I sent this message to our school district's Superintendant this morning. It was directed at information that the Schools Board sent out in a mass email to parents.

Good Morning Mr.Yennie,

I just received one of your current event emails. In that email was a link in regards to a Power Point Presentation on Special Education IEP changes for the school system. I've provided you the link below, to that Presentation in which was included.

To be brutally honest, after reading through the presentation itself, which was less than what I would expect from a professional, I came to a cartoon drawing at the end. I'm sure there are those who have viewed it and have found it a bit comical and let out a laugh. As the parent of a special needs child in the Sullivan County Educational System, I do not find it funny at all. I find it reprehensible that it would have been included in such a formal presentation that would be viewed by other parents like me.

It's bad enough, that I struggle to maintain some sense of normalcy for my daughter who already knows she has different learning abilities but also struggling to make sure she receives the right help that is due to her and recommended for her. I also accept the extraordinary financial burdens of obtaining the outside help for her and then dealing with people who either don't have the time to understand the real issues or simply care not too. For the sake of meeting a score that and let's be honest here, a score being something your office has forced my child to consistently struggle to meet.

The fact that this school system suffers because of our state politicians is in no way a joke. The cartoon itself implies basically that if we don't have it, they won't get it
and criminality and welfare will be what they have left to save them. This is what our system thinks of our children? I seriously do not know what went through the mind of the authors of this particular presentation, but I think in the future they may want to proofread and edit their own work for grammar and punctuation mistakes as well as leaving out the offensive material that has very negative connotations attached to it. I don't consider my child to be one that will ever fall through the cracks or left to fend for herself as many have in this district. She is also not fodder for someone else's joke. It was in extremely poor taste and again I reverberate tasteless, showing poor class and offensive.

Have a nice day!

The link:
http://www.state.tn.us/education/speced/doc/wrtingsbasediep.pdf