LEA are at it again

[jenk1]

Want to hear the latest in the Jenks continuing saga with the LEA?

"Unless you retract a piece of your parental evidence the statement cannot be issued"

The piece of evidence in question is a paragraph in which i stated that the LEA lady told me and DH and our private psych that unless there was an NHS dx they wouldnt accept our private psych,s dx.

So, i threw the book at her (the Special Ed Needs Act) and told her that LEA,s have to work with "other providers of support" ie our psych and that she was wrong.

Then when the minutes of the meeting came they also had in it about the LEA needing an NHS dx.

So she phoned me on Friday and told me to write her a letter saying that i retract my statement.

And guess what ive done

Written a letter to her boss telling her that under no circumstances am i retracting my evidence and that i cannot understand why they are refusing to send us the statement.

So ill sit and wait for either PP to contact me in a flap or for a snotty letter to arrive and in the meantime ill be advising IPSEA and our psych (he told me to do this anyway!!!!)

Hi Jenk you are just right too writing that letter, stand your ground

at the LEA but good on you for not letting them get away with it

Do you believe that your ds will actually be issued with a statement if you indeed retract this paragraph, all sounds a bit fishy to me Jenk.

well, apparantley the LEA have decided to issue a proposed statement and told us to our face at the last multi-discliplinary meeting, the LEA lady told me that the statement is "ready to go" but that she wants this paragraph of ours retracted before she sends the statement to us.

I am going to try IPSEA tonight and let them know whats going on.

I dont think there,s anything much else i can do for the minute.

The whole thing stinks anyway,the underhand way they have written to the CAMHS psych asking does she think that DS has AS but they will get their comeuppance as there will be complaint letters going to both the PCT and our local MP/councillor.

I complained to her a few months back and she completely backed the LEA up.

So i dont have much faith in her tbh, i need to go above her but not sure who to complain to whether it be MP/Councillor or DFES.

A woman I know is dealing with someone in the dfes regarding major problems with our local LEA and support for her ds. I'll email her and ask her if she knows who to contact.

So cheeky of them. Sounds like they're trying it on tbh. Are they honestly saying that if you don't withdraw it they won't issue the statement? That your son won't have special educational needs that need addressing?
Makes me so for you and him. For whose benefit do they think their services are supposed to exist?
Well done you. Hope it sorts out soon.

copy in your MP ...

then send copies to the national press

bastards

I have emailed her and hopefully she may have the name of someone higher up you can take your complaint to. I agree with the others about writing to your MP - mine was very interested when I was having problems with ds's old school.

and
Why does your statement (which is perfectly correct) affect whether your son's statement can be issued? They just want to remove the part that is the most embarrassing for them. Stand your ground Jenk (again).
How was your party btw?

Thanks for all the support, i am determined to stand our ground, we will no doubt have Parent Partnership on the phone tomorrow trying to persuade me to change my mind.

I double checked with our psychologist and he said he remembers that she DID say it and to not back down.

Davros- the party went brilliant, we had a really good time, only sticky moment was about an hour before the end when DS decided we were a total embaressment to him cos we danced together to grease "you,re the one that i want" he went and sat on his own with his back to everyone and eventually my sister calmed him down by giving him a tenner

sorry forgot to say thanks amynnixmum

I can never work out if they are evil, stupid or incompetent.

Well done you for standing your ground.....

I think Jenk's are a mixture of all three. She has certainly hit the three I's - indifference, ignorance and incompetance.

Go get them Jenk - they have no right to ask you to retract anything. The only reason they're doing this because it is embarrassing for them to read.

Sounds like the PP in your area aren't much use either.

Glad the part went well.
WHY is it sooooo important to them to have this removed? Just so they don't look as evil/stupid/incompetent as they are?! If they push it and you don't give in this will only make them look worse, they should drop it and get on with it.

My friend emailed me back.

Below is a copy of what she said:

"It depends on what the complaint is about. If they are not sticking to time limits or are using illegal criteria for deciding on whether a child should be statemented or not then the Secretary of State for Education, SEN Operations are the people to contact. There are different numbers for different LEA's so if she contacts the DfES on the main number shown on the website and asks for SEN Operations, she should get the right person.

I took my case all the way to the Ombudsman and was deemed to be out of time to bring the complaint! What a bugger!.

Locally, complaints are made to the LEA and if you get no joy from the Director of Children's Services, you can then go to the Chief Executive of the Council to ask for an investigation.

From my own experience, it seems like there is no accountability and no big stick to beat lawbreaking local authorities, but we have to keep complaining otherwise we might as well go and live in a third world country (forgot - the UK is third world when it comes to kids with SEN!)"

She is the thorn in our crap LEA's arse and has helped loads of families in our area get support. Definately someone to have on your side.

Hope that helps jenk

thanks for that info amynixmum, thats really helpful

I would complain about you PP person too! I thought they were supposed to be advocates for parents, or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Also, by telling you to retract part of your statement surely they are manipulating the outconme? If LEA asked me to change something Id written in a statement I would tell them where to get off. I know that sounds like bravado, but they cant ask you to change your opinion (wwhich is actually something that happened) just because they dont like it! Im sorry youve gor such a crap LEA. I just dont understand why they are being so dogmatic. They places Ive worked in have always welcome any evidence they could get that would lead to a statement as it would bring in funding. It just looks like someones got their nose put out of joint because youve got a private psych. Even that I dont understand - I do very little private work but when I have done, Ive been asked to contribute to annual reviews etc.

Blimey thats good spelling - almost worthy of Cod!

spoke to PP lady today, she was astounded at what the LEA have asked me to do, she said she has NEVER EVER heard of an LEA asking a parent to do that and doesnt understand why, after all its my opinion as M,s mum and my evidence that im entitled to give, she said that the LEA has to consider all the evidence presented by either NHS,Parents,Private pysch and that is what they are supposed to do.

Private psych has said that we will wait until Monday and if we dont hear anything then we will start rattling cages, he works for another LEA part time as an Ed psych as well as being a diagnostician and he is IPSEA trained and he has been brilliant.

The LEA lady is obviously embaressed by what we have included in our evidence as it paints her in a bad light.