The Time Has Come

Well its that time of year we all anticipate with mixed excitement and fear- no not the Chocolate Festival- the first day of school. Actually it has gone pretty well the last 2 years. In the first 3 years Dakota was with us he had 3 different schools. Many public schools (we learned the hard way) don't have the resources for children with learning disabilities.

When Dakota first came to us we decided a public school might not have what he needed (e.g. small class size) so we looked at private schools. Unfortunately, private schools don't have to accommodate special needs so most we found didn't. In fact, one local high dollar Catholic school said "We don't take THOSE type of children". I had the most un-Christian impulse to douse her in holy water and say "Careful lady, yours would be the easiest habit I ever kicked" (sorry for the bad pun). 

Now don't think that we were difficult or Dakota was kicked out of those schools (if a school ever asked us to leave it would be because of me not him); it was because of insane policies. His first school had the special ed. programs but it was not in our district and kids in that district get priority. The second school was in our district but the principal had the opposite policy. She let so many kids in (though she thought more about how much money people had than the children) that he was in a K class with 22 other children and it was disastrous. Dakota hated it and we were called in at least once a week.

He is in a good school now in a class of no more than 7 kids and he is doing well- but it took work. We had to insist: we went to the school administration board, we had meetings, Dakota was tested over and over- it wasn't easy. 

I understand that its a tough position for schools with only so much money. And after all, while Dakota is certainly the most important child ;-) he is not the only one. But (here's that but again) writing reports and getting the boxes checked off on your paperwork can't be more important than whether or not Johnny is catching on. I used to go along with what they suggested until I remembered that my kid wasn't as important to them as he was to me. So I learned to say NO: to the red tape, the easy way, the passing of the buck- you name it. No is a powerful word...just ask Dakota, he tries it all the time.