Re: Trasportation problems

[Guest guest]

Is there a possibility of special seating on the bus? So far we have only had

one little mis-hap on our bus (it's not the special ed bus) and it was quickly

resolved by the principal. You may could even ask if there is an alternate

punishment instead of being suspended from the bus. just a few thoughts.

Cheryl

>

> Hello,

>

> I have not had to ask for advise in a long time, but it seems it is time and I

need the input and advise of this group, due to problems with the school

district. To be more specific, the transportation department. My son with AS is

in middle school, 6th grade and rides the special Ed bus, it has been written in

his IEP that he receive bus service to and from school. Well, it seems that the

bus driver and the bus para both forget what type of children they are

servicing. To make my long story short, my son had an issue on the bus that may

lead to being suspended from the bus for 5 days. Well, he is impulsive and this

is part of the AS, anyway I received a call today from transportation regarding

the incident and they had stated he could be suspended because of his actions

but they have decided to wait until tomorrow and speak with his Spec. Ed

teacher, and decide from there. So my question is, when the IEP states the child

has transportation, do the same rules apply as if the child in special education

is facing a school suspension? Has anyone had this experience before and if so

how do you handle it?

>

> Thanks,

> Dawn

>

[Guest guest]

Hi and Roxanna, sorry this is so long.

I heard back from the significant needs teacher, she tried to say that transportation has their own set of rules and the school does not get involved with these issues. I was very upset over her answer, after some research, I do know that if there is an IEP and transportation is included then they need to be involved. I did write another email and sent it to the teacher, transportation, asst. principle and the person in charge of special ed for the middle schools (she is like a supervisor). I did request the FBA/BIP, I also asked that there be a meeting set Tue 1/12, I sent the email early Monday 1/11, The Spec. Ed supervisor emailed back and cc everyone involved, she stated she could not meet Tues. 1/12 but wanted significant needs teacher whom is also my son's case manager to set the meeting this week and call all parties to get it set up. Well, I did not hear from anyone until yesterday morning, the assistant principle emailed me requesting a meeting for today at 9a.m. Well, this is a no go, as I was able to contact my advocate on Sunday 1/10 and she was not able to attend any meetings after weds as she had to go out of town because of her day job. I was also told that the Spec. Ed supervisor was out of town and would not attend the Friday meeting. I answered the email straight away and declined the Friday meeting, but did ask to have on next week ASAP. Well, as I write this, I still have not heard anything from the school. I feel they are giving me the run around. Maybe hoping I will forget the whole thing. I am not sure what they are up to. UGGGHHH! This just makes me nuts, I finally get my son in tune with the school, and then transportation starts to act up.

The reason for the suspension, my son had his little flashlight that also has a red light like the laser lights kids play with on the bus. The light was in his back pack because I usually keep another bag in his pack filled with hand gadgets to keep him busy on the 45 min bus ride and to help with his anxiety. It just so happens that two days previous to the incident on the bus, there was no school and I had put the light in his bag with the other hand gadgets as we where going to ride with my Mom to visit my sister, and it was a long ride for him and I wanted him to have the hand gadgets and the light was one of his favorite. When we arrived home that afternoon, I forgot to take the light out of his bag and wouldn't you know, two days later he is playing with his had gadgets on the bus and went to put one of the gadgets away and found his light. The story from the bus driver was the same as my son, my son said I found my laser light and wanted to shine the light in the bus. The bus drivers response, "Brice was playing with the laser, he can not play with this on the bus so we took if from him", I apologized for it, gave him the reason the light was in the bag, I then asked if my son gave over the light without a meltdown, the bus driver stated "I had to raise my voice, but he did give me the light without a meltdown." I then said, well this is good, he gave his favorite hand gadget over without a melt down (he is improving). The bus driver then went on to say that he was going back to base and have the supervisors review the video as there are cameras on the bus, he said there will be further disciplinary action after he speaks with his supervisors. I was shocked, My thoughts; well you took the light away, scolded him and now I feel the bus driver should move on, I would have supported the bus driver, and kept the light put away. I mean, my God the kid acts on impulse, sure he should not have the light on the bus, but sometimes he makes dumb mistakes like we all do, and he was not trying to be malicious or cause a problem or harm and didn't cause any. He just wanted to shine the red light on the bus ceiling and walls to keep himself busy. Anyway this is how it all started, I figure the bus driver and the para have no idea how to work with an aspergers child and have no desire to do so. I have hand complaints in the past from the bus para and driver, they complained my son was noisy and moved around too much, well DUH! I was able to help in that situation, by adding the hand gadgets and asking that he be rewarded at the end of his ride with an eagle buck,(can buy prizes at the school with eagle bucks) as long as they gave reminders if he should get noisy. This has been a hit, but they are always looking for something, this is a special ed bus, what do they expect, special needs kids who create no issues?

Thank you both for your replies.

Thanks for letting me vent : )

Dawn

[Guest guest]

what did he do? The bus would be the same rules as the school - it's

part of the school day.

Roxanna

" The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do

nothing. " E. Burke

( ) Trasportation problems

Hello,

I have not had to ask for advise in a long time, but it seems it is

time and I need the input and advise of this group, due to problems

with the school district. To be more specific, the transportation

department. My son with AS is in middle school, 6th grade and rides the

special Ed bus, it has been written in his IEP that he receive bus

service to and from school. Well, it seems that the bus driver and the

bus para both forget what type of children they are servicing. To make

my long story short, my son had an issue on the bus that may lead to

being suspended from the bus for 5 days. Well, he is impulsive and this

is part of the AS, anyway I received a call today from transportation

regarding the incident and they had stated he could be suspended

because of his actions but they have decided to wait until tomorrow and

speak with his Spec. Ed teacher, and decide from there. So my question

is, when the IEP states the child has transportation, do the same rules

apply as if the child in special education is facing a school

suspension? Has anyone had this experience before and if so how do you

handle it?

Thanks,

Dawn

[Guest guest]

This may be the time to get an advocate to push for transportation. If the bus

driver knows that your son needs extra help, but is not willing to accommadate,

then maybe the school can provide an alternate method of transportation. Our

advocate was able to get a private taxi service for my son with AS.

[Guest guest]

Wow, I would have said, " I shall beat him at once! " lol, lol. <<being

sarcastic>>

For heavens sake, that is hardly a crime. And he didn't do anything

wrong. They probably could have explained why he should play with it

on the bus and asked him to pick another toy and he might have easily

cooperated. But it sounds like they " Confronted " him. What poop! I

think this driver and aide are bored in life and have nothing else to

do but make trouble for kids with special needs. And this is a sped

bus, so they will be transporting kids with a variety of problems.

Wow, jerks. We once had a sped driver and he was some ultra religious

nutty type (I am religious, so didn't have a problem with that...but

that he was always preaching " Thou shalt not! " to my kid!!!) It was

ridiculous. I complained about him a lot and they would say, " Well,

he's going to leave for a missionary job soon... " and boy, it was not

soon enough for us. My kid would burp and it was reported as evil.

lol. But he did not get far with his complaints as everyone just sort

of shrugged it off. So it never amounted to anything. He did get

training too, but it did not improve his attitude towards my kid.

I can't imagine anyone at the school would really take this as a

serious reason to suspend a kid. It sounds to me like they are really

bored and are using your kid to flex their non-existent control muscle.

Don't give in! They may want to have their " own set of rules " but too

bad. IDEA applies and they will need to make necessary accommodations.

If they cannot, you can get them to do an FBA and BP for the bus.

Also, request that there be training in AS for the driver and the aide.

If they know each time you are going to ask for a service, lol, they

might shut up and stop harassing this little guy.

Keep after them to schedule something. Give them two or three days and

times you are available and ask them to pick one. That sometimes can

help pin down a date if they are balking. Be sure to do so in writing

and keep a copy of their replies as well. Hang in there!

Roxanna

" The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do

nothing. " E. Burke

Re: ( ) Trasportation problems

 Hi and Roxanna, sorry this is so long.

 

I heard back from the significant needs teacher, she tried to say that

transportation has their own set of rules and the school does not get

involved with these issues. I was very upset over her answer,

after some research, I do know that if there is an IEP and

transportation is included then they need to be involved. I did write

another email  and sent it to the teacher, transportation, asst.

principle and the person in charge of special ed for the middle schools

(she is like a supervisor). I did request the FBA/BIP, I also asked

that there be a meeting set Tue 1/12, I sent the email early Monday

1/11, The Spec. Ed supervisor emailed back and cc everyone involved,

she stated she could not meet Tues. 1/12 but wanted significant needs

teacher whom is also my son's case manager to set the meeting this week

and call all parties to get it set up. Well, I did not hear from anyone

until yesterday morning, the assistant principle emailed me requesting

a meeting for today at 9a.m.  Well, this is a no go, as I was able to

contact my advocate on Sunday 1/10 and she was not able to attend any

meetings after weds as she had to go out of town because of her day

job. I was also told that the Spec. Ed supervisor was out of town and

would not attend the Friday meeting. I answered the email straight away

and declined the Friday meeting, but did ask to have on next week ASAP.

Well, as I write this, I still have not heard anything from the school.

I feel they are giving me the run around. Maybe hoping I will forget

the whole thing. I am not sure what they are up to. UGGGHHH! This just

makes me nuts, I finally get my son in tune with the school, and then

transportation starts to act up.

 

The reason for the suspension, my son had his little flashlight that

also has a red light like the laser lights kids play with on the bus.

The light was in his back pack because I usually keep another bag in

his pack filled with hand gadgets to keep him busy on the 45 min bus

ride and to help with his anxiety. It just so happens that two days

previous to the incident on the bus, there was no school and I had put

the light in his bag with the other hand gadgets as we where going to

ride with my Mom to visit my sister, and it was a long ride for him and

I wanted him to have the hand gadgets and the light was one of his

favorite. When we arrived home that afternoon, I forgot to take the

light out of his bag and wouldn't you know, two days later he is

playing with his had gadgets on the bus and went to put one of the

gadgets away and found his light. The story from the bus driver was the

same as my son, my son said I found my laser light and wanted to shine

the light in the bus. The bus drivers response, " Brice was playing with

the laser, he can not play with this on the bus so we took if from

him " , I apologized for it, gave him  the reason the light was in the

bag, I then asked if my son gave over the light without a meltdown, the

bus driver stated " I had to raise my voice, but he did give me the

light without a meltdown. "   I then said, well this is good, he gave his

favorite hand gadget over without a melt down (he is improving).  The

bus driver then went on to say that he was going back to base and have

the supervisors review the video as there are cameras on the bus, he

said there will be further disciplinary action after he speaks with his

supervisors.  I was shocked, My thoughts; well you took the light away,

scolded him and now I feel the bus driver should move on, I would have

supported the bus driver, and kept the light put away. I mean, my God

the kid acts on impulse, sure he should not have the light on the bus,

but sometimes he makes dumb mistakes like we all do, and he was not

trying to be malicious or cause a problem or harm and didn't cause any.

He just wanted to shine the red light on the bus ceiling and walls to

keep himself busy. Anyway this is how it all started, I figure the bus

driver and the para have no idea how to work with an aspergers child

and have no desire to do so. I have hand complaints in the past from

the bus para and driver, they complained my son was noisy and moved

around too much, well DUH!  I was able to help in that situation, by

adding the hand gadgets and asking that he be rewarded at the end of

his ride with an eagle buck,(can buy prizes at the school with eagle

bucks) as long as they gave reminders if he should get noisy. This has

been a hit, but they are always looking for something, this is a

special ed bus, what do they expect, special needs kids who create no

issues? 

 

Thank you both for your replies.

 

Thanks for letting me vent : )

Dawn

[Guest guest]

What idiots. They just say these things to try and intimidate you into

agreeing with their stupidness. Good for you for asking to see it!!

Called their bluff!

Roxanna

" The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do

nothing. " E. Burke

Re: ( ) Trasportation problems

Oh, with my ramble to my last post, I forgot to add info on the video

that the bus driver commented on, when transportation called me to say

my son would be suspended off the bus, I asked to have this video

present at the meeting, I was told by the supervisor there was no

video, she claims there was nothing streamed on the this video during

this event.

 

Thanks,

Dawn