I'm going to stick with my original assertion that the school should have gotten it's shit together sooner. From this article, it appears that the superintendent wanted a letter confirming her disability from her doctor. Now, with two months notice, it seems a bit silly to me to be demanding proof the first day of school.
quote: Though administrators at the school had given their approval for Cheyenne to bring the dog to school, Hammond said he had concerns about safety issues, such as other students being allergic to the dog or being afraid.
After talking with the school board's attorney and insurer, Hammond said he would allow Cheyenne to attend school with her dog if her doctor certified it was medically necessary.
To me, it seems like the school was doing fine with things and then on the first day of school, the superintendent found out about what was going on at that school and freaked. Being a bureaucrat, he naturally did what comes naturally to bureaucrats. He tried to cover his ass.
That one seems to make is sound like that is exactly what happened.
quote: Jennifer Gilliam said school officials below Hammond had worked with the family to develop a detailed plan for Cheyenne to have her dog in school, covering everything from cleaning up after Mikki to having the dog wear boots so her nails wouldn't scratch the gym floor.
Gilliam said the staff at Mount Vernon Elementary had been great to work with. But after Cheyenne and Mikki had been at school about two hours Wednesday, Hammond said they would have to leave.
Hammond said he had questions about issues, such as other children being allergic to the dog, or being scared of the dog, and the liability of having even a well-trained dog in school. The school system hasn't faced the issue of allowing a student to use a service dog before, he said.
He said he has to make sure all students are safe.
Hammond asked board attorney Jerry Cox to research allowing Chey-enne to bring her dog to school, but had not received an answer before school started yesterday.
The situation might be unique in Kentucky. Brad Hughes, spokesman for the state School Boards Association, said blind students have used service dogs, but no one at the organization could recall an issue involving letting in service dogs that help with conditions not related to impaired sight.
posted
Oh, by the way, she is now allowed to be at school with her dog, just in case you didn't click on the links. (Not any of you involved in the thread, just the lurkers.)
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posted
CT - you are correct that article is really lacking on some of the better details to clarify the mom's position.
quote: Her mother may have had her so thoroughly evaluated that she's just understandably totally ticked off that they'd bring it up again.
And this is very possible -- or one possibility. I know with one of my kids, I had some extensive testing done outside the school setting because what the school was telling me did not jive with my gut feelings about the problem. So after getting better, more detailed and in-depth testing (testing over several days) from a reputable outside source -- then the school complains that they don't "have" to recognize any testing other than that performed by their request.
So it is possible they were wanting to repeat things which the family had already documented and they didn't want to put her through it again.
(That's just one possibility -- not necessarily what happened -- because we don't know).
posted
The short answer to your question CT, is that the IEP became important (paperwork wise) in 1998, when the Federal Government required it in order for the schools to get Federal Funding.
It looks like IEP's have been around for quite a while, but there were laws passed in 1997 (IDEA, which seems to have gone into affect in 1998) that made the IEP's more important, at least bureaucratically.
From what I can tell, it would seem that IEP's have been around for a long time. But in 1997, when IDEA97 was passed, new requirements in paper work were included so the IEP's seem to have a new emphasis. I wonder if everyone was just ignoring them before this legislation. I mean, the inclusion of disabled kids started with the law in 1975. It just looks like these IEP's were forced into prominence with passage of IDEA97.
And from the articles I read about it, it would seem it was necessary to pass these laws. It's kind of amazing what it looks like the schools were trying to get away with.
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