Letter to the Superintendant-- his response at very bottom

 11/27/2013

Dear Mr. Brabrand,

I received in the mail on Fri 11/23/13 your survey regarding my children who withdrew from Lynchburg City Schools, inquiring a reason so potentially you won't loose future students for a similar reason it seemed.  First off, I think this is a wise plan to inquire the reasons in order to establish potential plans.  So, thank you for asking us to participate in your survey.  That being said, this will be lengthy.  I certainly didn't make a quick four line reason (the amount of space included for additional comments on the survey), so this is the reasoning behind my children's transfer.  I think you could establish a plan to help countless other students in this school district.  Luckily for the school system, many families needing help for their children who cannot get it within the school also can't afford to leave the school.  We have had to make some serious financial decisions in order to do what we had to do for our children.  I feel you need adequate back information to understand our situation and decision.

I am an E.C. Glass graduate.  My husband also attended ECG, which is where we met.  I am and have always been very pro-public school.  I was forced to attend a local private school for two years of my own high school career.  I was miserable there in the private school and the academic level was lower than that in which I had when I transferred back into the City School system in 11th grade.  ECG has been blessed with some very dedicated hard working and yet caring teachers I was lucky enough to have teach me. 

At age 19 we bought our first home.  My full intentions were than my children would never have to school hop, like is in my own childhood education story.  They would always be in one elementary, middle and then high school.  We have no intentions of moving.  I certainly never wanted my children in a private school, due largely to my own negative experience in a private school in High School.  I and my children enjoyed the Sheffield Elementary School family we had for 4 years, but they are unable and/or unwilling to implement a learning environment that is adequate and successful for our children, but primarily our daughter.
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I am not one of those parents who expects all my children's educationally needs to be fulfilled at school.  I liked your take 5 campaign in fact.  I like how you made a big deal about parental involvement. I nearly completed it, coming 2 classes short (although not at a college level), but did complete and exceed in all the other categories of it.   I personally had been a teacher volunteer throughout the 4 years my children were there, becoming very much so more involved from March 2011 when I changed jobs which allowed me much more time at the school.  For all of last year I was at the school volunteering 2 days a week, every single week and more often when we had special events or requested such as book fairs, Christmas boutique, teacher luncheons, picture and dental day and others.  In addition I was on a variety of in-school volunteer positions: PTO secretary, Title 1 Parent Advisory, Parent Advisory Committee.  I attended nearly all school functions from Daniel the Magic Story Teller, American Education week activities, Build a Book, Parent training sessions and  two school board meetings, one when Sheffield presented their personal improvement plan (and Mrs. Swain gave out snickers bars for a job well done to our school board).  All of this is to display that I am a very active parent with my children's education.  We complete all homework assignments and I almost always check it before they would turn it in.  For three semesters (spring 2012, fall 2012, spring 2013) my children also were in the Liberty University tutoring program I took them to each week.  We spent hours a week learning Title 1 word ring words, until the program changed from word rings to more booklet reading last year.  I have scheduled and attended every available parent-teacher conference.  I feel on my side of this equation I have done all I could for my children and working with the school and my children's teachers.  I am not a college grad, or even taken a single class.  My husband never graduated.  You have countless other parents in our position.

Our children have struggled a majority of their school career.  Education and learning wasn't something that came naturally or easily for them.  They fought hard to make adequate progress.  Honor roll grades aren't something I even expect although my own personal requirement for myself in school had me on honor roll a vast majority of the time.  Learning has come easy to me for the most part.  I didn't put a lot of effort into school and rarely studied.  Their complete opposite school needs were a bit shocking and difficult for me to keep my patience and time and teach and teach and reteach them what had once came so easily to me as a student.  They have been in preschool before Pre-K (my daughter attended the Pre-K at Sheffield).  All that to again show they had been very exposed to a learning environment.    Their father and his brothers all have diagnosed learning disabilities and were on IEPs until each one dropped out of school.  I want more and better for my kids, and it has been a huge uphill fight to help them educationally and follow a decided protocol designed by the school. 

Anthony struggled from early on in Kindergarten.  I fully appreciate how quickly Mrs. Jackson noticed and was very proactive at the first parent teacher conference in Oct 2009.  We went to the possible child study where it was determined by school officials that he didn't qualify for a full child study evaluation.  He was put into Title 1 with Mrs. Cross.  He made adequate progress, although technically not on grade level going into 1st grade.  Again in 1st grade we attempted to have him evaluated as he continued to struggle and fall behind.  Mrs. Haden was on maternity leave for the first month but near Christmas we requested a Child Study.  This time they did choose to do a full CS.  The process was very long and drawn out, taking months.   He was literally only a few points from qualifying for an IEP, but thus denied.  He continued to struggle well into 2nd grade. He had multiple teachers, Mrs. Carroll, Mrs. Ferguson for reading and Mrs. Blankenship for Math.  He was also on year three of Title 1 services, this time with Mrs. Johnston.  He continued to work hard and did all assignments but in late January we had a meeting with his teachers (all 4) and Mrs. Swain.  They wanted to retain him due to his failure to make adequate progress.  I certainly disagreed. Realistically I think these meetings are exceptionally horrible.  You have no clue what you are walking into.  The letter you get to request the meeting has wording that really make you feel like your child is just doing horrendous and it really is extremely uncomfortable.  It's been two years but perhaps if you haven't reviewed the letters we parents get for such meetings, YOU SHOULD!   I honestly am not the only parent who feels this way.  We did address even this concern with Mrs. Swain.  She basically told us they have to use strong wording that will catch parents attention in order to get them to attend the meetings.  That is sad a parent wouldn't be involved and worried, and I get that BUT I was and am involved and they knew/know that and still I got a strongly worded letter that had me already intimidated and feeling lost even before I was in the meeting.  If you already feel like you lost the battle and haven't even met with the staff yet, that is a problem; no wonder some parents are hesitant to attend.  I am sure the wording gets some who wouldn't to attend.  But on the other hand I wonder if you all scare off others.  I had my dad attend with me because of my fear of this meeting.  He has attended all meetings since Anthony was in 1st grade (CS, In danger of Retention).  Magically something clicked between February and May with the support of some great teachers.  For the first time I saw him read for pleasure, not force/requirement.  He was on the low end of average and went into third grade.  He didn't click well with that teacher.  Her style was so very different from an overly amazing Ms. Carroll- sweet, compassionate, and with new techniques that are modern and fun but worked, and now over the past two years I have seen them implemented in other classrooms.  His third grade teacher was a yeller, not very warm or friendly and was not interested in any parental in classroom assistance.  If a parent only had one child in school, in that room they would have struggled much more with completing your "Take 5" Initiative.  He remained on low end of grade level, no longer in title 1, but not making the same level of progress he had the previous semester (last semester in 2nd grade.)  That teacher has changed careers and is no longer teaching.  Likely a good call.  Although not a simple school career, Anthony also attended the summer school program provided for him at the end of Kindergarten and Second grade.  It wasn't offered at the end of 1st.  Anthony has made adequate (although maybe minimal, in the eyes of the school) progress with a whole lot of work and parental involvement.  We did not withdraw our children even with all his struggles as we could see a dim light and progress and he was ok socially and emotionally. 

It is important for you to see that Jayna's difficulties weren't our first time down this road and that although at times similar, they also are quite different.  It was with Jayna the school and the policies they are required to follow allowed my daughter to fall through the cracks and have a failure of a school career at Sheffield and had no plan to make her successful should she remain at Sheffield.

Jayna as I stated started in Pre-K with former teacher Mrs. Bailey.  She loved it and we were pleased with how much better we felt the program was vs our son's private Pre-K program.  Overall she did very well.  The did see a few minor red flags in her learning, but nothing drastic.  In Kindergarten with Mrs. Brooks she started off strong.  That does show the success of the Pre-K program I feel.  However by January she was needing help and was put into Title I services. She showed great improvement, possibly more than I anticipated based on Anthony's experience.  First grade began and Jayna had Mrs. Mickels. Unfortunately on week two Mrs. Mickels experienced a major injury/ailment and was taken out of work for 14 weeks.  Here is a place I hope you make a plan for future long-term subs.  Jayna had a total of 13 subs in that 14 weeks.  She had two subs who were there for "long term".  Each was about 3 weeks.  That left 11 weeks of 11 other subs rotating, but really no constancy.  As in all your early elementary classes Jayna took her Pals and Stars tests.  She scored well for her age/grade.  She no longer qualified for Title 1 services based on these scores.  That is both a blessing and a curse.  In that moment that gave me grade joy and hope that she had over come her difficulties in learning.  Parent teacher conferences were assigned, but then cancelled. No subs, principal or ast principal or even a fellow 1st grade teacher took the place of Mrs. Mickels.  I assume Mrs. Mickels was unaware what a long time she would need off.  Where as with maternity leave or even most surgeries you can make a good estimate.  Hopefully in the two years since this a more permanent plan has been established for long term sub situations so students aren't bouncing from one teacher to the next.  This is where my daughter was allowed to fall through the cracks.  Her report card showed she was doing well.  Her papers sent home in her Friday Folder mostly just had checks as in to say they were completed.  I as a parent feel I was in the dark for 14 long weeks on how far behind she was falling.  Had she been in Title 1 I am confident her lack of progress would have been caught and I would have been alerted.  Her teacher returned to school right before Christmas, and that is the year we had a month off for Christmas break.  In mid January school started again, and I received an "In danger of Retention" letter and was truly caught off guard.  How can a child who doesn't need Title 1, has had good report cards, and hasn't had the teacher(s) mention anything negative be in danger of failing?!  Much like Anthony's meeting (they were on the same day, Jayna's was first), I disagreed and did not want her retained especially considering the lack of structure and consistency for her thus far in 1st grade.  In Feb they started her on Title 1 services.  Honestly, I don't think it helped much because, as you likely know Title 1 teachers are used on testing days for any grade and starting in mid March tons of tests began grade by grade for whatever tests each grade needed.  On those many days Jayna would have no Title 1.  That is certainly not the teacher's fault, and obviously some type of school policy.  However it is a poor choice to take away the additional help a child (finally) qualifies for and needs.  Perhaps by now that has changed, if not maybe there could be an alternative on testing days so students could still get their time in Title 1 each day.  I requested a child study on Jayna.  The school decided that was not necessary.  To me that seems absurd!  How is it not necessary to do a child study on a child who is failing, and not due to bad behavior or lack of effort?  The school continued to want to retain Jayna, and I refused as I feel much of her 1st grade lack of success was due to the school not having an adequate plan, and no plan was made to make her successful if I would retain her.  Again she'd be able to pass the PALs and Star test in the fall and she would be ineligible for the most basic of services from Title 1 so it really seemed like a poor decision.  I wrote my letter to Mrs. Swain to go against the school's recommendations and I made a teacher request for Jayna to have the same teacher Anthony had just had, Mrs. Carroll.  That summer and the summer previous Jayna attended the summer school program.  Jayna started in Mrs. Carroll's 2nd grade class what I felt was decently strong.  Mrs. Carroll was informed of Jayna's strengths, weaknesses and detailed educational difficulties.  Just as Mrs. Carroll had done the year before, she sent/sends home the first week of school a two page student survey to be filled out by a parent/guardian. It asks basics like your child's typical personality, their favorite and least favorite class, strengths and weakness, and additional info we feel would be helpful.  Mrs. Carroll from day one is a huge supporter and advocate of each of her students.  She looks for reg flags and wastes no time alerting parents if she feels there is a potential issue.  She is a true gem and blessing beyond words to her students and their parents.  All that to allow you to know Mrs. Carroll was well informed and helpful in catching Jayna's struggles early on.  However, I feel she can catch most her students struggles quicker than most because she really takes the time and effort to know her students and their parents well.  The first marking period Jayna did well.  But in the 2nd marking period the "rules" change in that tests and/or answer options are no longer read aloud to students.  This made a noticeable impact to Jayna's results.  It also made it clear Jayna had a severe reading issue.  If read aloud, she could correctly answer a question.  But when required to read and answer a question, she was lost.  Mrs. Carroll began the Child study request process.  It seemed exceptionally long, but it may have been normal, average and typical.  The initial meeting was Jan 22.  They approved her for a full child study.  On April 10th, they denied her elegible although she scored quite low on half of the OT's eval and Mrs. Carroll continued to try to get her help.  The OT did make some suggestions, mostly for math, but they were never implemented since she didn't have an IEP. I really was quite crushed.  They also told me in that meeting they don't test for dyslexia and don't consider that a specific elegible learning disability because it just means "trouble reading".  In addition they said if she was tested and found to have ADD/ADHD she would qualify and if done so in a certain time frame they wouldn't have to re-do the whole process.  Basically it seemed like they'd accept any answer, even a wrong diagnosis.  I disagreed with their decision and signed accordingly.  On April 11th I contacted Wyllys D. Vanderwerker, Special Education Director.  I left a voicemail and had no reply.  On April 26th, I did so again, with again no response.  Finally a day in May, that I forgot to write down I called for a third time, left a third voice mail and again no response.  Also on April 11th I started the process to get Jayna seen by a developmental pediatrician which requires a referral from your family doctor.  This is far from an easy process.  Today, Nov 26th, my daughter finally got her appointment and was seen by Dr. Theresa Brennan.  In the child study, as I said there were red flags for OT.  I took Jayna for an eye check and it was determined on April 15 she has Convergence Insufficiency.  She got her glasses May 3.  About a week later, Mrs. Carroll asked if we were retaining Jayna.  This time I agreed.  She was too far behind, even with an exceptional teacher and a whole year in Title 1 with Mrs. Nolan.  At this time Mrs. Carroll also told me she'd put Jayna on the list for Summer school, when I asked about it.  On May 20th I contacted Mrs. Lee.  I was inquiring about whether Jayna had been accepted to the summer school program, as Mrs. Carroll had referred her to attend.  Also I had questions about a 504 plan now that we had a start to a diagnosis.  She promptly replied the same day saying as to summer school she would look into it but it is handled downtown, it'd only been a week or two since names were submitted and she'd get back to me.  As to the 504 she said she'd talk to "Dana Johnson about specifics for a 504".  On May 30th, after hearing nothing more and it being the end of the school year I contacted her again.  This time, no response.  My son that week got summer school papers and has passed 3rd grade.  However my daughter who was retained, thus obviously needing the most additional help got nothing.  I chose not to have my son attend, if my daughter wasn't. It was now summer break.  I did take a month off the fight for Jayna.  July 3 I took her to see a second eye Dr who specialized in pediatrics and Convergence Insufficiency.  She referred Jayna to a Dr Kathleen Clark out of Charlottesville.  That appointment wouldn't be until Sept 26th, a month after school begins again.  Also that first week of July we put Jayna in counseling for self esteem issues, many coming from her lack of educational success.  She could tell she wasn't as advanced as her 2nd grade friends.  She initially cried to learning she'd be retained.  She did find comfort in the thought of having Mrs. Carroll again. We are thankful Mrs. Swain approved our teacher request.  We had Jayna tested at Sylvan Learning Center, the first week of August, where she tested on level 1.7.  At this point I heard of a school that potentially can help her.  Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy has a dyslexia program and they view dyslexia much differently.  It is more than just struggling to read.  We went on a school tour with the 2nd grade teacher there on Aug 9th. I went into this meeting with no plans of transferring Jayna, but also so I could know without a doubt that I hadn't left any option on the table.  Every stone would be turned, every option examined and I would always fight for Jayna's needs.  At the end it was without a doubt the right choice for Jayna, the needed option and a much better plan. 

As for my son, the plan was to keep him at Sheffield.  He was in Mrs. Mattocks class the first week of school, another fabulous teacher Sheffield is blessed to have.  He was happy.  However Desmond T Doss offered him a full scholarship.  Knowing he is only an average student, this school could have great potential to improving him in the basics and giving him a stronger foundation.  In addition his teacher happily stays after school and helps him in his weak areas.  This has obviously been the right choice for our family and my children.  That said, I still do love the Sheffield family.  I still volunteer every single Friday filling Friday Folders and sorting papers for 3 teachers there.  I volunteered 30 hours last week alone at their book fair.  I realize it isn't fully Sheffield's fault my children have struggled.  I certainly feel the ball was dropped at times by them and then other times they wanted to help but were stuck by protocols.  As Superintendent I do want to give you some facts and I do wish you would check out the links I am providing. 

Dyslexia is inherited.  Did you know it is one of the highest inherited issue in the family tree with a 50/50 odd?!  The child study does not test for dyslexia specifically.  Did you know 20% of students have dyslexia.  Did you know even worse only 1 in 10 kids WITH dyslexia on the tests will qualify for an IEP (or equivalent).  This could be a huge factor why students are falling behind and being allowed to fall through the cracks.  I wish you had a program that worked for students like Jayna.  I am sure you are a busy professional, but I do believe it would be well worth your time to  watch these videos Susan Barton. (www.susanbarton.com)  Perhaps this program would work for our schools.  Either way something needs done for these children, whether this program or something else.  When my son was in 2nd grade he was in "Tiger Club" which was after school math tutoring for about 8 weeks.  I think such options are vital to student success.  In order to keep students advancing and teaching at the speed needed for SOL achievement you need a fall back plan for students who don't catch onto new concepts as quickly.  Last year it didn't seem there was a Tiger Club anymore, or at least neither of my two were offered it.

In your letter you wrote to me you asked me to choose why I withdrew my children.

I did NOT attend this school at a child.

I did NOT transfer her due to smaller class size, although she is in a smaller class.

I did NOT transfer her due to a homogenous school in terms of race, and socio economics

   Her current class has a similar make up to Sheffield 5 white, 3 black, 2 biracial, 1 other, which is similar throughout all the grade levels.

I did NOT transfer her due to safety concerns.

I am undecided if I feel the quality of teachers are better at their new school.

  Some teachers at Sheffield at more than 10star amazing, dedicated, loving and committed and over the top.  Of course some are also likely not, as is the case with my son's 3rd grade teacher.

I DID transfer my children because they have access to programs not available in public school.

  Here is her school's curriculum Desmond T Doss Curiculum (http://desmondtdoss.org/academics/curriculum/)

• Jayna will be in a mixed class of 1st and 2nd graders.  This is good for her because she can be both a leader and follower.  She can both teach and be taught.  She won't be a noticeable sore thumb.
• Jayna will be in a class of 11 (she makes #12, so far)
• Jayna's teacher actually has a special education major
• The Tutor Program (http://www.dys-add.com) is a 1 on 1 (free) program because the school noticed "A few of our students exhibited signs and symptoms to warrant the use of a research-based program for dyslexia called Barton Reading and Spelling System.".
• Jayna's tutor Mrs. Berti was a special education teacher in California before retiring and has great experience with learning disabilities and the Susan Barton program
  
•  An additional program just for Phonics (http://www.vowac.com/AboutUs/FAQ.aspx) where she can start on the first lesson and catch up to grade level and be successful.
• A fun writing course which is great for a kiddo who loves to write, but can't write a sentence.
• She may or may not have spelling words based on her dyslexia abilities, each list is customized by student; not 1 list for a whole class
  
• Although not required, Mrs.Jeannie creates an IEP for every single student.

And how about some fun stuff about the school!

• They have classroom pets!  Radar is a lion-headed Rabbit.  Tootie is a cockatoo bird.
• They have lots of fun field trips
•  They have a great playground and every grade has outside time!
• They have gymnastics team (free!)
• They have cross country team (free!)
• Once they hit 3rd grade they have ski club.
• Great fun reading spots for independent reading as well as obviously leveled books by color coded dots
• The have a small school band and 2nd graders can do keyboarding!
• Fridays are 3/4 day and they get out at 2 not 3:30

Again, Thank you for your time.  I appreciate you asking for my thoughts on our public school system.  Although this is likely not what you want to hear, it hopefully can bring about some change so fewer students are falling through the cracks of the school system. 

Sincerely,

Bethany Sykes

                                                                                                             parent of Anthony and Jayna Sykes

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Ms. Sykes,

 

Thank you for your for your e-mail.  I will review this information in full and work to address the concerns you have discussed.  This is exactly the kind of feedback we wanted to get from these surveys so thank you for taking the time to document all of this.

 

I am hopeful feedback from parents like you can and will make us a better school system.

 

Sincerely,

 

Scott Brabrand

 

Scott S. Brabrand, Ed. D.

Superintendent