Crafty Mom Catches Teacher on Tape

[Kim Ii]

OneLostGirl/Texana,

Thank you both from the bottom of my heart for responding to my verbose post! Your kind words really do make me feel better about all of this.

Last night, Ryan also informed us that, on top of the things that Peter was saying to him during yesterday's class, Peter also told Ryan that he didn't UNDERSTAND that he was supposed to be reviewing Ryan's homework! Kind of explains the missing homework issue and the incorrectly done homework, doesn't it.

We have literally done everything in our power to advocate for our son here in this district. Unfortunately, our school district (San Ramon Valley Unified) has loads of money at its disposal (even though they'll tell you otherwise) and is not intimidated in the slightest with whatever threat of action you may take against it. They're attitude? BRING IT ON. We have a PR rept, a former radio DJ, who ensures his name and the good name of this district is in our daily newspapers on a regular basis, and we have a school board who is utterly clueless and refuses to motivate themselves to correct/change some of the issues which abound in our special ed program.

We have a special ed director who, in plain words, is just plain evil. She actually was up on a witness stand during one of our district's many OAH trials and stated that she didn't know a THING about the No Child Left Behind Act. Ryan, unfortunately, had to witness for himself during our own trial two years ago, his teachers literally getting up on that witness stand and just lying out of their teeth about all this one-on-one support Ryan was supposedly getting. When I took Ryan out of the trial at that moment to take him back to school, he was crying. It really upset him to see his own teachers lying about what was really going on in that classroom at the time.

Our school district, in just a little over a year, spent almost one million dollars fighting parents! If truth be told, if they'd just do their jobs and provide some of these deseprately needed services, it wouldn't cost them nearly so much.

Our Resource kids, in their core subjects, don't even have up-to-date books, if books at all! Totally illegal, I know, but if our County Superintendent was loathe to do something about this, until several of us parents called them separately to complain about, as it turns out, the very same issues. The CDE (CA State Dept. of ED) has been notified of many of these systemic issues, and I've just been told this week that they realize they need to look into all of this.

We live in an extremely wealthy area. We've no doubt that our Superintendent (who is stepping down this year, thank goodness) and our school board (save one of the members who is a really great guy) are all simply minions for the real political movers and shakers in this district. This school district has become very adept at making it LOOK like they care about these kids, when the simple fact is, they've been pulling the wool over everyone's eyes -- the majority of us, anyway.

Color me naive, but I just really had no idea how political our educational system has become. I have listened to Charlotte Iserbyt's admonitions about this country's educational system on GOOGLE and I have to say, at first, I really didn't know what to think.

Now that we have been put through the wringer here in our own school district and I have been witness to so much deceit, lies and just downright evil, I believe Ms. Iserbyt. These kids don't have a chance in heck in this school district unless they have parents who are really willing to strongly advocate for them.

This all makes me very sad.

 

[SLP]

I just happened across this thread, so rather than start an entirely new thread re: special ed/testing issues, I thought I'd post re: our son's situation here.

Our son was assessed by the Neuropsych Department Head at Children's Oakland three years ago. He was found to have profound dysgraphia, higher order speech/language issues and true deficits re: inability to understand principles behind math concepts.

So...

Our school district is notorious for not providing 'programs' for Resource students. In spite of our son's learning style differences, he was found to be a completely normal child in every way; he is not on the autism spectrum, thank goodnes. He is well behaved and well liked by both his teachers and students alike.

Our problem: We butted heads with this district re: the Resource math program (and I use that term loosely) they were providing Ryan. They placed Ryan in a classroom of students who are literally all over the page with varying degrees of grade level. There were 6th graders, 7th and
8th graders all in this particular program. Quite justifiably, we were wondering how on earth Ryan would be brought up to grade level in math (he's approx. one year behind his peers), given the varying degrees of disabilities seen with these other resource math students.

So...finally, we were proffered a different type program. We were asked back in DECEMBER of this past year, if we would agree to place Ryan into a pre-algebra math program -- i.e., a regular ed program, all the while continuing to use Ryan's Resource math teacher, Peter, as his support for this new pre-algebra program. The problem?

This Resource math teacher is green to the gills re: teaching and is a complete slug. We, and other parents as well, have had numerous issues with this particular teacher. He's a former Army Sergeant and among other things, was treating these students as you would any soldier in the army. I won't get into all of that -- let's just suffice to say that once Ryan told us what was going on with this teacher, we went to the Vice-Principal, who put an immediate stop to it.

The problem with this new math program? Ryan takes his new pre-algebra class during 7th period and proceeds to go to Peter's (resource math instructor) 8th period right afterwards. Ryan does not participate with the other students in this 8th period class, as he is performing work far above the level they are working on. Ryan sits by himself in the back of the classroom, performing the homework he has been assigned by his new pre-algebra teacher.

Peter provides little to NO actual support to Ryan during this time! Ryan has informed us from the beginning of his placement into this new program, that most all of Peter's time is spent trying to control these rather unruly, obstinate students who are also in this math period. In fact, we have been notified by Ryan's pre-algebra teacher that he is missing homework from the last two days of this past January -- a fact that just boggles our mind, because Ryan performs literally ALL his math homework from this new algebra class in Peter's classroom! So, if Peter is supporting Ryan during this 8th period classroom time, how come the missing homework?

We've been told that Dorothea and Peter (Dorothea is Ryan's algebra teacher) collaborate all the time.

Really.

It is quite obvious there is no true collaboration. Frankly, if, indeed, this homework was not turned in by Ryan for the last two days in January, Dorothea should have notified Peter immediately.

Plus, to add insult to injury, Ryan was literally garnishing straight A's in BOTH these classes from the beginning! We found out that, in our district, simply turning in homework and putting your name on it, garners you an A! In other words, fake grading all the way. Our district utilizes School Loop and literally, we were seeing all A+'s for Ryan in BOTH his 7th and 8th period math classes, but yet, when Ryan took a huge quiz in his algebra class, guess what...he bombed out completely and ended up with an F for his end of semester grade!

Literally, they were giving us false impressions as to how Ryan was doing all along. The really sad part is, RYAN really thought he was comprehending this work -- why wouldn't he -- he was making straight A's.

I am so angry about all of this. Further, today Ryan informs me that Peter confronted Ryan in his class today and stated to Ryan, in front of the other kids, that Peter actually has spent 1/2 hour each and every time Ryan didn't understand his new algebra homework. IF Peter were truly spending this much time with Ryan -- GREAT! Ryan has no earthly reason to lie about the amount of time Peter spends with him.

Peter's lying. He's been sending me emails galore, telling me how wonderfully Ryan is doing and that he understands every single thing. Further, about one month ago, Peter actually had the audacity to ask Ryan how Ryan thought he was doing in this new math program.

Of course, Ryan thought he was doing just swell and said so. Thereupon Peter told Ryan that he, Peter, was considering pulling OUT as Ryan's support for this new math program. This all happened BEFORE Ryan totally bombed out on this huge pre-algebra math quiz -- during which time I begged Peter to stay on as Ryan's support, thinking at the time that Ryan didn't need to have the rug pulled out from underneath him.

We have found a tutoring business called Mathnasium. Mathnasium is made up of highly credentialed math instructors who have a passion for teaching math. Several of them actually instruct at the high school level here in this district. We KNOW for a fact that ALL these instructors are considered to be better qualified/credentialed than Peter, who is totally green to teaching -- this is but his 2nd year teaching.

We have asked that Peter be pulled from this program and allow Mathnasium to, instead, be used as Ryan's support system for this new math program. The district's response? Peter is part of the package deal. Take it or leave it.

We haven't even asked this district to PAY for Mathnasium's services!

Anyone ever experience anything like this in your school district? If so, how in the world do you cope/strategize/advocate for your child with this sort of behavior?

Unfortuntely it sounds like you are not going to be able to get the resource teacher out of the equation. If your son still needs the resource help (and the school has covered LRE) and this is the math resource teacher the school is not going to let you cut him out. They legally can't if he still needs resource help.

If I was you I would concentrate on your worry which is your son learning the math. If you are worried about him not learning it, due to the resource teachers negligence, then that needs to be addressed. Instead of dealing with the issues with the teacher though (because that does not seem to be working) I would make sure his IEP is iron clad in the area. Meaning that you need to make sure that his goal and objectives are spelled out to cover everything (masterable at AT LEAST 70 percent) and measurable. Not measurable by Peter's opinion but by academic achievement testing. This leaves no room for wondering is your son is really being taught the material and mastering it. Peter can tell you how wonderful your son is doing but if your son does not learn the material it gives you the hard proof you need to show that your son is not doing as well as the teacher thinks and request something else be done. I hate to say it but accountability and measurable goals are everything in special education. I have seen too many kids IEPs where the only thing measuring if they are making progress in a resource class is a teacher's opinion and classroom work (which 9 times out of 10 they have help on). That is not good enough IMO.

I am glad that you are getting your son outside help though. If your son is not that far behind right now in math, and you can afford it, it may the best thing. It is not fair but you can spend years haggling with the school (which is emotionally draining, time consuming and can be expensive if you need an advocate) and collecting documentation to force the school to educate your LD child BUT by that time the child can be SO far behind.

Check his objectives though and revisit that subject in IEP meeting if you think it is needed. Is your son receiving any other services or modifications/accomodations in the classroom?

Also, since Peter is being a problem, I would keep my communication with him written only and business like. If he sends you e-mails telling you how great your son is doing, and you disagee, then respond with questions about specific areas that you are concerned about. Ask for work examples and let him know your concerns and what you are seeing. Don't let your personal feelings for him (even though he sounds difficult and not an ideal choice thats for sure!) get in the way of the big picture. Unfortunately you need him right now and whatever he can give you because he is part of your son's education team. Keep it all business! Good Luck!!!