We were recently speaking with a newspaper reporter regarding our son's situation, and the reporter asked us why we thought people would care about a special education issue, because the subject never stirred tangible reaction among her readers. It's a question that replayed in my head for days. There is an institutionally accepted antipathy and animosity toward special education students. And why? Is it a parentally harbored fear of children being tucked away and out of sight in the special ed room? When parents see their children, they see the child's lives through the filter of their own childhood, so the daily ridicule of the special ed students that they witnessed - and possibly participated in - allowed them to systematically dehumanize those who rode the short bus. They were different, they had bad nicknames, they were cruelly mimicked and bullied. Abused. They were the retards - a word that our son had to defend himself against on countless occasions.
And until American school districts make ending bullying a serious mission instead of a mere slogan, they will continue to be active participants in enabling the School to Prison Pipeline, denying millions of children access to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Special education students have notoriously bulked up discipline records which typically become active in middle school, where the environment is a virtual Petri dish for bullying. Factor in an age where students are going through awkward and noticeable physical and emotional transformations, a suddenly unstructured class schedule with hourly changes, and minimally supervised Physical Education and lunch period environments with very large numbers of students, and the most vulnerable become immediate targets. Feeling helpless and frequently with limited means of expression, they are pushed to their last available defense and physically fight back against their bullies. And each time the fight back, they are disciplined and face suspensions, as their discipline record grows thicker.
They then get stigmatized among school administrators and teachers as repeat offenders and chronic discipline problems – the bad seeds. And when they go to other schools, whether by moving up to high school or transferring to a new school, their discipline record goes with them, and by extension, so does their reputation.
Even after what has happened to our son, our school district is still fighting to remove services from him, claiming that he no longer needs counseling services in a report that can best be described as absurd. As I recently wrote, the report inexplicably claims that the intense anxiety our son has told them he currently experiences is caused by caffeine, and that he doesn't attend church. And despite the court-ordered return of our son to his school, our district is still making every attempt to push him out of school, by various means both legal and legally questionable.
The trend at many districts, including ours, is to persuade parents of special education children to agree to a certificate of completion for their child instead of a diploma, and this push routinely begins during middle school. We have spoken to other parents within our district who have conveyed that they receive enormous pressure to choose the certificate of completion.
A certificate of completion and a diploma are not equivalent when it comes to job eligibility. Students who have only earned a certificate do not usually qualify for jobs that require a high school diploma, for instance. Certificate-holders are also not usually eligible to matriculate into colleges or universities. Even trade schools and most community colleges require actual diplomas.
By having the child removed from a diploma path, it lets the district off the hook for meeting specific educational goals and allows them to supply only the bare minimum of support. It relieves the district of many of the expenses of special education,
frequently at the expense of the child's future.
Employers interviewed showed the least likelihood of hiring those with certificates with almost half (44%) indicating they would not or are not sure. Just a little over half (55%) indicated a willingness to hire those with a certificate.
[...]
According to the researchers, it “seems clear that when those who have earned a certificate were hired, they would be placed in jobs that require very little academic skill….When comparing the jobs with the skills, it seems that employers expected prospective employees with certificates to be unable to learn academic skills.”
[...]
As the researchers who conducted this study noted, “care should be taken in awarding students with disabilities a certificate of completion, attendance, or achievement. Along with being the diploma option least favored by the employers interviewed, this option was also associated with menial jobs requiring menial skills.”
Our son's special education advocate once said, "Wouldn't it make sense if someone in the administration would actually ask why one of their students wasn't receiving enough services?"
Recent studies show that up to 85 percent of children in juvenile detention facilities have disabilities that make them eligible for special education services, yet only 37 percent had been receiving any kind of services in their school.
Southern Poverty Law Center
Note:
If you are able and willing, please donate to the E.A.S.E. Legal Fund. So far, we have incurred significant legal fees in defending our son, and we have more expenses looming as we prepare for the civil suit we are pursuing to bring justice for what happened to our son and family.
We realize that everybody's situation is unique, and there are people who are not in a position to make a financial contribution, but want to help. Please know that the supportive comments and messages we receive have been sustaining to our entire family.
You are appreciated more than you can ever know.
Read the decision by Judge Marian H. Tully, which ordered the Temecula Valley Unified School District to halt their attempted expulsion of our son, and return him to his school.
Related reading from the media:
ABC NEWS: Parents Claim Calif. School District Failed to Protect Autistic Son in Drug Sting (with video)
ALTERNET: Cops Go Undercover at High School to Bust Special-Needs Kid for Pot: Why Are Police So Desperate to Throw Kids in Jail? (reported to have been viewed by over 300,000 people)
MSN: Cops use autistic teen in undercover drug bust
HUFFINGTON POST: Drug Cop Goes Undercover in High School and Arrests Autistic Student
PRESS ENTERPRISE: Undercover deputy targeted mentally disabled teen, parents say
Related reading from Daily Kos:
Our Autistic Son was Handcuffed and Arrested in School, We Were Not Notified
Our Autistic Son's Arrest in the Press, YOU got the District's Attention, They Freak Out
Our Autistic Son's Arrest: The Judge Has Ruled, VICTORY!!!
Our Autistic Son's Arrest: We're Suing the Bastards
Our Autistic Son: Stunning Claim Alleges School Used 8th Grader as “Bait” in Secret Drug Sting
Our Autistic Son's Arrest: Meet the People Behind the Temecula Special Ed Scandal
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