March 6, 2008 10:26 AM
Loudoun County Public Schools - one parent's report card
As I mentioned in my last entry, I was very impressed by the lack of defensiveness, courtesy, and pursuit of a amiable outcome shown by the Post when one of their employees made a mistake.
Particularly in light of the obfuscation, denial, unaccountability, and drag-it-out-'til-the-parent-gives-up approach of the Loudoun County Public School system - which I've now been experiencing for over a year. I guess I'd begun to think that healthy responses to performance breakdowns were impossible.
I still have never received an apology or acknowledgment that I was right about anything the schools were wrong about - concerning Justin's full inclusion (now proven very successful), Jesse's dual diagnosis of Down syndrome/autism (which we got on appeal), and Daniel's inadequate and inappropriate education (now remedied after a long and bitter fight). Finally, all my sons are receiving the "free and appropriate" public education to which they are legally entitled. But only because I struggled and spent hundreds of hours advocating for them - enduring the indignities and insults of school personnel along the way.
Is it because the school system is a protected group of government employees who do not have to meet performance standards in order to keep their jobs? The fortress-like atmosphere of the administration building seems to have set the tone for the increasingly bureaucratic operation and imperious approach to parents who just might have something important to say.
As I've said before - I am thrilled with the education my children are receiving and the quality of most of their teachers.
But I am extremely concerned with the lack of responsiveness, accountability, and respect for parents with which LCPS is operating on a day-to-day basis.
Posted in Loudoun County, Public schools | Permalink
Comments
In my experience (three school districts in two states), it comes from an elitist attitude.
Most school officials feel that they are the experts on children and must "manage" the parents, who obviously know nothing about their children or education, since they do not have 4 year education degrees.
I have also found that I was treated differently when I was working full time and scheduled a meeting (my time was perceived as valuable, the meeting started on time, in an actual meeting room) vs. when I was "just a stay at home mom" (meeting started almost an hour late, VP didn't bother to show up, they just pulled up some chairs in a hallway). That could be different school districts, though.
Posted by: Milehimama | March 6, 2008 12:21 PM
Barbara,
We recently pulled our three boys out of a mostly positive public school experience to homeschool. Two of my three have "special needs". While the school officials were wonderfully accommodating with my HoH (Hard of Hearing) son, they were much less pleasant to deal with regarding my ADHD son. I'll spare you the details.
In hopes that this may help other moms, let me mention two things which helped me immensely:
1. Our Moms in Touch group.
This is a non-denominational organization that encourages moms, with kids in the same school, to meet together weekly for prayer - for the kids, teachers, administrators, etc. at their school. Wonderful! And...
2. My "General Contractor" analogy.
God made me (and my husband) the General Contractor(s) of our boys' young lives. From time to time we call in sub-contractors... soccer coaches, Sunday School teachers, therapists, specialists, public school teachers, etc. Public school officials would like you to think that THEY are the General Contractors of your children, but not so!
I don't intend this to sound arrogant; we are flexible with most issues, and try to deal graciously and thankfully with all who contribute to our sons' lives. But, in a sense, all those coaches, teachers, specialists, etc are there to further my purposes with my kids - in other words, to serve our needs. (And many of them serve very faithfully, generously and wonderfully!) However, they are not the General Contractor. I am a better judge of my kids' needs and my goals for them. If those people aren't aligned with our purposes in our kids' lives, then something isn't working right.
For instance, we identified my son's hearing loss at age 3, and took advantage of free developmental testing through our local school district. Although my moderate-to-severely hearing impaired son had not been Aided (Hearing Aids) until age 3.5, his language skills were wonderful. (Bragging mom!) His pronunciation - though understandable to non-family - had errors (gee, because he couldn't hear the words properly), but he generally tested above his age level, with his vocabulary and comprehension testing at 90% (compared to normal hearing children).
Yet, one of the 'counselors' pressured me to immediately enroll him in the 5-day-a-week Special Ed preschool! Why??? Wasn't I doing a good enough job with him?!
That's the attitude some school officials and specialists project... the "we know better than you" elitism. I'm happy to say that the majority of the teachers and specialists we work/ed with are NOT like that, but it is definitely something we have to deal with.
Take heart, moms and dads, you know your kids! Be bold! =)
Posted by: Julie | March 7, 2008 1:56 AM
