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Have You Ever Thought About the Real Reasons When the School Says No?

In many cases when I attend meetings with parents and school personnel as an advocate I find that the school personnel turn down parent requests in what appears to be an arbitrary manner. They say"no" but is very unclear as to what the actual reasons are because on the face of it their denials do not hold water!

A recent case in point: parents are requesting a change in class and school placement for their autistic son after being in the present school long enough to conclude that it is not the best setting for him. They have a ton of winnable reasons and the experiences to back them up. They receive a classical bureaucratic run around so much so that the various school personnel can't even keep up with the pace of circulating misinformation. Contradictions swirl all over the place and the principal and others put their respective feet down, for no apparent reason, that the requested change in schools "is not going to happen."

The staff members fall over each other in their enthusiasm to explain how well the student is doing in the present school when there is more than ample evidence that thie is not the case. The parents have made a very rational and well-supported argument as to why their son should be moved. The amazing clincher in this theatre of the absurd production is that the student's teacher had this pithy summation to make: "this is not a place for (this student); there is nothing here for him." It's sort of a major conversation stopper.

All of these event have made me think once again: what are the real reasons for these school decisions? In my book: Exceptional Children-Ordinary Schools I speak about the mind of the school and in another section I discuss some of the bureaucratic components of schooldom. So there are the stated reasons for things and then there are the hidden and undsisclosed REAL reassons for the school decisions.

I would like to start a list of the possible real reasons and perhaps you readers can add to the list. Here are some possibilities:

1- Taking the student out of the school may effect the funding formula of dollars going to the school or to the student   in the school which may make it attractive to keep the student at that school.                                                                                 

2- Removing the student from the class may reduce the numbers to a level which would require disbanding the class.

3-The principal at the school may be angling for a higher level position, eg, superintendent and he/she is showing the leadership role in managing a successful special education class that looks good in her file.

I hope that you can add to this list so that I can share other insights with parents who face these frustrations daily. I suggest that this topic be raised at school meetings so that some of the arbitrary decisions can be challenged. Good Luck and let me know how you do.