I hate dealing with our public school. They make things 10 times harder than they have to be for everything. Seriously. However, with Will aging out of speech therapy in June, I have no choice but to deal with them.
In March, we were suppose to have a transition meeting. The state and the public school were to set up this meeting and let me know the date. Said meeting never happened, so I started making phone calls at the beginning of this month. When I called my service coordinator, I was told the school hadn't called them back. I waited another week and then I called the school directly.
Getting to the right person wasn't too tough. However, whatever list we were suppose to be on — we aren't. I was like “I have a letter from the state saying that we need to get this scheduled”. She then put me on hold for at least 5 minutes and then magically found Will's paperwork. We scheduled what I think is an evaluation for next Friday. She told me I had to go to our home school and fill out a bunch of paperwork and prove residency. She gave me a list of what I had to bring to do that.
Will and I went this morning to get the paperwork and give them what I needed to prove residency. The paperwork was annoying and long (Just like it was when I had Madison screened for preschool. Seriously, why is it any of their business how much I make and how old Bill and I are). The kicker — I didn't bring the right information in, because I was told the wrong stuff! Needless to say, I was pissed.
Now, I'm not the first person doing this. I do not understand why 1. they can't use all the crap I filled out for the state or 2. how the administration building and the school don't have the same requirements. I was told from the school that they would not send the paperwork over unless I proved residency first (even though I have an evaluation scheduled for next week). Now, the admin people told me that I could fill out the information packet and not to worry about having the other paperwork. I could have screamed.
Now, you'd think the two buildings would know what the other one is doing. Seriously, you;d think they don't want to give us services. Needless to say, after about 2 hours of running around, I got all the paperwork and went back to the school and turned it in. Now, hopefully they manage not lose it between now and next Friday.
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I hope you checked with your state laws to see if what they were asking for was even legal. Many districts in every state just do whatever they want and many times are outside their legal capacity.
I don't deal my district anymore. The Homeschool Liaison position is tacked onto to another position and I swear they've had a new person in that spot every year.
Last summer, I enrolled my kids in a private school for unschoolers. I sent my termination to the district and never heard form them. In Nov 09, they tried to have me come in for a portfolio review…something I didn't need to do since we were considered private schoolers under the state law. I wrote them a letter…and never heard from them. Then in February 2010, I got a phone call asking for the name of the private school. This information is really, by law, none of their business, so I told the lady that after I gave her the name of the private school. She snapped, "It's our job to make sure that every child in this county is educated." I wanted to say, "Well, maybe you should worry about your own 'house' before worrying about mine." (FL is notorious for graduating students who can't read.)
I hope your issues are resolved soon & you can have limited dealings with the district in the future.
Actually, I had no choice but to fill out that. The school refused to send over the paperwork without every single question answered. I don't understand how it's any of the schools business who all lives in my home, what their ages are, how much education they've had, and how much we make a year. My daughter does not go to this school for the very reason they are such a pain in the ass to deal with. (That and they refused to tell me class size, and they have no art or music program.)
Since my son is in Early Intervention, they, by law, have transition him over and reevaluate him. I just don't get why they make it so damn difficult.