Lots of details making this all the more complicated...one of the big ones is that DH is a teacher in our district, so we are not only treading as lightly as possible for good will in the future, but also b/c he has to "live with" any waves we make.
Up to this point the 504 process for M has gone very smoothly. He will enter K in the fall. The 504 team insisted on recommendations from our allergist, so we did meet with her. We reviewed what we were looking for and she was in agreement with all of our points. She typed out a "letter" with her recommendations (aka our recommendations) as bullet points. The 504 team readily agreed to everything with 1 caveat... our requested accommodation for transportation. The director of special ed apparently has all the power here.
What we are requesting is this- our district has 1/2 day K. Parents are responsible for all mid day transport, so M, being assigned to PM K, will be dropped off by us and transported home. Mondays he comes to our house. The rest of the week he goes to a sitter. She is in district, but in the catchment area of a different elementary building. This means M would have to take a "transfer bus" to this other elementary and then be bussed to the sitters. Further complicating matters is the fact that we know the bus driver in our neighborhood. He retired from the hospital where I work, and let's just say I would not let him take my cat to the vet. He responds VERY poorly under stress and has little ability to problem solve. I truly believe that he is borderline intellectual functioning and a co worker has told me he was denied by the military b/c of this...Rumor has it his jobs have all been "bought"....ANYWAY...our district also has many 15 passenger vans. I see several a day in my neighborhood and the sitters. Our request is that M be transported by one of these.
My reasons are these:
1. M has had "mystery" reactions when his allergen was not clearly present.
2. M still sucks on his fingers when stressed, despite our countless efforts..It's purely unconscious at this point.
3. with the whole "transfer bus" plan, I can't help but think that there is just that much more room for errors to be made/balls to be dropped. The van can directly transport.
4. A reaction would likely be noticed by the driver in a van with a handful of kids before a reaction would be noticed on a bus with over 40 kids. At 5, M can not be counted on to speak up.
5. one day a week we'd be relying on the above described driver.
Sooooo. The 504 team thought this was reasonable and since it was put in writing by our allergist, thought we'd have no trouble moving forward with it. Special ed director (with rep for being pompus/Napoleonic complex) shot it down in an email to 504 Coord. I sent an "appeal" email outlining our concerns and asking him to please reconsider. wasn't hearing, wasn't hearing. DH ran into ASSISTANT dir of sped and spoke with him about it. Implied that Dir. must have misunderstood b/c this sounded logical and doable. We sent him our info. A few days later apologetic email from assit. ...his hands are tied. still a no.
We want to pursue this. We really do feel strongly that it is a safety issue. When he's a little older front seat wiped down will do, but for now, I think he's at risk. our physician agrees. Our first thought was to go to the school superintendent and appeal. DH spoke with one of the sped teachers and was encouraged to contact an advocate before doing this (b/c of Dir of speds retaliation?).
So here we sit with a list of advocates to call. Part of me wants to NOT stir the pot anymore and just transport M both ways. The other part of me knows that this would be a HUGE burden for us (work wise. I'll already be giving up my lunch period to get him there. one of us would have to leave early DAILY to get him. Flex time would not work with sitters schedule) and hey- we pay taxes too! The vans are in our neighborhood. Our physician agrees. the 504 teams agrees. the assit. dir. of sped agrees. ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!