Reply to Feedback on Bridges PCS?

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[quote=Anonymous]My child is currently attending Bridges in Kindergarten and this will be his last year.  I have become very unhappy with Bridges.  I looked high and low for a forum where I could express this but kept pulling up old threads on how wonderful the school is.  To be fair, my son's pre-k year, although started off rocky, was a really great experience for him.  He has Autism, and as soon as he became a student, they worked to create an educational plan that was right on with his needs. Coming from DCPS, I was ecstatic.  Soon, he was assigned a dedicated aid that worked with him and was also a great resource for our family.  I couldn't be any happier.  Nevertheless, from the first year of his attendance, we noticed a very high turnover of teachers in his classroom.  Within the first month of Pre-K, his head teacher left.  Two more teachers were added to the classroom (one head teacher and one assistant).  Soon enough, both of the new teachers left the school.  By the time we all visited the pumpkin patch (October/November) there was a brand new set of teachers in the classroom.  I was appreciative that during staff changes, my child's educational plan did not stop in any way.  The rotating special ed teacher was wonderful.  Coupled with my son's dedicated aid, he was progressing and reaching beyond his goals in his IEP.  By the end of the school year, my son was eligible for Extended School Year classes, and we were so pleased to find out that his dedicated aid was going to be one of the head teachers in his class!  We were super excited.

But we quickly realized that all good things come to an end.

By the beginning of the school year and within the first two weeks, the head teacher of the Kindergarten class left.  At the same time, my son was being placed from a Non-cat class back into inclusion.  Before his head teacher left, it was her recommendation that he be placed back into general education and that his dedicated aid from last year be assigned to him or at least there be a transitional period to where she will be phased out as his DA.  This is when we hit our bumps in the road, but being that we felt Bridges has always had our child's best interest in mind, we trusted the process and remained patient.  My son was transferred from non-cat to inclusion, whoever, he was not able to retain his DA because she was needed in non-cat to help the new head teacher in the class.  However, because his IEP requires for him to have a DA, another child's DA was snatched from her for my son.  This created problems for the mother of the other child, the DA of the other child, and myself.  What was worse was that the decision makers did not thoroughly think about how that would affect the children being involved.  The DA wasn't familiar with the ABA style of learning that my son was used to.  So she wasn't confident in being a DA for my son in the inclusion environment. The parent was upset because at that point, her daughter didn't have the support that she needed.  And I was upset because I didn't think it was fair for the other child to be stripped of her support, plus I wasn't understanding why the DA was apprehensive with working with my son.  The Asst. Principal explained that they were in the process of finding another DA for my son but that he had to remain in his Non-cat class until one was hired.  Essentially, we were okay with this.

Another DA was hired through a temp agency and my son began his transition.  She was also working with his last DA to incorporate some of the same protocols in the new inclusive classroom.  Although we wanted desperately for his old DA to be with him, we settled for the DA that was assigned and she was really nice and very helpful with my son.  Soon enough, she left the school.  Rumors began to circulate on the reasons from other teachers, and when I spoke with her, she was quite embarrassed and sad that her financial issues were being told to the parents behind her back.  I thought that to be very unprofessional.  In addition, my son didn't have a special ed teacher, so his hours per week of special ed were not being met.  Another young lady was ushered into the classroom to be my sons DA.  As nice as she is, she didn't have the ABA training to meet my son's needs.  In the interim, I've sent numerous of emails with my concerns on the turnover of my sons DAs and the lack of communication as to what was really going on with his services and what services were/were not being met (as is my right and his right as a child protected by IDEA laws).  I continuously received "fluff" from the administration.  The teachers were telling me one thing, and the Asst. Principal was telling me different things.  My husband and I's head was spinning in circles.  Pretty soon, the head teacher in the class pulled us to the side and said they were practically pleading for the Principal to make accommodations for my son's old DA to come into the classroom and help his new DA with his ABA protocols.  Although each day, we asked about my son's progress and was told his days were good, in reality, he was regressing and exhibiting behaviors that were a hindrance to his learning and the learning of other children.  I took to email again about how dissatisfied I am that they have made decisions that were affecting not only my child, but other children and was not taking our concerns into consideration.  In addition, they did not want to meet with us.  Our IEP was to be updated in January and I've still not received an update of a meeting, even after emailing and requesting one.  Now when I see the director, Asst Principal, or the Special Ed Coordinator, they either run past me and act like they don't see me or ignore my presence altogether.  I've stopped trying to communicate, will be surrendering my son's seat for the next person who wish to deal with the unprofessionalism, rash decision-making, and lack of accountability.[/quote]

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