Our school may not have the "program" YOUR Child needs.....

A parent with a young Child goes to enroll her very sweet little girl.....in her neighborhood school today....at SHUTTLE Elementary in Tamarac, Florida. (Not really the name of the school....) The office person that was there to help with registering new students was a nice lady I'm sure and just doing her job. My friend was asked about her 2 Children that she was registering today. She tells the nice lady behind the desk that her daughter has Down syndrome. Oh boy.....THAT was mommies first mistake because once you mention you are REGISTERING YOUR CHILD WITH DOWN SYNDROME, then things are handled differently for sure! The office person told my friend, "Have you had an IEP meeting with anyone from OUR school? OUR school might not have "the program" needed for your daughter.

My friend is a good Advocate for her two Children and moved to a new apartment over the summer just to make sure her Children would be in the boundry of that really NICE school! She also made sure this NICE school had what she knew her two Children needed and one is an ESE PreSchool Program for her little girl! Her little girl attends a Special Needs Developmental PreSchool now, called UCP in Fort Lauderdale.  UCP knows that her little girl would be transitioning onto that particular Elementary school, one that UCP has told this mommie yes that school does have the ESE PreSchool program or PLACE as it has been called in recent years. Seems our School District here wants to call our 3-5 year old Special Ed PreSchool Programs something different every year...just to confuse parents....and some school staff people even! Some of the 3-5 year old ESE PreSchool Programs are 'secretly' NOT for our little ones with Down syndrome it seems...........I said....it seems....let's get the DATA so we know. That would be nice to know for sure!

OK Folks.....What IS this particular PROGRAM all these people are always talking about....for OUR little kiddos with Down syndrome????

There is an ESE PreK Program at Shuttle Elementary in Tamarac (aka as the PLACE Program) and the little girl is absolutely ELIGIBLE to ATTEND that program because of her AGE and her ESE Eligibility! So what gives when they find out there is a student with DOWN SYNDROME wanting to enroll and attend the school that is down the street from the parents house?

This IS an ongoing problem here in Broward County and lots of places around the entire Country! I know for a fact this IS a very common problem with the MIND-SET and 'secret policy maybe' here in Broward Public Schools! This is not the first time a parent has contacted me and asked me for help and what to do. Parents are being told something that just isn't TRUE when it comes to enrolling their Child *with Down syndrome into their neighborhood schools!

What CAN BE DONE about this ongoing DISCRIMINATION that parents are being told......?

SEEKING ADVICE about this all too common problem here in Broward County!

Would be nice to find out where MOST students with Down syndrome are attending school and what sorts of classrooms they are being educated in. Is there a way to find out this information? Someone please help make this "situation" right.....it is just not right! How would YOU feel if you were told oh no your Child can't come to THIS SCHOOL.......we may not be able to "meet your Child's needs here."

Really......just want schools to ACCEPT our Children and TEACH THEM! Is that asking too much?

This annoys me more than a little................................

Have a delightful day!

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BENSON goes to NOVA E ~ finally!!

(Below is an email I received from BENSON'S mom - just had to post here!)

Well I like to thank you Nancy for finally making it happen.... Benson is in Nova E Elem. like he was suppose to be last year because his name was picked out of the lottery. His 3 older sisters attend Nova too! He wasted a whole school year in a cluster program at another school in Broward! Oh sorry, not a whole school year, I forgot the 2 months that Broward County schools district left him behind without being in any school! I refused to let them force me to put my son in school I did not want him to go...his name was picked from the Nova E Lottery...that is where he was registered to go for Kindergarten...I went to the Kindergarten Round Up! Funny Nancy how they kept telling you and me how they had no record of him being registered there. How do they lose registrations of children after school starts?

I learned many things this past year:
1.) 90% of the people that say they know what is best for Benson, had never meet him.

2) there are beautiful laws that look good on paper, but make them work it is almost impossible.

3) definition of inclusion in broward county schools is a special need child inside a regular classroom as a guest and if possible far away from his peers.

4) discrimination from students toward special needs children starts with the way teachers introduce them to the peers.

5) if we could have more like "Nancy Harris" to advocate for our kids, cluster classrooms would be history, well maybe not for all but for those with Down syndrome anyway...

I don't really know how it will be at Nova E this year, I don't know how inclusion works in this school, what is the level of acceptance, but at least Benson is happy for now and that counts a lot for me and my family. I know we still have a long way to go, because while ignorance predominates the fight never ends for me to have good help for Benson to get an education in Broward Public schools. I am hopeful soon they will get it right and help me with my Benson because everyday is important for his education and his future success.

Thank you Nancy for not giving up on me or my son this past year!

Daniele ~ Benson's Mom

IEP after IEP after IEP.....HOW'S IT REALLY GOING IN BROWARD?

So many IEP's being held the last few weeks of school...I find it absolutely amazing that so many IEP meetings get scheduled at 'crunch time' just before the school year ends. I also it find it amazing how many of them are for our Children with Down syndrome....and my goodness what if parents are trying to be active participants in constructing their Child's IEP by making sure their PARENT INPUT is written into the 4 different domains! There must be a new push to try to make sure our parents words and concerns or issues are only allowed to be inserted in just the beginning section of the IEP document, the PARENT INPUT section. Where is it written to say that parents are NOT ALLOWED to provide anymore written words or parent input anywhere else on that wonderful IEP document?


This seems to be the new PUSH for our district here in Broward County that I have come across on a number of occassions...and that is to NOT ALLOW PARENTS the right to be active participants in creating the IEP document, throughout the entire document and that includes anywhere on the IEP document where needed!


So many of the pre-written up IEP DRAFTS have only the SCHOOL staff's side of the PLP=Present Level of Preformance of that child. I would think that the parents percpective would be a vital piece of information that the school would want to know about!...again...it seems our district is trying to do something that certainly does NOT MAKE SENSE...won't be the first time!


What is with that  DRAFT too....being all set up and ready to go before our IEP meetings have ever been held? The supports and services all done...PLACEMENT DECISSIONS being done by...'who' ahead of the meeting?...hmmmm...this seems to be our school principals and our districts way of controlling our IEP meetings and placement decisions and certainly where and what type of supports our Children need. Is inclusion encouraged for our little kiddo's with Down syndrome....ABSOLUTLY NOT!!! Seems Broward County Schools would rather encourage parents to file for a Due Process instead of allowing parents to be active and involved decision makers for their Child's educational needs! I think this is about not wanting to have our Children in General education classrooms anymore! There seems to be a bigger push to exclude and segregate our Children from the General school population with their non-ESE classmates!


Parents, if you haven't attended a parent training near you, it's time to start educating yourselves on how to become a confident advocate for the things you believe in! If I hear that 'there is no funding' one more time..........is it ALL about funding or is about taking away what can be funded because there IS FUNDING for our Children?


The "I" seems to have been taken out of the Educational Plan more and more!!