Los Angeles unified

When did our education system become so political and complicated? when I was going to school I don't remember it to be like the way it is today. In elementary I would get dropped off and picked up. In middle school if I got in trouble they would call my mom or send a note home. In high school if I got in a fight then I would get suspended. If I was a good student then I would get good grades. Seemed simple straight to the point.

I have two kids one goes to elementary and the other to middle school, it seems that there is always something going on that I have to go to their schools because of this or that. which is fine because I choose to know whats going on and some how be involved with my kids and their schooling. however when I get there it seems like I can't even have a simple discussion with any of the school officials because they can't say this or they can't do that. It's like everything is hush hush and when I'm there sitting in one of their classes just to know what "my kid" is up-to, I feel so tense because I feel like the teachers are stressing that I am there.

It's like oh my gosh can everyone just calm down and relax, you don't have to be so uneased im not here to monitor anyone other than my kid! It's like everyone has to watch what they say or do because they might loose their job or get in trouble or maybe even sued. I guess this could be why children today are so over rated! Don't get me wrong it's great in all, but is it really our childrens best interest that everyone is so concerned about or is it their own?

another thing is when they say this is whats best for your child and sometimes i feel like they (they meaning the school system) are trying to munipulate me into believing this because it's really in the teachers and schools best interest or more conveniant that way; because I just don't feel like it really is benefiting them in the way it should. what sucks is if a counselor or another teacher disagrees they wont step up and say anything because they can't or are afraid to! Does anyone else feel this way or am I over reacting or over thinking this?

For instance one day I receive a call from the nurse that was assigned to my daughters class (which is a special education class); she says, Hi this is nurse (I will call her miss nurse) and I was just calling to let you know that your daughter is mistreated by the teacher (I will call her Mrs. teacher). I say, what oh no miss Laura loves my daughter she would never do anything to hurt her and miss nurse says no not miss Laura; she isn’t the teacher anymore her teacher is Mrs. teacher now! By this time I am so confused and don’t know what the heck is going on. (However I was going to go check on my daughter and her class because I noticed lately that she had been acting strange and didn’t want to go to school, she would cry every morning and say, I don’t want to go to school). Furthermore because my daughter at the time didn’t know how to express her self and explain to me if whether or not she was being mistreated by anyone, I wanted to go see what was going on!

Well Miss Nurse starts to cry over the phone and tells me this; I wanted to call you before but I didn’t want to get in trouble but now that I am suspended and might loose my job I am calling to tell you that Mrs. Teacher is always giving your daughter time outs for everything and anything even when it wasn’t her fault. Now I am pissed off because this Miss Nurse is only calling me to tell me this after Mrs. Teacher told on her for hitting one of the students so, now she is calling to tell on her and get her into trouble. Therefore if this is true I hate Mrs. Teacher and Miss Nurse just as much (I am sure you can assume why)!

First of all I didn’t even know that my daughter had a different teacher because the school or school district did not notify me at all.

This is what I did…..

I went straight to the districts office and spoke to the director of the special education program, the principal from county (the county because this is who was running the program my daughter was in at the time), and Mrs. Teacher and I asked them what the hell is going on? First I talked to the director from my school districts office and the principal from the county, I told them about the phone call I received from Miss Nurse. Second I asked them when I was going to be notified about Miss Laura not teaching the class (Miss Laura was absolutely wonderful and specialized in the area for special education) and about Mrs. Teacher (not qualified for special education but was only temporary) becoming the new teacher, and what the heck is going on with this whole situation???

Basically what it all came down to was that Miss Laura was being investigated for something that happened to another student in my daughters class (which later turned out to be false accusations), and that nothing could be said and everything had to be hush until the investigation was over, mean while they have a temporary teacher that has seniority because of the budget cut to be placed in a class (job). Which Mrs. Teacher does not have the experience with special needs children and is treating my daughter like a normal child that has normal actions.

To make a longer story short I now visit my daughter’s class spontaneously and I requested to be informed of any kind of changes what so ever it may be. Now my daughters program is provided by our school district and not the county!

Do your child and your self a favor especially if they don’t know how to express them selves or are of special circumstances, check on them and their class environment from time to time, as much as you feel the need to!