Bridgett's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 7/2/08 -------------------- 1/23/08 10/22/07 7/19/07 5/14/07 3/12/07 2/20/07 1/6/07, Entry 3 1/6/07, Entry 2 1/6/07, Entry 1 10/25/06 10/14/06 10/10/06 9/19/06, Entry 3 9/19/06, Entry 2 9/19/06, Entry 1 9/7/06 9/6/06 8/28/06 8/10/06, Entry 3 8/10/06, Entry 2 8/10/06, Entry 1 7/25/06 7/12/06, Entry 3 7/12/06, Entry 2 7/12/06, Entry 1 6/27/06 6/26/06 6/15/06 6/11/06 6/9/06 -------------------- Bridgett's Introduction

Schools out for Joshua, or maybe not.....

June 9, 2006

Hello once again! Thanks for joining us......

 I know I said in the Intro that I would recap some of the past 15 yrs of Joshua's life in future entries, but I don't think much of that is going to be done today. There are issues of here and now that I just need to sort of vent about, since we at the end of another School Year, and maybe someone can relate to or give me some advice about 

Well, as the tag-line says, schools out for Joshua for the Summer, or at least should have been out for Joshua yesterday, depending on if he has to go to Summer School or not.  The Onslow County Schools are not officially out of session for the Summer until today, but since Joshua didn't have an exam for one of his classes today, his official last day of the regular School year was yesterday, Thursday, June 8th. This week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Joshua had exams for three of his classes, one each day. I don't know if this is they way most Schools these days do things, (I know my High School never did, but of course that was ages ago) but Joshua's High School has exams the last 4 days of School. The kids go to school at the regular time in the morning and then  get out at 10:35. Since the School uses a block schedule each student has 4 classes each semester and therefore has 1 exam every day of the exam schedule and then are done for the day. One of Joshua's classes this Semester was PE/Health and he didn't have an exam for it, so that is why he didn't have to go to school today, making his School year end yesterday.

I guess I should share a little of the past with you here, about Joshua and School.                                It used to be that Joshua did great in School, he loved it, he excelled in it and he was a straight A student. I'm not saying life was just problem free it wasn't that way at all. Joshua actually started Kindergarten off pretty rough. He was(and still is) a very smart kid, so smart his Pediatrician and PreSchool teachers, told me to try to get him into Kindergarten at age 4. (Since Joshua had a very fluent vocabulary by the time he was a year old he was able to start begging us to let him go to school at the age of two and he even  knew what state he lived in and his house number, street address and phone number and could recite them at any give moment when asked.) There was only one problem, the school district we lived in refused to test him to see if he was ready to go to Kindergarten at age 4. One reason we was told they wouldn't test Joshua,  was that they said they just didn't do that , and the other reason they gave me was that he was a very young 4 year old and boys have a rough enough time as it is, because the girls mature faster boys in elementary school and Joshua being a young 4 would just be too much to go ahead and allow him to test into Kindergarten a year early.

When Joshua did start Kindergarten he was really mostly bored and therefore his Teacher did not like him very much because was always going around helping the other children with their work. Needless to say I was called in for Parent/Teacher Conferences every six weeks, just to hear the teacher complain. First grade was not much different as far as Joshua's behavior and the Teacher's complaints, and once again I was called in for Conference's every opportunity there was. Second grade seemed to start out the same, but a couple months into the School years Joshua's Teacher finally got a clue as to what was going on. Even though I had been repeating and repeating Joshua was just bored, he really was not a problem child as they were pegging him to be, but no one would listen. Well, things were finally about to change. Mrs.D, Joshua's 2nd grade Teacher, started giving Joshua more Math work from a higher level, and she had him put in Accelerated reading. She would also allow Joshua to leave the room and go walk the hall if he felt himself becoming irritated or frustrated, which both happened quite often because he would get irritated when he was bored and frustrated when he had to be bored and sit still.

 During the Summer after Second grade something hit me.  We had been sitting at the ball field watching Joshua's little brother play T-ball and Joshua's instructions were to stay in one place where I could see him, which he chose to be the team's bench. As the game went on I realized that no matter how hard Joshua was trying to obey my request for him to stay seated, he just could not do it. He was trying to sit and shortly he was up on one knee, then next thing he was standing, next he started pacing back and forth behind the bench, and all the while never taking his eyes off the game. That evening I sat and thought and it hit me, Joshua was not purposely defying me, he really could not just sit there. As the days went on I did research and finally came to the conclusion Joshua was ADHD. I had shared my suspicions with my Mom, whom had worked with children of all types in the local school district for 20 some years and she disagreed with me, she didn't think so, Joshua was too smart. Back then it wasn't very much realized that ADHD children are smart. People just thought they were ignorant trouble makers and ADHD was a label that stigmatized a child, Today, luckily most Teachers now that most ADHD are usually very intelligent. That was Joshua, he was very intelligent, which is what we learned as I had him tested for the ADHD and they did intelligence testing along with the Psychoanalysis to get a diagnosis.

There is was, we finally had a diagnosis or a reason supposedly, as to why Joshua was acting the way he was. Of course matters were not helped when Joshua's father and I separated and then divorced. But, we finally had the diagnosis and now it needed to be treated with Medication to see if Joshua was responsive. I was given a prescription for some medication but found out from the pharmacy it was very expensive. I was not able to get the prescription filed at first so we went most of the Summer without the meds, but once I finally got it there was another challenge to over come. As I said earlier, Joshua's father and I had separated and the boys would go with him for visitation at times. Joshua's father fought me on the medication and even refused to give it to Joshua when he was with him. Eventually the fighting was over and Joshua's  father saw the meds were really helping Joshua. I later found out,  Tim (Joshua father) just did not want to admit that there was something wrong, as he put it, with his son. His ego was the whole reason he wouldn't give Joshua the meds. The medication helped alot. When Joshua started 3rd Grade he was a different Child. The 3rd grade teacher knew about Joshua, (she was friend of my family) she knew he was a very bright little boy and just needed some patience and understanding from his teacher, and that was just what he got and was finally somewhat successful in class with her help and the help of his new meds. Fourth grade and Fifth grade Joshua had great Teachers (they used to be my Teachers in Elementary School and they were just awesome people that love children), Teachers that understood Joshua and challenged him every bit of the way.

 During the middle of Fifth grade the Teachers decided they were going to do an experiment. In order to try to get the kids ready for going to Middle School the following year they decided they would team up with the 4th grade Teachers and made it to where the kids would change classes for each subject. Well, this was where Joshua started to falter. Change was not something Joshua could handle, it was just too much for some reason and for the first time in his School career Joshua got a "C". The last part of the year things went back to normal and by the years end Joshua was right up there with straight A's again and on the all "A" honor roll. I must say also, that Joshua was one of the, only  2, children that received a special recognition for doing Outstanding on the end of year State testing. Joshua and the other boy were the only 2 children in the school to score above average on all parts of the test and not only above average, but Joshua scored at the top of the chart. Well, then life happened.

The Summer after 5th grade everything about Joshua's life pretty much changed. We sold our house, packed up our lives, I got remarried, and we moved from Ohio to South Carolina to start our new life. Joshua was excited about the whole situation though. I think really he was glad to get a fresh start and get away from his father. Tim had done nothing but disappoint the kids and was abusive to Joshua(which our Court would do nothing about keeping him from him or ordering supervised visitaion as I requested they just court ordered me continue to send the children to him for visitaion), so it was good to get away as far as we were all concerned.We of course hated leaving our family there, but sometimes you have to let go of one thing in order for other good things to happen.

Life in Summerville, South Carolina was pretty good. Joshua loved living there, made some good friends, played on the baseball team and the All-Star baseball team, but School just wasn't getting it. The School Year at Greg Middle School was worse than any year Joshua had ever had. In my opinion, the Teachers did not care one bit if a child was successful or not. At the beginning of the school year I just let things go with Joshua. I didn't go in to the School at the beginning of the year and talk with his teachers, to give them a heads up about how Joshua was and the extra steps they would need to take to keep him on task. I had wanted to go in right away originally, but then I decided to just see how things would go, maybe they would work out just fine. Well, that wasn't the case. As the Psychologist in Ohio had suggested, I soon went to the School and requested a 504 for Joshua, so the Teachers would make the necessary accommodations to help him be successful and deal with his ADHD and the problems it caused him in School. The year Joshua was at Greg Middle School I was there 4 times, taking time off from work each time,  once each grading period, fighting and arguing with Administration and Teaching Staff,being lied to from one time to the next,  trying to get the 504. In May 2003 Joshua walked out the doors of GMS, passing to the next grade, not by much, and still no 504. The teachers would tell me one thing when we were one-on-one and then when we got into a meeting with the 504 Administartor it was a different story all because they did not want to be bound by and help accountable for the 504. The staff at GMS refused to write a 504 which Joshua had every Right to have according to the Civil Liberties Union, because of his diagnosis of ADHD.

The Summer after 6th grade life would once again change. Which the change was something Joshua welcomed gladly and was eager to get started at a new School away from GMS and meet new friends. His best friend, which lived right across the street in our cul-de-sak and had moved in at the same time we did, was the same age and had divorced parents also,  had just moved away so Joshua was glad to go too. We had moved because of Joshua's Step-Fathers job,but it was none too soon for several other reasons. Things always work out for a reason, the Lord always has a plan for us, and this time was no exception. Joshua's father had showed up in Summerville just weeks before my husband got his job offer in North Carolina.

The end of July, first few days of August, we once again packed up our lives and this time moved from South Carolina to North Carolina and here we still are almost 3 years later and things with Joshua and School are not any better. We ended up finding a newly built, just being finished, home in a really nice neighborhood. And we were told that it also just happened to be one of the best areas in Jacksonville with some of the best Schools in Onslow County. Well, Joshua started School at Northwoods Park Middle School for 7th Grade and once again things didn't start out too well. This time I didn't wait until the end of the first grading period to go in and talk with Joshua's teachers. Since we only got in town the afternoon before School started, I hadn't had time to go to the School and meet Joshua's teachers. In fact Joshua didn't even know what teachers he even had until that afternoon, and not all of them were at the school that late in the afternoon, so he didn't meet most of his Teacher's until the first day of school just like all his classmates, except for the 2 girls that lived in our cul-de-sak that were in his grade.

The first grading period Progress Reports arrived and I called and scheduled an appointment with the Guidance Counselor, who in turn scheduled all Joshua's Teachers to be present at the meeting also. As I had done many times before, I sat in front of Joshua's teacher's, explaining what needed to be done, what modifications, as they call them, needed to be made, how they needed to vary from their usual classroom techniques, to accommodate my Son, to help him be successful in their classes. From the response I got in the meeting, I really thought maybe we were going to get what we were promised this time around. Well, I was wrong, very wrong. For weeks on end, not one day was the agenda signed, not once was I notified things were not going as scheduled, and  Joshua really do well in any of his classes. Art, even Art, Joshua's beloved subject, did not go well. So, once again I had meeting after meeting, providing all documentation in relation to Joshua's diagnosis's, providing a copy of his prescription, filling out paperwork, and once again all for nothing. NWPMS also refused to allow Joshua a 504.

Finally, Eighth Grade rolled around for Joshua. This year, the week before school started, I called NWPMS and arranged a meeting with the Teachers Joshua was to start the year off with.  To my surprise I also found out at this meeting  there had been a new Guidance Counselor hired. Now knowing the news of the new Guidance Counselor, as soon as School was in session, I scheduled and appointment and got busy once again trying to get the 504 for Joshua. The first part of the year I didn't have a whole lot of success as far as progress for getting the 504, but once we got back from Christmas break and several  Teacher meetings later things started to happen. Once again I was promised things, told things, and once again I was lied to time and time again, by the Teachers about what they would do.  It wasn't nnecessarily nothing was being done because I was being refused the 504 this time, this time I was being told Joshua should have been given the 504 years ago, but it was a matter of the new Guidance Counselor trying to get everything straightened out and documents being resubmitted,  papers being refilled out, all because they had just disappeared from Joshua's file from the previous year, as if I had never been pursuing getting  the 504. Finally the last few weeks of 8th grade, Joshua was officially given a 504. Yes, he did pass to go onto High School, but it was by the successfulness of Joshua on his final exams, the grading period grades would not have gotten him there.  I guess it was better late then never at all getting the 504, because at least now we have it, it will be in Joshua's file from year to year and we can make changes as needed as to what modifications need to be done for each class or each School year based on what Joshua needs to help him be successful.

Starting off Joshua's Freshman year at Jacksonville High School this year, I really had great expectations.  The end of 8th grade each student was given an orientation packed and of course went to the HS to take a tour. At the orientation at the HS the students were told about the programs and classes that they would be offered or have the opportunity to apply to. One of those programs rising Freshman have the opportunity apply for is the Freshman Academy. Research that our School District and I guess other Districts as well, have complied shows that most High School drop-outs, eventually drop-out do to a event(s) or situations that occurred or happened in their Freshman year of HS. Because of this Research JHS implemented the Freshman Academy Program a few years ago. This Programs was started  in order to hopefully make the Freshman year a successful one for all incoming Freshman and therefore lesson the chances of them later down the road, becoming a HS drop-out. During the Summer we were send notification that due to Joshua's application to be in the FA, he had been chosen to be a participant. I really think that most all Freshman that filled out the application and wrote their reason for wanting to be in the FA were invited to be a participant. Anyway, the letter that said Joshua has been invited to join explained that there would be an orientation for them ,at the HS, a week or two before classes started. The advantage of the kids participating in the orientation would be they got their schedules, toured the campus, located the building their classes were in and found the classroom they would be in, met their teachers, and upon paying their fee for it, they would be able to select their locked ahead of any of the upper class-men, because they got to pick it before classes actually started. As part of the Freshman Academy the students were offered tutoring twice a week if they chose to take advantage of it, pair with a former FA participant from an upper class, and even taken to one of the local Elementary School once a month to do Reading Buddies. The Academy also offered special social events throughout the year, that were just for the FA students, such as Dances, Fear Factor and a Cook-out. Even though Joshua was a member of the FA he did not attend most of the after school events and I don't know why, but he did enjoy doing the Reading Buddies at the Elementary School. I don't know if he enjoyed the RB's because of getting out of school to do it or just enjoyed the kids, he does love working with younger children (of course that doesn't include his younger siblings).

Anyway, I guess my whole problem with the whole Freshman Academy is that they do still let students slip through the cracks. If Joshua continues on the path he is on, he will probably never be successful in High School. Joshua's Freshman year did not really end up any better than any of the past three years. Things kind of started off good, the first Progress reports were fairly decent, but by the time he got to the end of the 6weeks, things were going down hill a bit and continued that way until the end of semester, only to be saved by his exams to pass. The beginning of this year I met with the Teachers once again and we also met with the Special Needs  person. Joshua's 504 was gone over and the Teachers were told what they had to do in order to follow the 504. Once again, 6wks went by one after another and I had to complain and complain and still modifications were not done. On the recommendation of the Special Needs Head, between Semesters I made and appointment to meet with the teachers Joshua would have the 2nd Semester. I guess I should have known by the unsuccessfulness of the meeting, only one teacher was able to be found and we had to hunt her down, that I was going to have the same problems the rest of the year as I had had the first part of the year, with the Teachers not following the 504. I was told and re-told about how great these teachers were, that Joshua was lucky, that he had the best set of Teachers amongst the Freshman Faculty, and, it was a bunch of bull mostly.

Joshua's 2nd semester Teachers were specifically told they were to make weekly contact with me. Each Teacher was given my home phone number and my e-mail address and they were to,. one of those ways, contact me every Friday and tell me Joshua's progress or lack there of, and let me know any missing assignments, so they could be done over the weekend and turned in. Time after time I had to initiate the contact if I wanted to know how Joshua was doing, and then a day or so later I would get a response, and if I was lucky I would actually get the question answered that I had asked them. Progress reports were sent out and I would sign them and write notes on them, and not once did I ever get a response to what I had written. The agenda was only signed once or twice the entire semester and each of the Teachers even told me in the meetings that they would ask for the agenda to be able to sign it and write down Joshua's assignments or any missing work. Well I see why Joshua had missing work, if the Teachers could not remember to ask for the Agenda, then I bet they forgot to ask for the assignments from Joshua also as they were told to do. I know many times Joshua stayed up late getting assignments done and saw the completed work myself, only to be contacted at the end of the week or a week later, and be told the Teacher never received it. That is alot of Joshua's problems, Organization with a capital "O". But that is one of the reason we have the 504, for the Teachers to have to make modification to help Joshua with that organization to be able to get the work out of him that he has done.

Well, the School Year is over and I do not know what is going on with Joshua as far as passing or not passing. Because of his Exam grades the first Semester Joshua passed. The 2nd Semester Joshua's grades once again started out pretty good, and then went down hill from there and by the last 6 weeks he had failed 2 classes and passed 2. I know for sure he failed the exam in his World History class, failed the the Semester, but just squeaked by by one point for a passing grade for the 6 wks, so I don't know what that means.  Yesterday after getting Joshua's scores from the WH Teacher I tried to call the school but evidently everyone had left the office because there was no answer. Since I couldn't leave a message for her to call me,  I had sent an e-mail to the Guidance Counselor that we have been working with throughout the year, and asked her to please contact me first thing this morning or at least today, because I needed to discuss Joshua's grades with her. Well, here we are at nearly noon and I have not so much as gotten a response to my e-mail or a phone call. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!! I need to know if Joshua has passed all his classes or if he is going to have to go to SUMMER SCHOOL!

So that is the long rant I have for today......If you are new here reading my diary you will soon learn that most of my entries are lengthy unless I just don't have time to write and just have a quick note. I guess you did end up getting some of the past history of the last 15 yrs after all, at least the School history.

If you are still here, THANKS for hanging in there and making it to the end!!

I apologize for any typos!