Was it legal to exclude my son from a field trip due to his placement because of his disabilities?

Okay... the school succeeded in pissing me off this morning. When I dropped Elijah off at his school this morning his 1:1 aid told me she was a little upset that all the kindergarteners at the K-2 school up the hill went on a field trip yesterday to an animal farm. She did not get notified of this trip and neither did I. She has spoken to the SPED director several times about including Elijah in trips, performances, etc. with his peers. Is this legal? From my understanding it seems that it might be a violation of Section 504 because he was excluded do to his placement which is a result of his disabilities (PDD-NOS, SPD, BP).... The school district only had one substantially seperate classroom in the whole district which is at his current school of 3-4th graders. We told the SPED director that we wanted him included in activities with his peers from kindergarten. When his aid was talking about it this morning Elijah mentioned how he would have petted the animals like this... showed with a gentle hand, and how he would have fed the baby sheep it's bottle. He looked sad too that he was excluded.



His aid also told me that the rest of the kindergarteners are having a Memorial Day Program which she did not get informed about. They all started practicing thier songs last month, but he did not have a chance to. I don't even think that the plan was to include Elijah, but his 1:1 aid is going to get a couple songs that they are singing, teach him them, and bring him any ways.



Another thing the kindergarteners have their own computer based reading program called Lexia that his aid is doing with him... yes his aid... not the SPED teacher. She is getting some good teaching experience because it seems that she is his unofficial teacher. Any ways the teachers, assistants, etc. got a three day training on this program which is new a couple weeks ago. She did not get informed of the training, so she did not go until the second day when she found out from word of mouth, not from a supervisor, that it was going on. So great not only is my son excluded from field trips, but his aid is being denied the right training do to his placement as well....



I guess I should look on the bright side... at least Elijah is getting to go on a field trip on a Trolly Tour with the 3-4th graders that I am chaperoning him on. When they told me about the trip they were telling me that they did not know if maybe I wanted to drive the 90+ miles and meet them there because he might not do good on the bus. No thank you! I told them that I would go and he would be fine if we get to sit up front where he won't be able to see all the other kids.



I already called the SPED director but he was not in his office so I left messages. Later this afternoon I will call the SPED director back. I also wrote letters which I am going to bring to the SPED director and Superintendent's offices which state my concerns. I felt like going down to the SPED director's office and waiting for him to return but that might be unprofessional.



Just a reminder: his placement is in the 3rd-4th grade school. The kindergarteners go to the K-2 school which is up the hill a few feet away. The only substantially separate class our school district has is the class Elijah is in at the 3-4th grade school.Was it legal to exclude my son from a field trip due to his placement because of his disabilities?
I say go to the school and raise some hell. My fiance's mom works as a teacher's aid with a little boy who is disabled and the school wasn't even going to let him graduate with the rest of his kindergarten class. She raised holy hell about it until the school would allow it. A class trip to the petting zoo is most certainly something your little boy should have been included in. The screwed up reality is that society and the school system would rather ignore the disabled kids than include them because they're not like the other kids. As the mother of a disabled child, it's going to be harder for you to fight for the fair treatment of your son, but you need to fight tooth and nail for it. There's no reason at all that you son should be excluded from everything just because he isn't like the other kids. Since there's no way to "fix" the kids with disabilities, most people try to ignore them so they don't have to put forth the effort it takes to include them in things like field trips. He needs all the love and support you can give him and since he can't do it for himself, he needs you to stand up for him and demand that he be treated fairly. I understand excluding him from things that might be potentially harmful, but the petting zoo? A Memorial Day Program? Com on now...that's just mean. Even if he can't perform in the program, he should still be allowed to attend the practices so he can feel like he's part of it. By being excluded, he's going to get the idea that something's wrong with him and there's not...his disabilities are not his fault and he should not have to pay for being different. Take it straight to the school board if you have to and demand that he be included in the activities with the other kids. It's not right for them to not only exclude him but to not even let you know what's going on in the first place. My fiance says he thinks you should find an attorney and see if there's legal action that you can take. If your son isn't severely disabled (which, from your question, I'm assuming he isn't), then there's no reason at all that he should be excluded from the kindergarten class activities or trips. Like I said, raise holy hell about it...make them think the 4 horsemen of the apocolypse are bearing down on them.
The way I understand it is, the ONLY special ed class that can accomodate children with disabilities is a grade 3/4 class?



And there is none available in kindergarten?



I also understand he has an aide? And that he is excluded from kindergarten activities even though THIS is the class



he SHOULD be in, but for some reason they wont accomodate him there?



Am I right?



Is he the ONLY child with special needs in kindergarten is my first question.



My second is IF he has an aide can she not provide the support he needs in the kindergarten class?



Third question does she provide support to other children or just to your son?



If the answer is there is no kindergarten class that supports special needs children, BUT he has an aide who works just with him, then I would push to get him into the class he belongs in.



I would bring the actions of the kindergarten teacher to the attention of the school district and if necessary the media.



This teacher is excluding your son from activities he is entitled to participate in and is apparently uneducated, has no training or knowledge of disabled or special needs children and is not suitable or qualified for this postion.



She has some false and damaging prejudices against special needs children and their level of understanding, social abilities and their ability to participate -



I would also contact support groups and agencies in your area and find out if there is an advocacy group for students in your area --



I am really wondering about the bi-polar diagnosis as well, how was this diagnosed? Symptoms that might be contributable to a diagnosis of bi-polar are in fact also associated with the other disorders he has.



It would also seem the Aide or Aides if there is more than one assoicated with this school are also being excluded and discriminated against.



You IMO need to act on this and act now, make as much noise as possible, get others involved.



Also your question is pretty disjointed and hard to understand, so I would suggest you make your message more concise, more factual, and easier to understand.



Write it out in point form, drop the narrative, because, and I am not saying this to be mean, or insult you, IF you walk into a meeting with a presentation like this, everyone is going to look at you and go "huh?"



Your frustration and anger has masked the message - and you want them to get the message, so you need to deliver it without becoming angry, frustrated or outraged .



They wont get the message if you present it as you have here.



Be concise, be precise, make it as short as possible, point form, facts, etc.



Present it to whomever, and then ask "how are YOU going to fix this?" Put the ball in THEIR court, make it THEIR responsibility.



If you can also present them with reasonable, viable solutions and the names of support agencies willing to work with and train teachers to be better informed, and have better understanding of special needs children.



Good luck with this !!!Was it legal to exclude my son from a field trip due to his placement because of his disabilities?
OK, let's start at the beginning. Your son is a kindergartner, he has an IEP, and he has a 1:1 aide. Why is he not in the typical kindergarten class when he is getting that support?



Next year he should be at the K-1 school where he belongs. Since he has a 1:1 aide there is no reason he should be excluded from his peers without disabilities. If he is a young kindergartner (born up to January), I would suggest he do kindergarten twice.



Now as to your most recent complaint. If current logic of including your son at the school where others his age belong this would be a non-issue - he would have been included. And that should be what you demand. He be included in ALL kindergarten age activities. This should be stated in his IEP. If it is not, it may not be clear legally what they should have done.



The workshop his aide missed might not have been made available to aide- just teachers. Unfair, but it could be a cost issue. I would check that out first. If cost was not a factor, than you need to insist that she be informed of appropriate trainings in the future.



It sound like you have a very committed aide for your son, I would do everything in my power to keep her.
If your child has an aide there is absolutely no reason for your child to be in a separate class unless he is a disturbance to the other children. If he is not, then he NEEDS to be in the same class with his peers. Since he isn't, they probably just forgot about him. You should however, fight for him to be in that regular classroom where he belongs.Was it legal to exclude my son from a field trip due to his placement because of his disabilities?
Under Section 504 it is illegal. however, when you signed off on an IEP you gave up your son's legal rights and protection under 504. The school has no obligation to do anything that isn't spelled out in the IEP.
My advice to u is to get legal advice, from a lawyer who specializes in discrimanation %26amp; take legal action ASAP! U have rights and ur son has rights that need to be reconized. It is the resposibility of the school to provide trasportation, and what ever else ANY student needs regardless of their age, sex/gender, disability etc. That schould also be stated in the school papers u signed when u signed him up for school, the policy, rule handbook, and other documents fom the school especially if u are in the USA.



U have tried, u have made an effort and they have failed to respond to u or contact u and in enough time. They have failed to meet yours and ur sons needs.

Keep record of when %26amp; how offten u tried to contact them . Enough is enough, u have put up with this long enough! Contact a legal agency asap, this is called dicrimanation. Ur son has been dinied normal student activities because of his disability. Don't stand for that, EVER! Let u last phone call, message, letter,email, words in general be that they have had enough time to get back to u and address ur needs. U will have ur lawyer contact them and you will see them in court- thank u! (Very powerful words) after this they will probably contact u right away %26amp; try to reason with you. Tell them its too late u gave tem plenty of time and leave it at that - let u lawyer do the rest. Don't be afraid of the school or intimidated by them, they are wrong very wrong, ur son diserves better!



G玫潞d luck and I hope everything turns around 4 u =)
he should have been allowed to go on the field trip if on his IEP the box labeled "field trips" was checked off for activities with non-disabled peers.



if that box was not checked off, they could not legally bring him on the field trip
i don't understand what grade your kid is in. if he's in the 3-4 grade then he should go with that grade to things not kindergartners. i also don't know what his disability is either. i have two kids that did the iep programs. special ed. so i get that part. one of my kids would not go on some field trips because of his issues. i agree with this. i don't believe that his behavior ( special ed or not ) should have a field trip ruined for the others. take the fun away. it sounds harsh, but i've been on both ends.