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

I got a very nice, homey letter from Karla Bollesen, Director of Special Education services letting me know the district was going to end the IEP evaluation process as we decided to un-enroll the kids from the Rochester Public Schools - Independent School District #535,

Once again, it was the parents who initiated the stopping of the IEP process when Karl Bakken, #2 under Mrs. Bollesen asked very rudely if we wanted it killed.
I told him in a very deliberate and stern voice, "Shut it all down", as I didn't want any future involvement with the school district beyond the minimum required reporting requirements by state law for homeschoolers.  

Attitudes foremost remain the same, and that is well most likely, our kids will never return to this local school system.

Both me and my wife are tapping into technological resources and putting our kids in a educational environment, unlike common core, that isn't stressing out the teachers or the kids.
We are making learning fun, and they are loving it.

And with our severely disabled child, the local school district did choose to openly ignore the McKinney-Vento Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

An incident where Carl Black, a Supervisor for Transportation of Rochester Schools, above Mona, a tier 2 person  (Supervisor maybe?) at the school's transportation # refused to drop of my child at the Baldwin Building downtown as I had to be at the medical appointment for my daughter to re-establish care to get a medical summary we had agreed to provide for our daughter's IEP evaluation process.

(We have dealt with a Cindy who works at transportation, also a tier 2 supervisor, and have never had any problems with getting transportation or a re-direct as how the transportation element is supposed to be applied via the Vento Act. She is professional to a tee; the Mona person, not so much!)

I had to call the Superintendent's office at the Baldwin, extremely frustrated and shaking as Mr. Black had basically threatened to take my kid to our home address. Then after 5 minutes take him back to the Phoenix Academy, were there would be no one to supervise him, and he would be left there alone.

This puts his life and safety in danger automatically.

He then threatened me over the phone stating that we, the parents would have to find our own way out to the Phoenix Academy to pick him up, knowing we currently do not have a vehicle and both of us have a bad leg that is part of our disabled status.

Luckily, the secretary called me back even though I was threatened once again that they can't do this ever again.

I did appreciate the gesture, but under the Vento Act, they had to and just chose not to.

And in larger and smaller districts like the MSD of Lawrence and Minneapolis Public Schools, such requests were no big deal as these school districts understand these unique situation happen and in my honest opinion, the districts, in regards to disabled children, "have their shit together!" 

The two drivers that always pick up and drop off my son were silent as they dropped off Jamie.
They know what politics are going on behind the scene and most likely didn't want to be any part of what people were doing deliberately to cause extra stress and agitation.  They both looked down like they wanted to say sorry, but they couldn't, and I wouldn't risk their jobs anyways for the war those above them were waging against parents who care.

No consideration for the McKinney-Vento Act, no considerations for my disabled son's safety or the vocal agreement at his IEP evaluation agreement that sometimes the vans dropping him off would have to be re-directed due to other family members' medical issues and a tight window for meeting the other kids off their buses and the hotel shuttles, 9 am to 2:30 pm. 

That was the day of Thursday, November the 14th. I pulled the kids out of school on the 15th, the following Friday, the next day as I had had enough, and I was tired of the mind games and school leadership using my kids as a pawns against me and my wife.

I couldn't be 2 places at one time. I have to push my disabled wife that has a wheelchair and is forced to use it during cold weather thanks to an accident years ago were she missed a step in a darkened corridor and crushed her entire ankle.  Her leg is full of screws and pins, about 250K in surgeries, therapy, medical equipment and doctor visits.

I then had to be at this appointment re-establishing care for my daughter as we both go to our kids' appointments so nothing is left out, and so I got the medical summary for the IEP evaluation.

Did Mr. Black expect my 9 year old daughter to push my wife's wheelchair around hilly downtown Rochester by herself perhaps?  Can he give me a physics-based answer how one can be two places at one time?

This is the unfair harassment we dealt with constantly. 

They are so tight-assed and rigid about conformity that a simple request to re-direct a van, saving the school and transportation van company money couldn't happen, even though it was a shorter distance and school leadership said "re-directing a van should be no problem" at previous meetings.
 
Driving a pinch under a mile and a half 14-16 blocks versus 38 blocks, a little over 3 miles.

I appreciate the kind gesture, but unless I get something in writing that the harassment-based crap will stop, and people will start following the various laws and acts in place, it will be a cold day in Hell before we ever go back to that nightmare.

I cannot as a parent who loves my children and who cares about their well being, purposely out them in the care of someone who doesn't care about their safety as much as or more than me.

So in closing, thank you, Mrs. Bollesen for the very professional, yet once again, a letter that lacked facts, and I respectively decline your invitation to come back to the Rochester School Corporation.

Our kids love the engaging, encouraging, and loose learning environment that you cannot come even close to offering them.  "Common Core" and "No Child Left Behind" (All Children Left Behind) guarantees you'll never be able to, unfortunately.

Thanks, good day, and I have said all that is needed to be said on this subject...  
 

Once again, the Rochester School Corporation is intentionally trying to openly violate Minnesota state and federal IEP laws.

They are choosing to commit illegal acts in the process which they are carrying out our kids getting an appropriate IEP that would lay the frame work for the FAPE and Special Education Services they are required by law to give our children.

This was previously attempted by Karla Bollesen,  who sent us the previously posted illegal IEP letters posted in this blog (digital scans) demanding that we come to IEP evaluation meetings on a certain time and date or they would go ahead with the IEP evaluation plan meeting and deny our kids FAPE and Special Education services outright. 4 lawyers, a social worker and a county worker I showed this to couldn't believe Karla would send out such a letter as it is slam dunk proof for a harassment/ malice lawsuit and proves people in the leadership structure at the Edison Building have been doing malicious and illegal activities directed towards us, the parents in concert for some time now.

Mrs. Bollesen, in the illegal IEP letters even went out of her way to lie about no communications our our repeated attempts to reschedule a planned IEP evaluation meeting do to severe sickness me and my wife had thanks to our compromised immune systems. We both had the flu, diarrhea and Bronchitis and I guess she wanted us to bring it to the Edison building and pass it on to the rest of the people in the meeting there?
In fact, we have cell phone records and recorded attempts by us and a recorded call to a secretary stating that the meeting will be rescheduled and that a set of dates and available times will be sent out.
Then we get the horrible, maligned, corrupt, criminally insane letters from Karla that were the world's biggest attempt to start drama I have ever seen in my whole damn life.  

I once again state my position that the people we have encountered at the Edison Building have never made a serious attempt to be decent or respectful and until I get serious apologies about things like the above, don't hold your breathe waiting for one from me.
This is the thug, mob like tactics I have used to describe the people working there and I have facts to back up my statement.

The Special Education person I talked to yesterday informed me that they people at my daughter's school would be sending home their conclusions for a IEP for my daughter amazing given the fact that her doctor's appointment is today and their is no way her ADHD could be taken into account in the final draft for the IEP plan moving forward.
Their is supposed to be a meeting set up to go over finding and a draft IEP signed if agreed upon at a time and place which works best for the parents. The parents are supposed to be given input and the ability to challenge, add or remove sections of the IEP.
They also are supposed to be allowed to add their own section or content as we plan to do so.

They, once again, by choice are circumventing IEP law here in Minnesota and doing as they please.
If I do get a draft copy of a IEP and illegal demands to sign it, I will scan it and all attached documents, put in on the blog here and then I'll start calling many of the people who reached out to me when I sent out the chain emails to people at the state and federal level. A very nice woman in the Special Education department left me a direct line to call her if I was having more problems with this school corporation and them following the rule of the law in the IEP process.
I may take her up on her offer and even have her and others come and sit in on the meetings if they continue these ignorant mind games with my kids educations.

There is rules governing the IEP process, they are going to be followed.
End of story, we aren't even going to debate this point...

My daughter left her back pack on her afternoon tutoring bus by accident and getting it back to her was a joke at best.

My wife called transportation, who then patched her into the First Student bus people to try to resolve this problem. They just had a general, don't give a shit, not our problem attitude.

Then we are told the pack would make it on to her nightly bus and it never happened.

The lady on the phone even bragged about the fact that my daughter's teacher should be used to the bus company losing kids back packs all the time.
Really? Bragging about ignorance. Must be a Rochester thing.

Finally, a person on the other end gets my wife in touch with Chad, I guess the only guy who works at First Student here in Rochester Minnesota, with a full functional brain.
Chad, was able to find the pack quickly and get it re-united with my daughter.

Atypical response of anyone associated with this horrible school corporation here in Rochester.
We'll get to it when we feel like it as the kids are second fiddle to our personal schedule's and desires.

Another failure in the long list of failures with this inept school system. They have gotten so good at it, that they accept it here now and there is no push for betterment or advancement.

So sad...

Related articles:

1. Stand your ground, being the first step. Don't give a inch, expect them to play mind games and have a counter-punch ready for every low blow they will volley your direction.

2. Lawyer up. This is the packet I sent our authorizing a lawyer in St. Paul, MN to do his thing, bring justice and restore balance to what has been a nightmare.
No you cannot take my rights to "free expression" or any of my civil rights away, as I have people that are now going, to level the playing field and push you back over that criminal and civil lines you decided to cross.

3. Don't give them anything beyond the bare minimum information wise.
Remember, these are the people who tried to hurt you by silencing and intimidation tactics.
Don't give them a leg to stand on and wait for them to fall on their own illegal activities and later "crash and burn".

4. Spread the good word.
Create a blog and publish everything to it.
Link to the illegal and damning documents using so interested 3rd parties can download them.
Use a scanner, your local Fed Ex Kinko's or a Android/ I phone with a camera or free scanner apps and post it all to your website or blog.
Use your local Craigslist rants and raves as a platform as I have done.
Post things like videos or illegal phone calls from the school heads to a YouTube account also as I have done.

4. (A) Don' be afraid to go to the local media and seek out reporters looking for a sensational story.
Especially, being involved with a school corp. that is largely mistrusted by the local populace, that media contact you make could use their past sins as a pile on for a "huge" story that would blow the lid open on what is going on.
Media exposure like this can sometimes get those involved in your mistreatment or those initiating the illegal activities terminated with cause, which is a perfect ending to what you have experienced.

These person's terminations can also be the background for a ground breaking and often situation changing civil rights lawsuit, that in time, can change every thing for the better.

4. (B) Use popular "social media" apps/ sites like Whisper, Instigram and Tumbler to glean intelligence and spread your message to others quickly and directly through these outlets.
For example, I put up one test post to judge the local interest in the Whisper app and had a ton of people getting back to me how they despise certain local high schools and how they are run.
The most hated school was Century High, located here in Rochester, MN.
These are students, openly saying our school sucks and is more of a prison than a free-thinking, learning environment.
This is what happens when you push conformity, lack of free expression and no major technological push in your schools.
You have to draw student's interests in, make them excited about learning, not drone them with all things boring, creating the future sheep of tomorrow.

Remember, no school cabal or business likes bad press and that is a critical tool that plays into your advantage pushing back against them.

5. Google your school corporation administrator's and the school board where your kids go.
I did this and found out that our local superintendent was part of an illegal book banning, still uses a $4500 desk his predecessor had bought with school funds, that Mr. Munoz was not the most qualified candidate at the time of his hiring, and that from person meetings, Mr. Munoz rallied for an I pad initiative that never got off the ground. 

The ironic twist being, all of the administrator's I have encountered are sporting nice flashy newer I pad's, while the kids have none.

They also are sitting on a very fast expensive Gigabyte internet connection at the Edison Building and I don't see the need, and thus, the culture of unneeded and wasteful spending never left this district.

6. Get as many people involved and in the know as you can about your situation.
Quite literally, I have 4-5 people "in the loop" about our ongoing fight with school leadership that drops the ball and won't do the right thing.
These can be social workers, counselor's doctor's, local business owners, the mayors office, the more people who know, again that vice or public pressure will come down hard on those doing the illegal activites.

I've shown these people everything and let them make judgement on their own.
Everyone who saw the criminal and illegal IEP notices sent by the head of the Special Education department (a direct and deliberate attempt to deny my children FAPE and a proper IEP based education!), the direct violations of my "freedom of expression" and general "civil rights" via a signed letter by Mr. Munoz. Their actions were shocked and in bewilderment.

The actually comment verbatim was, "they actually sent those letters?", this coming from 3 lawyer's who know that they had put their illegal activities on paper, gave us a great paper trail (evidence) and in their haste, gave us the critical tools to establish and show a direct pattern of oppression, criminal activities, misconduct, harassment an intimidation.
All directly sue-able offenses, both criminally and civilly in the court system at the federal level.   

The general consensus is, wow, things really haven't changed and they are intentionally breaking the law! 

In closing, don't give in. hold your ground, do whatever it takes to get your oppression into the public's eye and then watch them scatter like roaches.
The only rights goons like this can take from you are the ones you allow.

My son alerted us this morning that he was pulled from his normal classes to do some type of testing and then we get this in our emails:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: "Mayo High School Attendance"

Date: Oct 28, 2013 6:03 PM Subject: Unexcused Absence To: Cc: This is a message from Mayo High School informing you that your child, , was marked unexcused during the following periods: 3. If your student believes this absence might be an error, please have your student contact his or her teacher. If you have further questions, please call 507-328-5510. If you have already been in contact with the school attendance office, you can disregard this message. Thank you.

This is probably minor mistake, but how many little ones lead up to the big ones? 

I mean. c'mon. at some point, these schools need to get their shit together.

I am a subscriber of the "trickle down theory" in this aspect only.

Failed leadership from above, does trickle down and amount to glaring failures below...

Thrust me when I say, the openly and freely do it here, with much joy, lack of any oversight, and most definitely, no qualms about history and those who bravely fought for they very rights they rape by choice.

But as the famous quote goes, those who fail history are doomed to repeat it.

That does BTW go for a $4500 desk still in use, the much failed book ban (posters on the wall at the downtown Rochester, MN public library checkout stations!) and that 7 million dollar I pad initiative that never gotten off the ground for district students.  

(But very oddly, miraculously, all of the administrator's I have seen in school meetings have brand new, most likely latest generation devices, probably using the very expensive 1 Gigabyte Fiber Internet that they so desperately need?) 
                     (Sorry kids, local admin deems themselves worthy, you, not so much...)


<Don't ever expect a voter referendum for more tax money with obvious lack of financial stewardship or restraint going on again here in the Rochester Schools. Thanks, a fellow, pissed off local tax payer!> 

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