I love your brain

The high school search continues. (Screaming loudly in my head)

I have a tour this week, one right after Thanksgiving, and another two just before the winter holiday break.

In a crazy attempt to find a good school, I thought today, at the suggestion of a colleague, to try in my work district. We live in LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) and I work in Beverly Hills, which has its own, fairly well funded, highly coveted school district, BHSD. I called to see if I could permit in since I work in the area and could be his primary transportation. A no go. They stopped accepting permits from outsiders, other than from actual City employees.

It was worth a shot.

The truth is, it probably wouldn’t have been better for Cole academically speaking anyway, but it would be in a safe neighborhood on a clean, accessible campus. Sadly we’re kind of down to those being highlights.

I’m touring our home school in a couple of week, if only to rule it out. After speaking to their special education counselor, I learned that the campus is accessible (“Yes, it has stairs”) and that it’s safe (“We have several police officers patrolling the campus, but we can’t control what goes on outside the gates”) so I’m feeling really confident about it. (Typed dripping with sarcasm, in case it didn’t translate in the writing). I’m having a really hard time mustering any enthusiasm for that tour!

I continue to be perplexed by how hard it is to find a decent placement for children with special needs, who want to attend typical school programs, but need some support either for their physical needs, or accessibility to the school work. Cole has only known inclusion. He’s been included since he was a year old. 80% of his friends are typical kids. He doesn’t understand that the world outside our little bubble isn’t as welcoming or accepting of people who are different. It’s starting to feel like a cruel joke. It feels a little like being thrown to the wolves.

I don’t know what trumps a wolf, but I’m preparing for battle, and victory.