Can DUSD tell you your child can no longer go to school?

My son is 10 and he has special needs. We have struggled over the last 6 years in Dublin public schools to find a happy place for him as his needs are hard to see with an untrained eye. People often judge him (and us) and assume he isn’t disciplined or he’s out of control. It’s hard to get services for him because he is not behind academically and his disabilities are not “severe” enough, but enough to make mainstream classrooms a challenge.

The school has given us very few tools to help him be successful. A year and a half ago they offered a special ed class in Livermore that could possibly be a good fit. With the promise that we could take him out if ever it wasn’t working, we hesitantly signed him up.

Throughout the time he spent there I expressed my concern that it wasn’t right for him on numerous occasions, to different staff members, and after talking with his teacher I decided it was best for him to go back to our home school in Dublin.

I went to enroll him as soon as the office opened at the end of July and told the secretary my plan to switch him back. She then gave me instructions (which I followed) on what to do, including bringing a copy of his IEP so they could best place him.

Great, he was back in our home school and when we met his teacher we were delighted!

Then after he had an emotional day I get a call from the principal asking “why is he here?”

What? Isn’t it his right to be here?

We then had an IEP meeting where they tried repeatedly to bully us into sending him back to Livermore, despite our strong opposition. I expressed that I felt they were trying to send him off so they didn’t have to deal with him, rather than caring what’s best for him. I was told they would be in touch with the next steps, that was August 28th,2018.

Today, October 10th,2018, I took my son to school, where he was immediately taken to the office and we were told that the district had disenrolled him and re-enrolled him back in the Livermore school. I called the Livermore school, my son is not enrolled. So here we are, living in Dublin, CA and my special needs child has no school.

I have friends who are teachers that have helped guide me through the last 6 years and with how hard it’s been I can’t imagine having to go through this without any help.

I remember that first year somebody telling me that parents often push back on the schools and I couldn’t understand why, after all we are all on the same team right? We both want these kids to be successful right? Well, now I know I was wrong.