Last updated on November 26, 2023
The back-to-school experiment lasted four days for the little one. By Thursday of the first week, it was clear that this wasn’t a good experience for her.
I’m still in the processing stage. I’m the one who advocated for her return to school. I wanted to believe she would have a great teacher and a fun experience. Both girls need to develop social skills, which is the primary reason for them to return to a public school campus.
“Anne” really wants to be around people. She’s an extrovert, and the only one in our household. I wrongly assumed that the value of being around people again would outweigh the challenges of too much stimulation. Wanting to be around a few friends isn’t the same as being in a noisy classroom, a crowded cafeteria, or a school gymnasium.
There’s also the depressing realization that her desire to be with other children doesn’t always mean they want to be with Anne.
I let her down. The school let her down.
Now it is back to homeschooling for Anne. She’ll have Girl Scouts, swimming, and probably tumbling classes. She won’t be as isolated as she was during the worst of the pandemic years.
There were systemic failures at the district, campus, and classroom levels.
The district wasn’t prepared for full attendance after the pandemic years. There aren’t enough classrooms… or even enough schools. The community has grown rapidly during, as has much of Central Texas. Factor in the nationwide teacher shortage and there’s a serious overcrowding problem in some classes.
At the campus, there are new leaders, new teachers, and the massive influx of students. Things will stabilize in future years, but right now the administration needs to get a handle on what is, not would should be.
The leaders need to take some assertive steps to ensure teachers adopt good classroom management practices — immediately. Administrators set the tone for how a campus operates, which classrooms reflect.
Effective Classroom Management
Some of the classrooms are chaotic. Certainly not all, especially those led by experienced teachers with effective management structures. Great teachers don’t need to raise their voices, count down for silence, or use negative consequences to secure the attention of students.
I’ve watched a teacher just walk to the front of a room and command attention. The students knew, from a carefully rehearsed practice session, that the teacher wanted attention when he was at that location. It was very cool and a practice I adopted in my university teaching: If I’m at the podium, please get ready to listen in your own best way.
Excellent teachers rehearse the rules, the polices, and the procedures for their classes. “Let’s practice getting our supplies.” Later, “Let’s practice putting our supplies back in our cubbies.” One of the most important elementary school practices might be, “Let’s practice getting into a line quickly and quietly.”
Spending two or three days reviewing the basic procedures, and then reviewing those by “talking through” the steps for the first two weeks, helps students feel secure. The order helps maintain a calm, steady classroom experience.
A good teacher doesn’t suddenly transition from one task to another, either. That’s not transitioning. Even in my college courses, I mention the time remaining on a task at 10, 5, 2, and 1 minute. When the time ends, that’s not suddenly time for something else, either. That’s just the “stop what we’re doing” signal. It that’s a good approach in college course, it’s really good for elementary students.
I appreciate that the first days are busy and chaotic, which is why organization and classroom management matter.
Special Needs Require Attention
A well managed classroom gives the teacher and any paraprofessionals available time to work with students requiring additional attention. When the class is chaotic, it’s nearly impossible to support students with differences.
Our little Anne needs someone to help prompt her to read, write, and complete other tasks. She will not work without supervision. You have to ask her what she should be doing and what she is doing to help her redirect herself. The goal should be the development of self-redirection and self-regulation .
Not only does her energy too to be focused on tasks, her emotions also need to be monitored by the adults.
Amid the chaos of the first few days, Anne felt isolated and lonely. We don’t know if her teacher noticed, but we did. After school, she was upset and near tears. She told us that the she was so alone she didn’t want to exist anymore.
An attentive teacher, checking in with students as they worked, should have noticed Anne was depressed.
Communication Matters
The week before classes started, Susan and I emailed IEP/504 Plan notes to the homeroom teachers. Leigh’s fifth grade teachers read the notes and responded promptly with a few questions. We never heard back from Anne’s homeroom teacher (or the other teacher in the team).
During the first week of school, the fifth grade team was in daily contact with parents. Yes, many of these messages were bulk mailings, but they were helpful. The teachers also sent us personal emails about Leigh’s needs and performance.
The lack of communication from Anne’s teachers was disappointing.
We had informed her homeroom teacher of Anne’s past IEP and her current diagnoses. We summarized her academic standing, her emotional needs, and our goals for Anne.
At the very least, acknowledgement that the notes had been received would have been nice.
We had our “ARD” (an early IEP planning meeting) on Friday, while Anne was at home recovering from those first four days. I thought the teacher might follow-up after the Admission, Review, and Dismissal review. Surely our concerns had been made clear during that meeting. Nothing from her teacher.
Moving On… Back to Home
Anne’s IEP revision and screening assessments wouldn’t be due until November. In the meantime, the school would adhere to the previous IEP for supports.
It’s just assumed among special needs families that schools will do almost anything to delay or deny supports. Schools will try to tell parents and guardians that only the school’s evaluations matter. Sure enough, the special education team tried to imply this to Susan. We know better. You can always seek a due process hearing. Plus, your existing diagnoses and assessments do have to be considered by the school. The school doesn’t get to ignore what your child’s mental health team has already determined to be true.
We have supporting documentation for all of Anne’s diagnoses, which were performed by court-appointed experts in Pennsylvania and CHIP/STAR approved providers in Texas.
Under the CFR for IDEA § 300.502.c, Independent Educational Evaluation, these evaluations:
(1) Must be considered by the public agency, if it meets agency criteria, in any decision made with respect to the provision of FAPE to the child; and
(2) May be presented by any party as evidence at a hearing on a due process complaint under subpart E of this part regarding that child.
We cannot wait weeks, much less months, for things to change. We also don’t want to fight the school for educational supports.
Since Leigh also attends the same school, we need to be considered cooperative, positive, and supportive parents.
Anne might have been ready to return to school, but we’ll never know. Her needs were not being met by the classroom teacher and we’re uncertain the school can meet her needs regardless of teacher to which she’s assigned. The explosive growth of our community exacerbates the teacher shortage and lack of classroom space.
Did I want her back in school, on campus with her friends for the social experiences? Absolutely. Did I want her in school so I could work on my projects and pursue freelance work? Absolutely.
We will do what is best for Anne. It’s in Anne’s best interests to return to homeschooling. Anne will be homeschooled and I will continue to be her teacher.
Our children always come first. We chose to be their parents.