A Educational Nightmare at Rochester Public Schools - Independent School District #535!

This is the Edison Building located in Rochester Minnesota, administrative offices for Rochester Public Schools - Independent School District #535.
We stopped into the building to talk to the nice ladies at the two divided windows about removing our children from this horrible school corporation and home schooling them as we have been researching the very good alternative for 2 plus weeks now.
The enrollment ladies were super nice, respectful and even went as far as to lend my daughter a few books to read while we waited to finish the process.
Those ladies working behind the glass window with the two booths, really have their shit together and I truly commend them for their part of this whole school experience which has been exceptional. 

Guess who comes down the stairs with the Home schooling representative from the corporation, Mr. No ethics himself, Karl Bakken. (or Goon #5 as we lovingly call him now)
He once again was attempting to get in the middle of a process he had no business being part of and was trying to push me or my wife to loose our tempers on school property, adding substance to their false narrative, lies and deliberate deceptions.

The guy literally stood so close to me and my wife (who was holding our son with autism in her lap in her wheel chair) that either one of us could have smelled the sweat dripping off his ball sack.
Who in their right mind gets extremely close to a child with autism on purpose, unless his aim and goal was to set off a strong emotional response from the child as autistic children do not like anyone in their personal space.
Our son doesn't even want us, the parents close to him unless he asks for or initiates the attention.
He was trying to instigate a emotional meltdown of our autistic child, to introduce chaos in the environment and stress on us, the parents deliberately.
A total no class, jerkoff, asshole moment. I really have no nice way to say it.
Just a devious, master manipulator doing what he does best with very bad intentions might I add. 
 
He was hovering over my wife and trying to put on some type of show of force or strength towards her, almost leaning over her several times.

See, this is how the play mind games at the Edison Building.

The don't Fuck with an equal, strong minded opponent (me).

They continue to try to Fuck with my wife, thinking she's weak and will back down, and in all reality, she is only biting her tongue and holding back at my request.
My wife literally would have ripped Mr. Bakken a new asshole verbally as she is a very strong woman.
She has very strong debating skills and is sharp as a razor with facts, word manipulation and thinking on her feet.

Poor Mr. Bakken never would have seen it coming and would have ran away with his tail between his legs. 
He probably would have called security or the police as this is what these types do. They pick a fight, agitate things on purpose and then call the school "rent a cop" to try to control you and make you back down.
Doesn't work so well with people that know how to counteract deliberate set up situations and those doing things with "ill will" and "malicious" intent.

I got the typical "talking down to me" from the homeschool department lady even though I had thoroughly researched this and knew what was required by Minnesota law.
I have Net connected devices and we both are tech savvy, give me a break people. You really think too highly of yourselves if you think for a second I wouldn't go into any school meeting or situation armed with research and facts. I research a ton of things out of natural curiosity and me and the better half are avid Google user's as we both know, knowledge is power!

After we ended our kids horrific enrollment and started the process of getting them a good, relevant, non control/ conformity based education, Goon #5 actually had the audacity to ask me if this means we aren't going forward now with the IEP evaluations.

What he didn't know or failed to disclose, is the fact that I can still demand IEP's for all the kids even though they are being home schooled. He wasn't going to freely offer this information I already knew about. The very nice and respectable home schooling director did remind him and us that it was an available option, so I truly believe now that there is some good people working at that building. The good ones are in the minority, but the do exist.

I told his straight out and in a very direct way, "SHUT IT DOWN NOW. ALL OF IT!"
I don't mince words with people who lie to me and go out of their way to disrespect me so I was more than happy when he walked away in disgrace. I stood up to him and in my tone basically said, your manipulations and harassment are over chief. I will give these kids a high quality education that encourages them to ask questions, come to their own conclusions and question everything as young students with minds like sponges should.
I'm not going to further an agenda of compulsory education that teaches kids what to think or how to do so.
I'm going to push them to gather facts and decide on their own.
   
The deprogramming of the conformist, "sheeple" creating machine has begun.

In that short moment that he asked me if I wanted the IEP evaluation process to move forward, I so wanted to be a smart ass and say something to the effect of, what do you Fucking think with all the bullshit and drama that has went on, but I decided to take the high road, be the better man and set a great example for my daughter and teen son who were present on how you bow out gracefully when dealing with difficult people.

In closing, I don't really feel that anyone won or lost this round.
I just pulled my kids out of a situation where bad people where getting off on using them as emotional pawns against us.
They were willing to go as far to hurt and not guarantee the safety of our severely disabled child.
Don't give an oppressor any power, they cannot hurt you. 

Balance, it is a beautiful thing!  

-Update-
If you personally feel after reading this that Mr. Bakken acted in poor taste, used unprofessional and unethical behavior while in his leadership position and his harassment/ intimidation tactics were unacceptable, feel free to contact him and let your opinions be known here:

Karl Bakken
Program Administrator
KABAKKEN@rochester.k12.mn.us

or contact the Rochester Public Schools - Independent School District #535 directly:


Rochester, Minnesota Public Schools
615 7th St SW
Rochester, MN 55902-2052
Tel: (507) 328-3000
www.rochester.k12.mn.us

The school district is also on Twitter and Facebook if you prefer those modes of communication.