But it’s beside the point – our family is focused on doing what’s right for our kids, first. What’s best for older son is having aide support full-time. My husband’s filling in when there weren’t aides available was a second-best solution to a problem that should never have happened in the first place. The third best option would have been keeping him home from school, because he simply couldn’t function without someone supporting him in his classes.

Our boy needs to learn to work with other people, and not be dependent on a parent, so having his father supporting him in his classes wasn’t in his long-term interests. It was a very short-term stop-gap measure. We also had a number of school staff and district officials tell us that a parent on the campus in that capacity wasn’t legal.

Like the other families in the situation, it didn’t make sense to take money from the department… It made sense to use the *threat* of lawsuits to pressure the department to get staffing. And Dr. Harris was responsive to those threats – we got the necessary aides hired.

Now the department is ignoring threatened suits, and ignoring previous settlements. The department head is going to be costing the district a whole lot of money that doesn’t need to be wasted in this way. It could be going to supports and services for the kids who need it, and it would cost less than the eventual judgements against the district are going to cost all of us paying taxes.

If only the leaders of OUSD understood and appreciated that.

At least one family I know of is now going to have to go to court because Lisa Ryan-Cole is refusing to honor the settlement that Dr. Harris worked out with them. It would amaze and shock me if there aren’t more lawsuits in the pipeline. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible a year ago, but I believe the Spec Ed department is even worse off now than it was when Dr. Harris was in charge.

I must say how impressed I am that your husband functioned as your son’s aide for several weeks. What a refreshing example of parents putting their child’s (student’s) need FIRST! Contributing your blood instead of demanding it out of that turnip when not (then) forthcoming was the right thing to do, personal resources and time (likely) marginally permitting.

I just want to say thank you for being the kind of parent who focuses on moving forward with your son’s program rather than punitive action. Your positive focus will benefit him more in the long run.

I do find your comment about Dr Harris to be insightful and unfortunately, very true. I actually heard an inside rumor that Dr Harris took a health related leave; I would much rather it be performance related.

The best thing I can say about Dr. Harris is that she never lied to us or behaved abusively, unlike her successor.

Could we get a close up of her ear rings, ear buds, ear plugs, or whatever they be?

P.S. Does anyone know if ahw really has a special relationship with a guy named “Ed?”