Yesterday I stopped by the school before getting Sam.
It turns out that the cumulative record has no record of an IEP (Individual Education
Plan: reading specialists, tests, etc.) They called the previous
school, and that one has nothing. So the teacher wanted confirmation. I also met the
resource specialist. I gave them what I knew, and the foster-care provider was there and
able to verify it, but she said they had never given her any results of the IEP. They'll
be calling the social worker, whose number I had. The foster-care provider also wanted to
be sure that only authorized people picked Sam up, and the teacher and I helped with that.
(I think there's a bit of a semi-literacy problem: she can read and write, but not well.)The teacher (I do like this man!) asked me how I got along with the family. What a perceptive question! I know if I were in the same position, I'd resent the heck out of me.
This school is really on the ball. Here they are, 8 school days into the year, getting set up to help Sam. The other school's unconscionable record-keeping (or not!) is shocking. Both schools are at the bottom of the test scores, though the former one was higher (perhaps they "lost" the slower kids!) and the district is in the cellar. The foster parent said that after she got Sam last August it took three months and a court order to get the child in school. I come from a nice suburban school district with some problems, but nothing like this, and it makes me furious. At least Sam's teacher and the resource one are on the ball. If they can't get the IEP paperwork, there's a three-month delay through all the other meetings and tests and such. Argh. Sam can't afford three months to have the Suits know what we all already know, that the child needs help. Sam's reading level is Pre-primer. The longer this takes, the further behind Sam gets and the harder it will be for the child to ever catch up. We're looking at dropout material here, and all because of that other stupid school.
The dog and cats are starting to get along. They are bigger,
not so much the size of rats, and he's had a month of either being separated or tied up. Yesterday
I let them loose in the same part of the house he was in, and they were all fine. There was
one point Fitch started to run and Sailor grabbed him and had to be yelled at (a little roughhousing
is one thing, but Sailor is over 50 pounds and could hurt) but that was the only incident.
As long as I remember to put the food away first... (there's a tray on the Kit Mahal for their
day food.) The cats both pick on him and Fitch in particular enjoys wrestling with him. Sailor
has decided that they're interesting, but not worth getting in trouble over, and maybe he'd
rather play with his chew-toy. Yay. I was afraid if we kept getting in the way, they'd never
get along. I still won't leave them alone, yet, but on an ordinary day this is great.
