The biggest problem with the school year ending, and with the bus problem being unresolved, is that there are differing opinions about what I ought to be doing about the problem.
There’s really no good course of action – three days later, the Baltimore City Public Schools have still not answered any of my emails regarding the matter. There is no positive purpose to the “ignore it and he’ll go away” logic since, plainly, the Monster is returning to their schools in the fall.
None of the news outlets have actually ever contacted me back, which just makes me all the angrier, since it’s another group of people who either a) don’t care about the problem, or b) are so jaded about the city schools and their problems that my reaching out is nothing new. I’m going to see if I can’t rustle up some time in the next day or so to call the tip lines and see if maybe that gets a better response.
The Monster’s IEP coordinator clarified to me why she wants to meet on Monday – they want to evaluate if there have been any “negative impacts” on his services based on the problems with the bus. Obviously, these last two times don’t have any such “impacts”, since I drove him to school and he was only a little bit late… but that’s also very subjective. He’s primarily in that class to have modeling and whathaveyou from the normal students, and he’s not getting that if he’s not present. I don’t know if he missed any services, but there’s also that more difficult to evaluate question of “did the lateness have any effect on his mindset that could have hindered his progress”, which I’m sure won’t get factored into the equation.
I’m also weighing reaching out to the Mayor and Governor. In Baltimore, our school board is appointed by the two of them, which means they have some liability for what goes on in the schools (at least where I sit), not that I know what they can do about it.
It’s… frustrating. Basically, I feel like no one in the schools gives a damn about whether my son gets the help they’re required to provide…