeting

when the woman from the Providence school department was looking for an

excuse to walk out " . Teachers who weren't there refer to it with

amazement. I can finally think about it without becoming terribly

depressed and angry. During my introductory remarks at the meeting, I

referred to the woman at the RI board as " the state head of special

education " . That was the wrong title. The Providence administrator told

me I was a liar (for stating the wrong title), and was insulting her

and the rest of the committee. They all stood up and walked out of the

room and I never heard from them again.

I found out later that they were stalling because the federal law that

would cover my son was to change soon and they believed that they would

not have any responsibility for him after the change unless he was

grandfathered. I found this out from others in the school system. At

that point, I was so discouraged that I gave up, paid for a new FM

system and cobbled together a note-taking system for my son that is

complicated but seems to work, usually.

About a month ago, I read in the newspaper that someone in a similar

situation sued the board of education here, in court and won.

Yesterday, I received a call from my son's school. Someone from the

federal government's No Child Left Behind office was inquiring about

the services my son was receiving from the city school board.

Now for my question: does anyone know the connection between No Child

Left Behind and IDEA? NCLB got my son's name from someone, I'm assuming

at the Providence board of education. However, I don't think we have

any official relationship with them as no 504 plan has been filed. Our

relationship with them ended a year ago. Could they be claiming a

relationship and getting funds for my son? If they are, I certainly

want to revisit the note taker question with them, particularly since

my son has been unable to wear one of his hearing aids since March due

to an infection, and there is no prediction about when he will be able

to use it again.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for sticking it out and any information

you can provide.