Second Grade at FAST School and RNE!

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August 2024

After I withdrew GIRL in January, 2025, I brought her home and homeschooled her for the rest of the year. I got her into a daytime-home school group and afterschool program to re-socialize her with other kids. She was thriving again. She went to summer camp for regular kids, without her brother, all summer long without issue.

We prepped all summer about going to the new school. We did tons of coaching. She met kids in her camp that were also at the FAST school which was wonderful because I knew that she would go into it with friends. We were so excited.

She never stood a chance. They knew who we were before we even got there.

We went to orientation and chatted with her teacher. He was mostly cold. I asked him for a follow-up conference and despite my numerous attempts to meet with him again, he never took the time. Also at orientation, we chatted with her principal. When we left there, I to GIRL's camp and said to the director, this isn't going to work. That principal was so cold toward us. She was ice grilling me all around the yard. Then, when GIRL and I went over to introduce ourselves, she was talking to another kid. We waited patiently and when I thought she was done I moved GIRL forward a little and said, Go ahead! GIRL wanted to compliment the principal's purple hair. The principal said sternly, "You have to wait your turn!" So we waited and when I thought she was done with that kid, I did it again. I moved GIRL forward so she could compliment her hair and the principal did it again, "You have to wait your turn!" She then motioned to talk to a kid that got there after us. I said sternly back, "She just want's to compliment your hair!" And then I said, "come on GIRL, let's get out of here". It was so disheartening. I still had not yet put 2 and 2 together at this point.

This is not supposed to be like this.

August 7, 2024

Please, go back to the FAQ and read about behavioral mimicry in twins, especially during times of high stress and trauma.

August 14, 2024

The pediatrician refused. he said, if she had ODD, she would have it everywhere, not just at school. It's because she doesn't have ODD. These are trauma responses.

September 22, 2024

September 23, 2024 No Hate

September 23, 2024

September 23, 2024 - After GIRL gets dragged across the classroom.

INCREASING OPPOSITIONAL BEHAVIOR IS A TRAUMA RESPONSE.

In fact, I have nicknamed them, "Oppositativa and Negativo".

Those are their trauma responses.

October 6, 2024

October 7, 2024

October 8, 2024

Christmas Morning

Remember how Ms. Miller told GIRL, "You have to wait!" at orientation?

You know how I've been pleading that this isn't a case of "she gets whatever she wants?"

They normally wake up around 6am. They waited until almost 9am, when I got up on my own, to open presents.

I got their presents from Goodwill this year. Last year I was wearing golden handcuffs with a job at Big Tobacco. But I haven't been able to work for a more than a year because of this.

January, 2025

I filled this out for GIRL's return to school. After completing it and before sending it back to school, I reviewed it with GIRL's therapist. She agreed.

After I realized that there was no way that I could send GIRL back to FAST in January 2025 (because the environment was the same) I was upset. It's defeating.

We weren't treated fairly, and their beliefs and attitudes about my daughter were related to one specific problem: There is a GNETS recommendation on our record.

I realized - there is no way that the administration at RNE could have any idea of the depth and the extent of how they negatively impacted mine, and my children's' lives.

There is no way that they could possibly know what happened to us AFTER I finally withdrew GIRL from RNE at the end of January 2024.

I had to take her home and homeschool her - all while trying to keep my job which had already been so compromised by the stress and the amount of time I had to spend running to school from September 23 to January 24.
At the time I removed her from RNE, she had already missed out on two of the first three years of schooling (pre-k and 1st grade) AND I had NO IDEA what I was supposed to do with her for the next THREE YEARS! I couldn't send her back to RNE. I was exhausted and in physical pain every day from the stress. (I got an email about the charter school lottery and that's how we even got to FAST in the first place).
I left my job at the end of March 2024.
The stress of this took a serious toll on my health.
My daughter had to be and continues to be in therapy over this.
We aren't being treated fairly at GIRL's new school because of the GNETS recommendation and it took me too long to realize what was happening while it was happening.
My kids (both) desire for learning and zest for school is fragile because of this and needs to be shored up with positive parenting (trauma informed) methods in the classroom. That's what positive parenting is. It's trauma informed parenting. We, as a society have evolved our parenting style but the school system has not adjusted. The discipline code is really a penal code. It doesn't behavior model discipline, so the children don't learn what to do in a conflict situation. Their penal code it escalates and punishes. 4 year olds. FOUR YEAR OLDS. That's how they get imprinted. Like baby ducks.
Our home life is better when school is better and given that I cant send her back to FAST, I realized that she could very well end up at RNE next year again - and I wanted to ensure that next year has the best possible chance of being successful.

After considering the options, I decided to email the principal of RNE because it now occurs to me that if GIRL does not get into VM, she will go back to RNE - because there's no way that I had any intention of dragging her from school to school and begging people to give us a chance because there's a GNET's recommendation on her record. And if she has to go back to RNE, there have to be some very significant changes in the approach because my family can't afford another year like we've had for the past 2. My daughter is the best kid ever. It's them. It's not her. They traumatized her beyond what she has been able to recover from thus far. (You'll see that play out January 22, 2025 meeting with 2nd grade teacher at RNE after school, GIRL gets physical symptoms of anxiety including back pain that lasts the whole night.)

If she has to go back there, we need a pre-game plan to set her up for success - not a reactive plan once she's already falling apart because some adult is triggering the heck out of her for two months - in that building - in front of her brother. My family just can't afford that.

What I'm asking for is not hard.

January 17, 2025

Seems like a totally reasonable request. Do parent's have parent teacher conferences all the time? A parent principal meeting request feels totally reasonable.

January 22, 2025

January 24, 2025

They will literally say anything to justify their actions.

I'm inviting Ms. Pridgen because she knows the history but we're only going to talk about BOY. In that case, we definitely don't need pridgen because boy never had an IEP. How could she know any of the history? This is just a way to justify this crazy email.