So I’m feeling pretty disappointed by my son’s school during this corona virus shut down. Anyone else feeling frustrated by how their school is responding to these crazy times?

On his last day mr. L was sent home with 2 work books and a roll of paper he could draw on and that is it. They have absolutely no plans of doing anything else during this shut down. I reached out to my son’s teacher multiple times asking how she planned on continuing to support my son’s education or if at the very least she could send a video every few days just saying hi and she kept putting me off and making excuses about how she hadn’t heard what to do yet from the principal, so I reached out to the principal…

I learned through email from the principal that under contract, none of his staff has to do anything when their school is closed. That anything they choose to do, including him responding to my email is completely voluntary. WHAT?

So you want to tell me that a school for autism and more severely diagnosed special needs children, who are among the most vulnerable during a crisis has absolutely no net? No plan? AND has no intentions of making a plan?? This is just an early summer vacation for them?

I’m embarrassed for my community and I feel lied to by my son’s school. They claim to love their students and yet during a crisis that will more than likely fill their students with anxiety, confusion, possible fear, and very likely regression have no plans to help them? No plans to reach out? Nothing? How can they claim to care when they are more than likely sitting on their couches watching movies and not collaborating with a single education partner? Very disappointing.

So today I reached out to my congressman about a current bill and talked to his representative about what is happening at mr. L’s school. I also emailed and left a message for my state representative and told him what was going on. And I also reached out to my children’s school district board president and almost immediately got a response telling me that she was going to pass it on to a superintendent. Later today I got an email telling me that the superintendent has passed my email onto the superintendent over the special needs programs… So we will see where this goes…

I understand that these are unprecedented times. I understand that it can be hard to plan for something that has never been seen before, but to sit back and do nothing and call themselves educators is baffling. IF and this is a big IF, if they are working on collaborating something, it would be very beneficial to the parents and students to know that they have not been forgotten at this time. Even if working with special needs students makes their planning more complicated and they will need more time to come up with a plan then the mainstream population needs, tell us and inform us.

We personally don’t need a lot, I have a background in elementary education and I have truly enjoyed having my children around. But I don’t think it is a lot to ask of his teacher to just pop in on our communication app once a day to say hi and to maybe tell my kid what day of the week it is, or to read a book to him and his classmates. No big lesson plans, just a simple, we are here, we haven’t forgotten you, and we haven’t disappeared would probably cut my son’s anxiety levels in half.

My neurotypical son’s teacher sends daily videos of class work, science experiments, and reading. Mr. C’s teacher has sent multiple links and emails about how to continue education at home. The principal at mr. C’s school has sent out emails and over all they are very welcoming to communication, and quick to respond.

So why has my child with autism been forgotten? Is he seen as less important? Not worth the time? Is his future not worth the investment? I hope that’s not how they feel, because they would be wrong.

I hope others are having better open communication with their teachers, students, co-workers, and anyone else they were used to talking to before this craziness happened.

Let me know how things are going with your communicational needs in the comments below 🙂

Here is my update: Update on School disappearance