The Victors

I'm going to defer to [wife] on the best way to proceed with the in-person meeting she's requesting. I'll start by saying that I believe your intent with these interventions is a positive one. You have a lot to balance and manage across students, parents, teachers, and administrators. You're working to simplify and enforce consistency. I work in large organizations; I get it.

Special needs require special levels of care, and routinely require exceptions to sensible rules. You may view [para] as a part that needs to fit in with the whole. We view [para] as an angel who enables [daughter] to be enrolled in mainstream classes. [Daughter's] challenges could easily relegate her to the special needs wing of the school system. Her intellect shows she can mostly keep pace with the other, "normal" students, but she requires that assistance. And we, as a family, could use your empathy as we work through all of this.

When [daughter] has a meltdown at school (thankfully, it doesn't happen as often now), email contact isn't sufficient. Further, if [para] is absent, [daughter] won't receive a substitute well. She has an attachment to [para]. The other kids shun her at this age, and [para] is pretty much the only friend she has at school. She struggles with change, especially when it isn't communicated well ahead of time. I could roll with it, you could roll with it, but she can't. I've tried for 14+ years to help her in this regard, but that outcome doesn't seem likely.

Our older kids, [2 older children], went through Centennial without issue. We try to raise good kids and avoid making waves as parents. In the closing of your email, you thank us for our understanding and flexibility. We need that, as well. As you realign your expectations for paraeducators, I ask you to not lose sight of the children the paraeducators are there to support. They don't need to do this, they choose it. They sacrifice to make things as easy as possible for the children, and parents like us. Please don't make their job, or our job as parents trying to do our best, more difficult.

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