The Gambler

When I moved in with my grandparents when I was 9, I spent a lot of time doing farm chores with my grandfather, listening to Kenny Rogers.  I knew every word to "The Gambler": You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.  You never count your cards when your sittin' at the table, there'll be time enough for counting when the dealin's done.

Dealing with MPS department of special education or even MPS at all reminds me of this song.  I dealt with them in August 2010 and the result was a poor evaluation (now that I have seen Ben evaluated and know how much better it could have been done) and an awful IEP.  Liam had the good fortune to move to Alaska where all his needs were met despite this.

I am not in Alabama yet, but I am already wondering if the fight is worth the outcome we'll receive.

In addition to already feeling bullied by the special education department, I am just angry in general.  Montgomery has a very small number of magnet schools.  In every year before 2012, there was a January and May application period.  This is important as Montgomery has such a large military population.  When the January 2012 magnet application period happened, they filled EVERY slot in the magnet school.  There was no notice this was happening.  Who does this impact?  Military families!

After pressure from several sources (including another JAG family who moved to Montgomery in February), MPS said they'd do a May Application period if you had military orders showing you were not present in Montgomery in January.  They said that additional school slots would need to be approved. I anticipated only a handful of kids would be applying.  As I am in Alaska. I had to go to Liam's special education teacher and eventually the lementary school principal.  They made personal time to ensure Liam could test.  In the meantime, my friend in Montgomery said they ended up doing testing for 2 weeks, testing 30+ kids and at least 5 kindergarteners at each testing time.

This week we all got letters, saying that while our children were "qualified" to attend the magnet school, there were no slots.  They did that testing, supervised it, and clearl never intended to open any more slots. I don't know what it cost MPS but I know those resources could have gone to the special education program which they keep claiming in under-funded.

To say that I am furious is an understatement.  To say that I have not an ounce of trust or respect for the adminstration of MPS is a truth.

I have some ideas swirling around my head about options for how to best protect Liam, but I think the end result is that I will send Liam to the private half-day kindergarten I enrolled him in months ago.  Now I just need to find the belief in myself to trust that this is the right decision and not beat myself up.