The email I just sent to Ben's old principal

The following is the text of the email I just sent to the Principal of Southwest Middle School:

Dr Carcara,

Sara forwarded to me the email you sent her yesterday requesting a meeting and asking for more information.  I don’t know if she has replied to you yet, but I suspect not.  The bulk of our focus yesterday was in working out the final details of starting Ben at Princeton House and preparing for his first day this morning.  Ben has had sleep issues pretty much since birth, and starting this morning he has to get up an hour earlier each day for Sara to be able to get him ready for school and then drive him up to Princeton House to drop him off before coming back down to work where she teaches at Chain of Lakes.  They should be walking out the door right now as I write this.  Being his first day at a new school, we will be on pins and needles all day waiting to hear any news on how he is doing.
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Word from the new school

This just in from Roger Watkins, the Assistant Principal at Ben's new school:

Good Morning!

I've been popping into the classroom to check up on Ben today.  So far things are going okay.  He is definately unsure about the new school and people, which is all to be expected.  Today the teachers are just working on basic skills and helping him feel comfortable.
We haven't had any serious issues of crying or other behaviors.  Some small behaviors such as swatting at teachers and not attending to task.  These were also expected especially after hearing about his former classroom.  Mrs. Bray (Behavior Therapist) and the staff are starting to take baseline behavior data to help recognize behaviors and reinforcers.
Overall, things have gone very well and Ben seems to be acclimating to the new changes.

More follow-up

The note that came home with Ben today:

Ben had an okay day.  He was really nervous at the beginning of the day.  In the morning he had a few aggressions toward the staff members.  He did cry a couple of times but calmed down quickly.  He didn't really want to earn his music or books, I think it was the new environment.  He did want the vanilla wafers.  I kept the other stuff and reinforcers, but he did not eat all of it.  He did eat most of this fries at lunch.  Mr. Freund was not here today, but I helped out in the room and worked a lot with Ben.  You will get a letter tomorrow from Mr. Freund about supplies, etc.  I am sending home a form, please fill it out as best you can.

Thanks,
Kim Bray, BCABA
Behavior Analyst

The email reply that I got from the principal at Southwest Middle School:

Mr. Miles-

Thank you so much for your e-mail.  I will call you later today.  I am extremely concerned with some of the statements you made in your e-mail.  I will be sharing your e-mail with my staff (paras and the teachers involved) but because I had never been informed of these concerns either by you, your ex-wife, or the teacher, I had no way to know what was occurring.  My background is exceptional education and I actually requested the autistic unit be brought to my school.  I am in the classroom often as is my staffing specialist and the behavior specialist.  In addition, I have a resource teacher from the West Learning Community that is at the school to work in both the Autistic and the TMH classroom several days a week. It was unfortunate that the Life Skills Lab had to be used as a classroom but we are quite overcrowded until our wing is completed and the teachers can move.  That is nearing completion now and the lab will be back into the hands of the Autistic and TMH teachers as of March 9th.

I was NEVER made aware about the telephone but in speaking to Dr. Letzo have been told that the repair has been put into the district on several occasions and they have failed to fix it-I will be addressing that immediately with the supervisor of maintenance for the West Learning Community.

As a parent, I understand your decision.  As the Principal of the school and especially one that is extremely involved with the ESE department, I cannot understand how this breakdown occurred and why I was not notified.  For the record, may I please say to both of you that if you ever have concerns about your son’s education. PLEASE contact the principal of what ever school he is attending.  I am truly feeling ill that you felt this way and we could have resolved these issues if you had contacted me.

I will contact you as soon as I am finished with the meeting I am about to enter.

Anne Carcara

It is worth noting that the above email was received at 12:29pm.  It is currently 2:42pm and she has not called.  I assume she is in a very long meeting.

I don't doubt her sincerity.  And perhaps this whole thing snowballed too quickly.  But the essential truth remains that there was a major, and completely avoidable, incident last Wednesday.  We should have had details immediately after it happened.  However well-intentioned, the agents of the school mishandled the situation and here we are.

One last follow up

I just got a phone call a few minutes ago from Dr. Carcara, the principal at Ben's old school.  She was, obviously, extremely apologetic (and sincerely so, I believe).  She was also very frustrated with her staff.  Regarding the broken telephone, the original repair request had been made to maintenance all the way back in August.  The principal had assumed it was fixed back then, as the teacher never said anything to her about it after that point.  This, despite the fact that the principal was in that room several times per week.  I pointed out to her that this was consistent with my experience with Ms Keene, in that she seemed to be a very friendly and knowledgeable person who unfortunately lacked in the follow-through department.

In any case, we spoke for five or ten minutes.  I got the impression that she was genuinely upset at what happened.  She said that she was meeting with her staff (being the teacher and the two paras) this afternoon to discuss the issues with them.  Honestly, I hope that this ultimately turns out to be a positive turning point for them.  Perhaps this is the kick in the pants that Ms Keene needs.  But if nothing else, at least I think the environment in that classroom will get better for the remaining students.  At least they'll have a working telephone soon.

Cell

And now for something completely different.

It seems that Stephen King has come out of retirement just to write a book specially for me.  Yeah, I know it's dedicated to Richard Matheson and George A. Romero, but hey, who are we kidding here?

Cell is the classic epic zombie novel.  At 3:03 pm on October 1st, anyone using a cell phone is turned into a brainless killing machine.  Society crumbles.  Lead character goes on a cross-country trek to save his family.  This is classic King here, lean and mean and full of interesting characters.  I am only 34 pages into it, and I am loving every bit.

Check it out, you'll be glad you did.