Ask the Attorney: Is there any way to foster a more collaborative relationship and/or partnership with my child’s school district?
April 26th, 2011Read a guest blog from one of our special education advocacy attorneys, Sheryl Frishman, Esq.
There seems to be such an adversarial relationship between school districts and parents. Is there any way to foster a more collaborative relationship and/or partnership with my child’s school district?
It is usually in a parents’ best interest to try not to have an adversarial relationship with their school district. The parent and the school district may have a relationship up until the child is 21 years old. While there are times when becoming adversarial is absolutely necessary, I typically advise my clients to attempt to work together with the school district and have seen much success when this occurs. In my experience, there are four common barriers that hinder cooperative relationship.
1. Parents and school district personnel not understanding their legal obligations: Parents not understanding that they are not entitled to the “best” program under the law, and districts not understanding their obligations to provide services for the individual “unique” needs of each student;
2. There are also limited resources: The school has a budget, and parents also have a budget in what they can spend to supplement their child’s education.
3. There also are “turf wars” with the district personnel believing they are the “expert” and not understanding or undervaluing the input of the parent, and the parent believing that they are the “expert” and misunderstanding or under valuing that the school personnel are trained, went to school and do have experience and expertise in certain areas; and
4. Lastly, a largest barrier that I see is coming to the table with a preconceived or a predetermined program, without either the school district personnel or the parent really listening to one another and developing a plan together based on those discussions.
In order to build a more cooperative relationship and a partnership between the district and the parents both sides there really needs to be four basic things:
1. Understanding that there is a mutual goal: the appropriate education of the child and for the child to succeed! Nobody wants the child to fail or not make progress.
2. That there is a shared responsibility in the education of the child: the full responsibility to education the child is not all on the school district, the parent has this responsibility as well;
3. That there needs to be good communication. The parent needs to feel that the district is listening to their concerns and is taking these concerns seriously, and has not predetermined a program. The district needs to feel that the parent is willing to listen to their suggestions based on their experience and sometimes try a program that the district suggests even if it is a different program than the parent thought, and that the parent is not going to sue or threaten to sue the school district every step of the way.
4. Lastly, both the parents and the district need to understand their obligations, rights and entitlements under the law so neither side has unrealistic expectations.
For more information visit www.specialneedsnewyork.com or www.littmankrooks.com
Sheryl Frishman, Esq. is an attorney with the law offices of Littman Krooks, LLP.
This is not legal advice. Please do not rely on this without first consulting an attorney.
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