holidays

[quietmim]

I read this forum faithfully as my friend and her son with Autism are staying with me for a while in Massachusetts.  He is four years old and in a preschool program.  His mom is literally having panic attacks and talking litigation because he has days off from school for teacher/parent conferences, holidays that she doesn't believe count, ect.  She already fought and won a battle for him to be five days a week despite the fact that their preschool is four days a week based in the evaluations formulated in another state.

Does anyone know if she has legal standing to demand that the hours missed on these scheduled days off from public school be made up?  I am so proud that she is ready to advocate so strongly for her son, but it is causing so much heartache.  I guess I would just like to know if schools typically make these days up?  I guess she expects that he will still attend and have classes, therapy, ect. on days the school is closed.  She keeps bringing up the areas in which he is struggling saying she doesn't understand how he can have days off when his verbal ability is this, and he socializes at the level of that..

I appreciate any input as DP and I watch him every day as his mom goes to school and I have become invested in him.  FWIW, he has made progress since Sept. His speech is noticeably improved.  He has also starting using the potty for the most part, which he wasn't doing at all as recently as August.  I guess I just feel sad looking into their future and feeling like all of their interactions with the school are going to be hostile.  TIA.

[NightOwlwithowlet]

We home school, but I don't think the time is made up.  Teachers and therapists have to take time off.  Holidays and vacations are built into the school year well in advance.  Up here, the Northeast, only snow days are made up and only if there is more then a certain number.

It sounds like she is very worried and afraid for the future.  I felt the same way.  I don't think this is a battle that can be won. She can advocate for an extended school year, but that really varies from state to state.  I'm sure other people here can give you a better idea about that.  My personal experience with fighting the school district was very draining.  While we "won", the end result was we choose to send DS to private school and eventually home school.  I didn't want to deal with the SD that lied to me and I didn't want DS around the person who was allowed to violate his IEP.  

[CarrieMF]

 I guess she expects that he will still attend and have classes, therapy, ect. on days the school is closed. 

uh no.  The school year is a certain number of days long.  Every one of these days off are planned with the kids still going to school the specific number of days they are supposed to.  There is no learning, therapy, etc if the school is closed just as there would be none of that on a Saturday or Sunday.

Things like Day in Lieu for parent teacher holidays are needed they're not unnecessary holidays.

Litigation for this is a waste of her time & resources & any judge would tell her that.

[CarrieMF]

no judge is going to force a teacher, aide or therapist to work on their days off.  They will not force a school board to go against the contracts these people signed when they started.  No teachers union is going to agree to this.

If she wants him to be in therapy & classes when there is no school she has to pay for it privately.

Whether she can get any of it reimbursed from the school board I don't know.  She may have to proove to them that him not being in school these few days in a year is going to cause him to fall behind dramatically.   She may also have to proove that any insurance she has won't pay for it.

What does she plan to do when the school is closed over the summer?  here playschool closes for the year a month before the public school so they end up with 3-3.5months off.  Even the preschool that is part of the public school division closes early.

[Rani]

This is going to sound awful but it sounds to me like she just wants to avoid caring for him herself on those days. The school is not a dumping ground because she doesn't want to deal with him.

[PatchChild]

Teacher chiming in here.

Holidays and teacher planning days are all planned for in advance.  All Massachusetts kids attend school 180 school days, with a variety of holidays and such sprinkled in. 

Is her issue that the days off are a pain to work around?  If so, I completely agree, I'm juggling my own teacher schedule and my son's preschool schedule and the days, especially staff days, just never line up right.

If her concerns are around her son's ability to transition from school days to non school days, or if she is concerned about him regressing on days he doesn't have services, this is an issue to bring up with his IEP team.  They can work on transitions and flexibility of schedule (sooo hard for Autism kids) as part of his program.  If he's regressing from having one day off in a week here and there, that would be a bigger issue also to address with his team.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by PatchChild 

Teacher chiming in here.

Holidays and teacher planning days are all planned for in advance.  All Massachusetts kids attend school 180 school days, with a variety of holidays and such sprinkled in. 

Is her issue that the days off are a pain to work around?  If so, I completely agree, I'm juggling my own teacher schedule and my son's preschool schedule and the days, especially staff days, just never line up right.

If her concerns are around her son's ability to transition from school days to non school days, or if she is concerned about him regressing on days he doesn't have services, this is an issue to bring up with his IEP team.  They can work on transitions and flexibility of schedule (sooo hard for Autism kids) as part of his program.  If he's regressing from having one day off in a week here and there, that would be a bigger issue also to address with his team.

I agree totally. The school days off are usually scheduled with a purpose, and the teachers are under union contract. They can't be forced to make up the time with an individual child. If he's having a really hard time without these days, then that's something for his IEP. If she's just worried that he's not getting intense therapy/work every day, then maybe she can learn to do some of this at home so as to continue it.

[quietmim]

Her stated concerns are that he regresses when he has time off.  I would love to see her bring that up at a meeting and get ideas for how to deal with that.  She would like to have therapy in the home, but she believes the school is responsible for paying for this.  And as for the summer, she expects that he will continue with his program with little time off.  She has already gone into meetings citing laws stating they must provide a certain number of hours per week per a previous IEP unless they could prove he no longer needed so much time.  And, yes, it did occur to me that it was strange to be fighting over a few days when, overall, she seems to be unhappy with the work they are doing with him. 

I do think she is terrified.  But I also think she may expect the school to do more than it is capable of doing because of resources, but also just because school is only meant to be one piece of the puzzle.  I wouldn't say it to her, but his days off are spent watching TV and eating junk food.  (I feel bad even writing this because it sounds snarky.  She is a single mom with two young kids and until DP and I came into the picture, NO help.  I did try and gently bring up diet...  maybe a diet of frozen pizza, hot dogs and apple juice isn't the best thing for a kid with so many challenges.  She flat out said she doesn't believe diet can make a difference).  I really didn't intend to vent here, but I have been thinking a lot about them and out it came...

Thanks for the replies, they were quite helpful.  I was mostly wondering if she had a leg to stand on and whether her time and resources were being wasted with this.  She does quote the law like she knows what she is talking about.   Also, I think she must be alienating the school already, and she has only been in town since September.  It will be difficult now, I fear, for her to establish a working relationship with them.

[CarrieMF]

If all he does is watch tv & eat junk food of course he is going to regress.

He needs a schedule of what is happening in his days at home.  He needs structure & activities to do at home not just sit in front of the tv.  If she wants therapy at home she needs to pay for that or her insurance.

It is not the school's job to provide home therapy unless he is schooled at home.  It is not the school's job to provide resources for her.  The school can work with respite & home service but they do not set them up or provide them.

She needs to find an autisism support group where she can find out these resources & other resources.  She needs to find out the reality on whether there are services provided during summer holidays, here there aren't from the school. 

School is not a fix for him.  If she is not continuing schedules & such like he has at school there will be no progress at home.  The boy I work with is like this.  His mother can't be bothered to do anything with him, including making him leave clothes on(seriously he's been outside playing naked - he's 9).  At school he's potty trained & starting to ask to go to the bathroom.  At home she "thinks" he pees into the tub because she doesn't find piles of pee laying around(all their clothes, backpacks, etc reak like pee).  At school he doesn't chew his shirt or sleeves, he comes to school with them crunchy & crusty.  At school he does not try to take his clothes off, at home he strips as soon as he's in the door.