Needing to vent....

[Loves to Cheer]

Ok, a little history. Emma missed 2 days of school the second week of school due to high blood sugars. We spent one day at the doctor getting 4 liters of fluids to bring down a blood sugar of 542. The next day was a follow-up to make sure she didn't need more fluids.

Move ahead a week and a half...a special ed teacher hunts me down after school to tell me that she is failing 5 out of 8 classes and they want to test her and possibly put her in special education classes. Ok, pick myself up off the ground, tell him I must talk to my husband first and go home. Next day at school I tell the principal daughter is failing 5 classes please check into it for me. He calls me and sends me her grades in email. I print them out and decide that I will highlight all zeros to see when they are.

Most all are for the 2 days that she missed with a doctor's excuse. I call back to school and talk to him again. She is not stupid, that would be the teachers. When a child is absent they put 0's in and then when they get the excuse and work, they change the grade.

I continue the conversation with principal over the next weeks, even asking him to check her grades this past Monday after a meeting we had attended (not related to her grades). Talked again on Wednesday about what she still needed to do to get all work caught up.

Go to the game tonight and she is benched (she is a varisity cheerleader). She swears she has turned the work in. She still has 3 F's. All from the same teacher, whom she has for 3 classes. First red flag up the pole... I ask sponser why she is benched, she tells me it is because of her grades. I get very upset. Go to principal again.

They decide to let her cheer and would check grades on Monday. If she still has bad grades next Friday she is benched at that game. Fair enough. What really upset me the most was I have been trying for 3 weeks to get her grades fixed. If the teacher won't enter them into the system, why should the student be punished. She even has a 0 because I haven't been able to pay the class fee. It will go on Monday, I can only pay so much at a time and some things have priority.

She missed school again this past Wednesday. I tried to get/make her stay, but the teacher would not let her stay in the class because she had laid her head down. Again her blood sugar was over 500. Dad took her to doctor and she has a sinus infection.

I hate school. Didn't want it to start and can't wait until it is over. I talked to the principal about writing her a 504 plan, but he didn't seem to think it would help her. Anyone have one for their child?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry this is so long. I am at a lost and don't know what to do next.

Thanks for reading!!!

Becky

[Dewey]

Hi Becky!

I'm sorry to hear this is happening to you & Emma. :( Personally, I feel that school is no fun to attend, because so many things have changed over the years (& Not for the better) and those in charge either take thigs too seriously or not seriously enough. If I didn't know better, it almost sounds like that teacher has a personal problem. I've had my share of that with one of my math teachers (in high school), and did very poorly in her class because of it. Ironically, took the same class the following year with a different teacher, and wouldn't ya know...I had straight As!

Sorry I can't offer any help, but just wanted you to know that I understand your frustrations wholeheartedly. Hopefully someone else can offer good suggestions to assist you.

[JediSkipdogg]

Sorry to hear all this is happening. I'm slightly puzzled at the whole grading system they have there, but I'll just go one from that. I don't understand the 0s and then grades. If you miss a day, yes, you'd get a 0 for any test that day and then most school (well, Ohio schools) give you 1 day extra for each day you were sick to get it turned in. Even then, no grade until the end of the quarter, unless in sports which you just take a paper around to all your teachers to sign. But we aren't talking about grading methods, lol.

I'm curious though do you know why her blood sugar level is going so high? 500 is extremely high while in school. Have you determined a cause at all? If it's early in the morning, she may not be getting enough insulin or she could have a huge dawn phenomenon or breakfast phenomenon. If it's later in the day, is she sneaking snacks/candy at school without giving insulin?

As for the 504 plan. In this instance I don't think it will help much. A 504 plan as far as I know is to deal with the medical half only. It doesn't deal with missing school or homework. It just tells the school what to do when she's running so high. It would say for every 40 mg/dl above 130 mg/dl to give 1 unit of insulin. I went through all school with no official 504 plan, so I have no experience with them, but that was my understanding of what they were good for.

[Cyborg]

I have a 504 plan for my son with ADHD. I'm not sure if they are relevant for diabetes. I supposed your state's department of education could answer that. Unfortunately, our 504 was obtained with the assistance of the school officials.

It sounds like you need to help your daughter get her bg under control. What kind of treatment is she on for her diabetes?

[Belinda]

OMG!!!!!!!!!! What da@% F*^% school dustrict are you in???? I teach special ed and NO they can not test your child with out a long procedure ( atleast in TN we don't) ALSO YES A DIABETIC NEEDS A 504 for the very reason you mentioned....head down in class, high sugars, able to test at an alternate time depending on BS reading oh the list goes on. I have had 2 diabetic students in my class.....one was dyslexic so we served her diabetic needs under her IEP (Individual Educational Plan) but she also had all reg classes and I just consulted with her ( how were her grades, BS and yes..stress level which makes BS rise etc....she is now only covered under a 504 becasue I had the special ed part dropped before she went to high school and is doing great. Her parents, and the team of teachers that worked with me were also WONDERFUL. The other one had special ed services but was doing really well so she was in reg class, then due to hormones (boys boys boys...remember here I teach 8th graders) she was failing EVERYTHING....we gave her 6 weeks to improve and if grades didn't improve she was coming to a resource class for reading (her only disability area). shall I say she was in my room and did fine with some coaxing, proding and attention. She even cried the end of the year and didn't want to leave plus has already been by to visit with me to show me her new pump, tell me about HS etc....as for the grades in the computer....here is what I do..if a student is out and we do work in class and they don't get done with it and it becomes homework....and the absent student brings in a note that it is an excused absent then I put EXC in the grade box. If it is work (spelling for the week). I tell them that they have X amount of days to make it up so If they missed 2 days they have 2 extra days to get it done BUT if they miss 4 days or basically the whole week I just EXC them...as for the kids that have the whole class period on Monday to work on their spelling in class and do absolutely nothing and never miss a day etc.....but disrupt continuously and refuse to do work then yes I give them the 0's or 15, or what ever the grade they make (just thought you would like to know I have one just like that in my class and he scored proficient on the standard tests across the board!!!!! frustrating but NO he is LAZY........


Please PM me and I will get more specific with you about your daughter and what route I would go if she was my child.....

[sandyhandz]

I don't have children (yet) and I don't know anything about a 504, but it sounds like a discrimination issue! How is the principal responding to all of this?

I agree with treating the cause of the high bs first and then most of these symptoms of missing school/doing poorly in school will probably also be resolved. But when she has an infection causing the spikes, I guess you can't really predict that.

I feel very badly for you and also for your daughter. But I think you're doing a good thing by fighting this and staying on top of every detail. It's bad enough to have diabetes as a child, but to have to miss out on other things in life because of it seems very unfair.

Best wishes for a resolution. I would switch schools!

[daszy]

Becky~

check your email please.