This morning Stephanie, Vincent, and I went back to the district office – where we visited in early December after Vincent first got suspended for making threats – and where Vincent usually registers for and takes final exams for e-school classes – it’s all in the same building (pictured above). Back in December we didn’t know what to expect and I was driving from Florida and Stephanie and Vincent got into an accident into the new car on the way there, and so this was in a way less stressful. However, we hoped to get out of this that – even if Vincent was expelled from Brown – we would like him to be able to continue to take e-school classes, if only as a homeschool student.
Vincent and we went through a similar interview/conversation - this time with a different district staff person – and this time he asked some new questions – for example, about child abuse – and also split us up for a while so he was just talking with Vincent and we were completing a little questionnaire about him (Vincent had described me in the earlier conversation as an “enemy” – and Vincent emerged from Stephanie’s responses to the questionnaire as opposition but not attention deficit).
Then we waited again and went to a conversation with a second person – totally different from last time. Last time Vincent’s school had already suspended him for several days and the meeting with the district staff was to accompany this suspension. This time Vincent’s school had suspended him for longer and recommended to the district staff that he be expelled and shifted into a school for tough kids – but it was up to the district staff – hence, the second meeting.
The first person we had seen no doubt gave some feedback to the second person. The first person seemed happy that Vincent had gone to inpatient treatment last week and was slated to go to individual counseling tonight.
In general, in both case, Vincent was on pretty good behavior and probably impressed both men as straightforward because he sometimes said pretty undiplomatic things (like the “enemy” thing). In the first conversation Vincent insisted that he had never planned any violent actions but sometimes – when pressed – had thought about it. Vincent continued to maintain that the comments in December were entirely taken out of context. Vincent said yes to having threatened a particular person also – which I’d never heard him concede on that – him having said before that that reported part of the February phone conversation was again entirely taken out of context.
Vincent politely stopped the second person, saying he did not want to go to an alternative school. On e-school, the second person said that was up to them, and he said they could talk with him – he gave us no paperwork. He hinted that he might go along with it, if asked, but was not definitely.
I had been told that Vincent and I would need to go for an e-school appointment with an e-school staffperson there. But – lo and behold – she was already there – and the three of us sat and talked with her for 45 minutes or so. She was very nice and said Vincent could not only continue the required e-school class he was already in (World Civ – one he failed last spring) – but also enroll in dual-enrollment college classes where for $50 a class Vincent could take a required Senior English class (one he failed last semester) and still get college Freshman English credit (like the dual enrollment English class Stephanie taught in 2001-2002) – also while stockpiling papers for his senior portfolio. Eventually, Vincent could also take the second semester of English, computer applications, and even math and even physics dual enrollment. Vincent would then need only a few electives – like fantasy/science fiction and suspense English electives in which Vincent reads the books and writes book reports – and/or also Vincent could get a job and get some “coop” credit – for each five weeks of working. Between free college classes, literature classes, and credit for working – plus helping take care of Vincent’s portfolio – and the non-college classes being free (instead of $125, which is what we’d been paying) and Vincent getting a real (non-homeschool) Jefferson County High School diploma – plus this woman’s sunny disposition – this all sounded great.
The only hitch: towards the end the e-school staff person realized she should probably check in with the second district staff person – the one who had essentially decided to expel him – and she couldn’t reach him and she hasn’t called us back all day to tell us what he said – as we had hoped he would.
After leaving this and leaving our cell phones on, the three of us went out for a fun early lunch (in the car pictured above) at an affordable Chinese restaurant in between the district, my old neighborhood, and our next destinations – the bank, AAA, and Firestone. Eventually I wound up at Firestone, where our Camry sat having developed engine problems – which we had towed to the Jimi Hendrix car repair place where we’d had another fixed a couple of years ago – near our house. Stephanie and I both got to work pretty late – after lunch – and Vincent went home, hopefully to nap, put away clean clothes, walk the dog, and work on his Western Civ class.
Unfortunately, the e-school staff person has not called.
Wish us luck as we await her call and go to counseling at 7.
-- Perry
Vincent and we went through a similar interview/conversation - this time with a different district staff person – and this time he asked some new questions – for example, about child abuse – and also split us up for a while so he was just talking with Vincent and we were completing a little questionnaire about him (Vincent had described me in the earlier conversation as an “enemy” – and Vincent emerged from Stephanie’s responses to the questionnaire as opposition but not attention deficit).
Then we waited again and went to a conversation with a second person – totally different from last time. Last time Vincent’s school had already suspended him for several days and the meeting with the district staff was to accompany this suspension. This time Vincent’s school had suspended him for longer and recommended to the district staff that he be expelled and shifted into a school for tough kids – but it was up to the district staff – hence, the second meeting.
The first person we had seen no doubt gave some feedback to the second person. The first person seemed happy that Vincent had gone to inpatient treatment last week and was slated to go to individual counseling tonight.
In general, in both case, Vincent was on pretty good behavior and probably impressed both men as straightforward because he sometimes said pretty undiplomatic things (like the “enemy” thing). In the first conversation Vincent insisted that he had never planned any violent actions but sometimes – when pressed – had thought about it. Vincent continued to maintain that the comments in December were entirely taken out of context. Vincent said yes to having threatened a particular person also – which I’d never heard him concede on that – him having said before that that reported part of the February phone conversation was again entirely taken out of context.
Vincent politely stopped the second person, saying he did not want to go to an alternative school. On e-school, the second person said that was up to them, and he said they could talk with him – he gave us no paperwork. He hinted that he might go along with it, if asked, but was not definitely.
I had been told that Vincent and I would need to go for an e-school appointment with an e-school staffperson there. But – lo and behold – she was already there – and the three of us sat and talked with her for 45 minutes or so. She was very nice and said Vincent could not only continue the required e-school class he was already in (World Civ – one he failed last spring) – but also enroll in dual-enrollment college classes where for $50 a class Vincent could take a required Senior English class (one he failed last semester) and still get college Freshman English credit (like the dual enrollment English class Stephanie taught in 2001-2002) – also while stockpiling papers for his senior portfolio. Eventually, Vincent could also take the second semester of English, computer applications, and even math and even physics dual enrollment. Vincent would then need only a few electives – like fantasy/science fiction and suspense English electives in which Vincent reads the books and writes book reports – and/or also Vincent could get a job and get some “coop” credit – for each five weeks of working. Between free college classes, literature classes, and credit for working – plus helping take care of Vincent’s portfolio – and the non-college classes being free (instead of $125, which is what we’d been paying) and Vincent getting a real (non-homeschool) Jefferson County High School diploma – plus this woman’s sunny disposition – this all sounded great.
The only hitch: towards the end the e-school staff person realized she should probably check in with the second district staff person – the one who had essentially decided to expel him – and she couldn’t reach him and she hasn’t called us back all day to tell us what he said – as we had hoped he would.
After leaving this and leaving our cell phones on, the three of us went out for a fun early lunch (in the car pictured above) at an affordable Chinese restaurant in between the district, my old neighborhood, and our next destinations – the bank, AAA, and Firestone. Eventually I wound up at Firestone, where our Camry sat having developed engine problems – which we had towed to the Jimi Hendrix car repair place where we’d had another fixed a couple of years ago – near our house. Stephanie and I both got to work pretty late – after lunch – and Vincent went home, hopefully to nap, put away clean clothes, walk the dog, and work on his Western Civ class.
Unfortunately, the e-school staff person has not called.
Wish us luck as we await her call and go to counseling at 7.
-- Perry
1 comment:
I hope all goes well with the 7PM session. It sounds good from this morning's report. Vincent, I am 100% behind you to finish your senior year. This should be the best year of high school, not your worst. Good luck!!
Love to all,
Mom
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