School on the horizon...

So last school year, I got fed up with the Tooele School District. More specifically, I got fed up with the way they were treating my oldest son. As it turns out if your child does not fit the teachers preconceived place in their social jigsaw puzzle, then they move you to a program. They did not move my oldest son because his test scores, as a mater of fact he constantly tested above grade level. They did not move him, because of a learning disability, he was always given credit to learning quickly and adapting. He was moved to another program, because the teacher and principle did not know how to work with him. So their answer was special education.

I talk with parents about this program, and every single one is horrified to find out that it exists. They lock kids in a closet (they call it a booth, but a closed in four walls as tall as the ceiling, and a door, I call that a closet. The don't let the students out until the allotted time, even if they have to use the restroom, and they get more time tacked on if they talk while in there) any time the kids talk without raising their hands enough, or if they act like children. This practice was abandoned by most of America when they found out it didn't work in the late 70's early 80's. It gets better. Anytime the kids kind of break down, or get frustrated, the teachers physically restrain the students and eventually put them in the closet. (This proves that a teacher is incapable of talking with a student) The straw that broke the camels back was when I was called to the school because the teacher felt it necessary to call the cops on my 8 year old son. When I arrived there I found out that the teacher had physically restrained my son, and put him in the closet. When he came out he knocked over his chair, I'm guessing in frustration. Well the teacher decided because he knocked his desk over he would clear the classroom, and let him mess up the classroom. After he cleared the classroom, and did not even try to stop my son, he called the cops on him for destruction of property. I talked with the cops and found out that this was a regular occurrence with this classroom. I asked the school district to let him out of the program, and they told me that he could not attend school anywhere in the district without passing this class.

Long story short (and yet the story gets much longer), we pulled him out of school. This year he will be attending the Utah Virtual Academy. Ya pretty much home school but much cooler. The Virtual Academy provided him with a brand new computer, course content for the school year, and even was offered a foreign language. So it the big picture he can do school at his own pace under the guidance of several offsite teachers. He is required to do 5 hours of schooling, but can do more, and finish a class off before the end of the year, and start a new one. We have his school area set up and ready to go. He is just as excited as we are.

Oh yea, the Tooele City Prosecutors called us a couple of weeks after the 'event' and said the Tooele school district was pressing charges against my son for a twenty dollar stapler, and they couldn't produce the damaged evidence. The prosecutor said that this was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen and said not to worry about it because he and the city had no intention of going after my 8 year old son.

I'll keep you posted about how things progress from here....