WOW it's been a crazy last couple of days. My kids all got a nasty cold last week, last weekend the kids & I met my mom in Omaha, NE for a fun filled kid weekend. We had soo much fun! Despite the kids still feeling kinda icky they had a blast, we went to the Omaha zoo, went to Chuck E. Cheese 3x and went swimming everyday at the
hotel. Yesterday (Monday) Troy had surgery on both his elbows. So he's been pretty out of it regarding parenting help. It was only an in/out surgery and he should be back to normal soon.
Now on to the school update. Last week I emailed Nebraska Department of Education Special Services and I got a very interesting phone call yesterday afternoon from a woman named Jan Thelen. She said that she had also gotten an email from Staci (boys
therapist and teacher) and she (Jan) called Mardell (the woman who Im starting to really hate) and left her a message to call her and also emailed Staci and she was waiting for a phone call from her also. Staci has really started to become not only my boys therapist but our advocate. She is really pulling for my kids to attend another year of preschool. On to the interesting news..Mardell has been telling me this whole time that it was the "state law" that kids who are 5 before 10/15
can not attend public preschool. I found out from Jan that it's NOT a state law..it's a state regulation. Jan said that unless our school district made their own law saying this (which Staci told me today is NOT the case). Jan also said unless there is a waiting list to join the school (which Staci told me today is also NOT the case) there is no reason why the boys can't attend another year of
preschool. Jan said the as long as the IEP team agrees that another year of preschool would benefit the boys then they can go (Mardell is the ONLY one on our team who does not agree with this). Why is Mardell doing this??? Because IF my boys attend preschool next year the state may/may not provide funding for the boys. Jan said there are ways to get around this, especially if the IEP team agrees the
boys need another year, but it's not a guarantee that the state will provide funding to the school. Jan said she was going to talk to her colleagues about funding after talking to Mardell & Staci and get back to me. Mardell also told me that the IEP team is scheduled to meet in May and Troy & I had until then to make up my mind
regarding which private preschool all 3 of my kids will be attending (she told me this last Wednesday). Jan asked when the IEP team was meeting to discuss this, I told her "May". She said "Oh NOOOO..that's wayyy to long. I will be talking to Mardell about that."
Abby on the other hand is pretty much SOL. Since she did not qualify for services, she will be 5 by 10/15, Jan pretty much told me that she didn't see how Abby could qualify to attend a public preschool. So it's a definate possibility that we will be enrolling her in another school next fall. Unless we can find a way to prove
that the boys need Abby at their school to strive.
So we continue to wait and pray. I have a good feeling though that this will work out in our favor.
5 years ago
