Every PEC parent seems to have a horror story.
We have several.
Here's the latest.
Last October (as in October of 2009), we made a compelling presentation to a large IEP gathering of the merits of a software program called Fast ForWord (by Scientific Learning, see more about it here). Fast Forword has been a small miracle for our son, so we made a fairly elaborate video (see it on this blog, right here) to demonstrate how it was helping him, and to make the case that it should be included in his IEP. (It's a lot to ask of a 7- or 8-year old to come home from a long day of school and do another hard 50-minutes of work).
We had to fight our way through an obstructionist bureaucrat from the PEC Technology Dept. (who would later come back to haunt us), who interrupted our presentation to tell us that Vance didn't need any "assistive technology" because he was already "progressing" at school.
Fortunately, a smarter PEC official refused to let this woman bail out on her flimsy and premature conclusion, and we eventually agreed that we would make Fast ForWord (or something like it) a centerpiece of Vance's school day.
We asked for a deadline. The useless tech "expert" refused--flat out refused--to commit to ANY deadline for identifying or implementing the software. So we went around her and offered the other PEC executive present (Gwen Stokes) a very generous deadline of 9 weeks--Jan. 6, 2010--for a software program to be selected and implemented. Ms. Stokes eagerly agreed.
I'm writing this post on February 10, 2010, and I'll bet you can guess what has happened in the nearly 15 weeks since we agreed on a deal.
Yup--it's not in place. The software is not installed, the teacher training has not been completed. Another missed deadline, another example of paper-shuffling procrastination elevated to high art by the employees of the Atlanta Public Schools Program for Exceptional Children. (And the useless tech employee did her part, accounting for about 6 weeks of the delay by just being her intransigent, useless self).
And not only that--Program leaders (including Constance Goodson, the interim director, a person I really like) have refused to offer a reason for the delay or a timeline for complying with the agreed-upon deadline. I got a weak half-hearted apology from a mid-level employee, who claimed not to know that there even WAS a deadine (which I consider to be a totally plausible excuse, because communications among PEC members is disastrously poor; they're as inconsiderate with each other as they are with parents, sometimes). She was trying to be nice. But I wasn't looking for an apology.
Here's my point: if a football team stumbled around while returning a kickoff, eventually running out of bounds on their own 5-yard-line, then ran three plays (and received three holding penalties, then fumbled, that team would be the PEC.
This was basic blocking and tackling: Let your team know there's a deal in place with a deadline. Follow up. Finish the job. Do your part. Don't miss your assignment.
Each part of the job got botched.
This isn't a vent; this isn't a rant. This is an example. I want all of you to know what to expect from PEC so that you can go in there and anticipate the mistakes, the poor communication and the utter lack of follow-through and do something to overcome all of it, if possible.
As a coda: I did an Open Records Act request to read all of the emails that passed among all the relevant officials about this total f****d up episode, expecting to see some pattern of defiant, who-does-this-parent-think-he-is attitude. But in the nearly 300 pages of emails I received from APS Legal, something much more surprising happens: the bureaucrats don't do or say much of anything. They forward my emails to each other, usually without comment, sometimes with just an "FYI" attached--but nobody ever reacts or states an opinion. These people literally just pass paper from one to another.
To me, that's scarier than any other scenario I'd imagined. It means they're professional zombies. Our special-needs children are being educated by zombies!
UPDATE: FEB 23, 2010: I finally managed to catch Gwen Stokes at her desk last week, and tried to ask her why she had never made an effort to fulfill the agreement she negotiated with me. She told me, in a voice dripping with condescension, that she was "under no obligation" to either inform her colleagues of the deadline we had agreed to, or to do anything at all to follow up and see the deadline was met.
It is one thing to know you're being played by zombie bureaucrats. It is quite another to hear it coming from their own mouths.
