What can I legally do in regards to who my childs teacher is??

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kimber2629 asks:

4 years ago began a journey of us fighting for custody of my step daughter due to the mental abuse from her mother. It was awful and an ugly battle. Since this, the mother now has no visitation and little to no contact with her daughter that we have custody of. We got custody of her at the age of 12 and she is now almost 15. The mother took an online course to become a special ed teacher. My son (not related to this mother) attends a special school due to his medical and mental disabilities. He is hard of hearing, has Chiari 1 Malformation and is Autistic. We just found out that his hands on special ed teacher is the mother of my step daughter. We feel so harassed because she lives 2 hours away from us, and never expected this! We never went through with any criminal charges and figured her not having visitation was a big enough of a punishment for what her child went through (she also lost custody of another son of hers to his dad and no visitation) She is the only special ed teacher in my childs school. We are being told there is nothing we can do??? Someone please give us advice!!!

In Topics: Working with my child's teacher(s), Working with school administrators

> 60 days ago

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Expert

lkauffman

Sep 13, 2010

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What the Expert Says:

I am very sorry to hear that your family has been through such a difficult time. It sounds like you and your husband are working very hard to advocate for your children and they are very lucky to have you on their side.

I suggest that you consult with someone from a Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) in your local area about your case (see below for a link that can take you to PTIs in your state - just select your state in the dropdown).

My guess is that they will advise you to schedule a meeting with your son's IEP team to discuss next steps. They may recommend that you utilize the services of a parent advocate (someone with expert knowledge in special education law and resources who typically attends IEP meetings with you). Most PTIs have a fee for service program for advocates at a reasonable rate. Or, in some instances, depending upon your son's disability, the local regional center may be able to provide an advocate at no cost.

In many instances, the team may decide that the school is not the best setting for your son, and together, you may decide to have him transferred to another school in the district. There are often options, but I think that you will need to get some additional advice to help the school to understand that the current situation is not acceptable.

Good luck.

Laura Kauffman, Ph.D.
Licensed Child Psychologist
Education.com JustAsk Expert
http://www.drlaurakauffman.com/

Resources:

http://www.nichcy.org/Pages/StateSpecificInfo.aspx

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