And The Door Has Hit Me In The Ass

So, it is now official.  I have submitted my written resignation to the school board and superintendent.  The Superintendent also got a two page letter outlining how I arrived at my decision to leave.  It outlined the unresolved issue from November as well as concerns I have about the special education department.  I was careful not to name names or use specific examples of stupidity.  I offered my assistance and let him know I was going to still be around as a parent of special needs kiddos in his district.  I informed him that while I was counseled to seek legal action regarding the November incident, I chose not to in hopes that bringing awareness about it there would be no further victims of this sort of harassment.


Yeah, I know.  Why waste my breath.


I guess I am treating him like I would my students.  Ever hopeful that once in a while what I have to say has of a bit of value and will stick.


But I did make good points that I felt were necessary to expose.  Not for revenge.  Not to be fixed.  But to be the voice of those unheard and uncared for.  One of the most important being two African American boys expelled from our district after they left my program... at the end of the year after I begged for reasonable help and was told to suck it up.  Yep, expelled because our district placed them in a resource program where they were certain to be unsuccessful.  So, isn't it our fault they failed?  Shouldn't other placements have been tried?  Shouldn't I have been consulted before this decision was made?  I knew these boys and although they were quite prickly, I deeply cared for them.  Shouldn't we all be doing everything we can to make sure they graduate from high school?


And my second point was about how our district keeps hiring special needs teachers for less than 1.0 FTE.  Really?  My kid has autism ALL day, not just .6 of the day.  Do any of you know any CD, EBD, AUT or LD kid that is only challenged by his/her disability a fraction of the day?  Oh, if only.  Geez, what I would pay to have Movie Man and Superman special needs for only .6 of the day.


I included a bit in my letter about the lack of vision, effective leadership and planning in the special ed department.  I had to.  You know I did.


But what was good about the letter is that it was not angry.  It was out of deep concern.


So, I mailed the letters at the post office to guarantee I would not dig the envelope out of my own mailbox and then sent it all to my principal electronically so she would get it a few hours ahead of Downtown Suits.  She called this AM.  I did not take the call.  I know I need to return that call, but just cannot right now. She is not going to care much at all about me leaving.  She will care that she has to find another EBD teacher this summer.


I am in a state of grievous shock right now.  Even so, I did the absolute right thing.  I will continue to advocate as I always have.  My audience has simply changed.


My blogging will continue as I have just gotten started. We have so much more to share, to explore and to bitch about, don't we?


I can only imagine what cleaning out my classroom will bring to the surface.


Thank goodness I have therapy scheduled today!