Update on Brandon

I know a lot of people see updates that I post on Facebook and wonder what the heck is she talking about and why does she keep talking about it.  I have had a few people email me and ask what is going on and I figured this was much easier than answering each email.  

I posted a blog several months ago about how this all started out, but basically Brandon is my 12 year old son who has Autism.  In the fall of 2010 he was moved to a middle school setting from elementary school.  From the beginning it was apparent it was not an appropriate placement for him.  I was in the process of trying to get him moved into another PUBLIC school in Montgomery County when his arm was broken by a security guard at school on December 6, 2010.  

He was excused from school by an Orthopedic doctor for 2 months due to the extent of his injuries.  When he was able to go back to school, I made the decision to homeschool Brandon until we could find him another school that would be a good fit for him.  That may lead you to believe that I could just go to any school in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and say, "I want Brandon to go here."  That is not the case.  If only it were that simple.  MCPS tells you were your child will go to school, and if you do not agree with it, you need to take further action.  For 7 months they stood by their decision that the school he was going to was the ONLY school that was appropriate for him.  After going to mediation twice, they finally offered one more school as an option.  That was an Autism class in a regular middle school consisting of 6 kids all of whom were Non-verbal or almost non-verbal.  If you know Brandon, you know he is not the highest functioning child, but he is FAR from Non-verbal.  So, that was definitely not appropriate.  One thing I should point out about the first school.  It is a special education school that is for children 6th grade to 21 years old.  About 30-40% of the students have a diagnosis of Autism, and in the middle school there are only 20 kids.  So, based on those numbers, and knowing how many children there are in this county with Autism, where are the other kids who have Autism going to school and why would one of those schools not be an option? 

Anyway, we were forced to file for a Due Process hearing.  Before the hearing I had managed to rack up about $27,000 in legal fees JUST TO TRY AND GET BRANDON BACK INTO A DIFFERENT PUBLIC SCHOOL.  The point of the hearing was to prove that his school was not appropriate and if they could not offer another public school option, that Brandon be provided with a private school placement.  After the hearing, my legal fees are probably around $40,000 or so now.  The lawyer for MCPS kept saying throughout the hearing that I was just out to get money and that this was a person injury lawsuit and not about Brandon's education. I have not even filed a personal injury lawsuit at this time.  The most important thing to me was to get Brandon back into school and if I decide to file a lawsuit later it will only be to recoup the money that I have lost trying to get Brandon back into school.  

We had the Due Process hearing this week and it lasted 2 days.  The judge has 30 days to render her decision and honestly it could go either way.  I am praying that things go our way and Brandon gets a private school placement.  But I also need to prepare myself for what will happen if we lose.  I will either be forced to return him to the school where he was going.  (That will NEVER happen.)  Or I will have to move to another county and enroll him and hope that it's better than where he was going to school here.  That would not be as simple as it sounds.  I own a home here in Montgomery County that I can't sell right now due to the real estate market and would have to figure out what to do with the house.  I also have a 9 year old son who would have to move from his school and his friends and family that is here.  He has already told me that if we do have to move that he would prefer to move in with my mom and stay here in his current school.  So, my family would be ripped apart.  I would have to move about an hour away from my mom who has always been a huge support to me, but even more so since Jorge passed away 2 years ago.  And yes, I would still be paying off the legal fees for the rest of my life... I really hope it doesn't come down to me having to move,  but it's a reality that I have to prepare for.  I just get very angry when I think that all of this could have been avoided if MCPS could have just offered another appropriate placement for Brandon...