Withdraw Advice

Find or post information on the legal aspects of homeschooling in your state.

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Njmom
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Postby Njmom » Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:45 am

Thank you & Have a nice day!
Njmom

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elliemaejune
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Postby elliemaejune » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:29 am

Married to Mr. Ellie for over 40 years
Mother to 2 dds and 2 dsil
Grandmother to 1 sweet boy
Servant of 1 kitteh

Njmom
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Postby Njmom » Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:08 pm

Thank you & Have a nice day!

Njmom

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elliemaejune
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Postby elliemaejune » Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:15 pm

Okie dokie. Looking forward to hearing more of your story. :D
Married to Mr. Ellie for over 40 years
Mother to 2 dds and 2 dsil
Grandmother to 1 sweet boy
Servant of 1 kitteh

Njmom
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Location: NJ

Postby Njmom » Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:22 pm

Hi elliemaejune!

I received an unexpected call from the principal of our daughters school today. As you know our girl has been sick. She has been and continues to be under her doctors care with excused legal abscenses from school, still. This has been on and off since November.

Anyway, this Assistant Principal goes on to tell me, that even though my daughter is legally excused from school that "they" are going to fail her and make her repeat sixth grade. It didn't matter to them that my dd was turning in all of her assigned work. The fact is, the principal went on, that she (our dd) has been out almost half of the year and the third quarter began today. She wanted to know what we were going to do about it.

I told her that our daughter was still in treatment, and that she is still under her doctors care. That her doctor felt it necessary to keep her home because she's had bad reactions to these medications. This principal didn't like that, especially knowing that our doctors don't know at this time when she would be back. After all, she had been put on a new med just two days ago. They needed additional time to see if the medication would agree with our child or not. (Keep in mind, that the doctors notes are always updated and handed in, in a timely manner.)

This woman just seemed so cold and heartless to my childs problem. Nothing mattered. She was also agitated I'm sure, about our refusal (again) to her request of us signing papers for her teachers to come and tutor our child in our home. I tried explaining that it was not needed. We have our own tutors/teachers. Which, I explained to her months ago at a meeting that the school requested for me to attend. (Btw, they told me that this meeting was to be about my dd education, it was not supposed to be about me giving them specific information about my daughters health.) When they did that in December, just before Christmas break, that was the first time I declined on the tutor they were wanting to provide. Well, providing I signed a paper allowing them to do so.

So, to answer her original question of "What were we going to do about it?" I told her I was going to withdraw her from that school immediately. And, that I wanted to know who I had to contact to ensure that I did it correctly to prevent problems. She immediately asked, "Are you going to homeschool her?" I of course said yes, and then this AP tells me she has no idea how to withdraw a student for that; that she would have to get back to me.

I bit my tongue, and nicely asked her to get back to me asap because we had to be at our dd specialist soon for yet, another appointment. She at least agreed to call me back in a timely fashion and I ended the call politely at that time.

The minute I got off the phone, I made two calls. The first one to HSLDA to check on the status of my application. I was approved and they did put me through to our areas rep for help. Unfortunately though, I had to leave a message breifly explaining that I would be legally withdrawing our child from school that day and to call back if it was at all possible. (He must have been busy, I didn't receive a call back.) I then proceeded to call my husband, who was livid with the news, but agreed with me that we should just legally pull our dd out.

I drafted this quick letter (see below), while being on the phone with my dd doctor, who was also kind enough to have his secretary fax over yet another doctors note. They listed the days she had been under his care, along with no date of returning to school, but rather an explaination in that field that it was "undetermined" at this time because she was still being treated.

The minute I completed this, that AP called me back and told me this was ok to bring in.


our name
address
city,state, zip

Principals name
Name of school
adddress
city, state, zip

January 28, 2010


Dear Mr. Principal,

Please be advised, effective immediately, that we are withdrawing (name of child) from your school. We have elected to educate our 6th grade daughter, (childs name) at home.

Sincerely,

Parents Sig

Parents typed name

I printed this out, gathered all of our dd ps books and materials and headed over to the school. When I arrived, I asked for the principal, but he was unavailable. So, they fetched the Assistant Principal, (the same one who called me.) I handed the letter to her, asked her to make a copy for my records. And, while I was at it, that I wanted my dd records, originals if possible. This Assistant told me she could get me copies and would call me. I told her politely that copies would be fine, but a call was not necessary; that she could mail them to me. I then asked if it was possible for someone to bring me to my dd locker. I wanted to her personal belongings if any.

This woman took the longest route possible to my dd locker. She remained quiet most of the time, with the exception of commenting about the weather. Soon after, we arrived at my dd locker, which she could not get opened. I asked if I could try it, and had it open within a minute of landing on the third number. I proceeded to clean it out and was putting my dd belongings into a bag when this Assistant asks if their nurse could have my permission to call my dd pediatrician to confirm that my dd is ill. I politely told her no. That it was unnecessary because I had informed my dd doctor immediately this morning to make sure he sent the schools nurse all the information they needed.

As we headed back to the main exit of the school, I could tell she was mad, but wanting to still continue to ask, in a different way mind you, that their nurse needed to call our childs pediatrician. I assured her, before exiting the building, that I have known this pediatrician for 14 years, and that although mistakes happen, that it was very unlikely that her nurse didn't receive the information she was wanting, period. I then left for home.

Upon arriving home, I called our dd pediatrician, he did indeed fax that info just as I thought he did. They had what they needed for their school nurse, but wanted to fish for more information than what they are entitled to. I am so happy and releived that our daughter is free of this ps and will never go back!

In the meantime, we are home resting now, and will keep an eye out for anything they try to bring my way... I'm ready for them. We are officially hs now, and will continue to be from here on out. Yay!

Sorry for the long winded post, but wanted you to know what happened. I'll be here more often now, ellimaejune. I'll just have to start posting in other area's of this wonderful forum. :)
Thank you & Have a nice day!

Njmom

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elliemaejune
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Postby elliemaejune » Fri Jan 29, 2010 12:01 am

Wow--what an adventure!! And I'm proud of you: you did everything right. ::pounds NJmom on the back::

[deleted, 'cuz I don't know why on earth I posted a whole long thing on NY law. :shock: ]

Although NJ is such a "green" state, you just can't depend on school officials actually knowing that, lol. So many public school officials/employees are hostile to hsing. :cry:

But you've been doing all the right things, and it sounds as if your doctor is a pretty sharp cookie, too.
Last edited by elliemaejune on Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Married to Mr. Ellie for over 40 years
Mother to 2 dds and 2 dsil
Grandmother to 1 sweet boy
Servant of 1 kitteh

Njmom
User
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:58 pm
Location: NJ

Postby Njmom » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:04 am

Thank you & Have a nice day!

Njmom


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