Hayden's Journey: Back to School Education about Spina Bifida Awaren...

Hayden's Journey: Back to School Education about Spina Bifida Awaren...: Our Vision for HAYDEN Our vision is simple.  We want Hayden to be given the same opportunities as any other student in the school.  We ...

Fist Day of School 2015

The first day of School 2015.  I just realized that I still like the blog for a way to chronicle the year.  I missed all of the 2015 school year with the blog.  We have had a grand start.  The kids were almost as excited as their parents for them to go to school.

It was a big day for everyone including their mom.  I had a tire blowout on the highway and changed the tire in 100 degree temperature on the side of the road on my way to pick up my sister Julia from the airport.

Hanna loves her new teacher and is in class with her best friend at school.  She has a great group of kids in her class this year and it is looking very hopeful.  On the way home from her first day, Hanna put on the wrong bus.  I am proud of her for knowing her address and telling the bus driver that she was on the wrong bus.  They didn't listen to her, but she knew her address and spoke up.  We still had to retrieve her from the school after tracking her down.

Hayden is also in class with his best friend at school.  The class is small and has many of the students in it from his fabulous Kinder class.  The big news was that there were no school issues with him bringing his nurse and everything was seamless.

This year there will be a battle to get him access to the playground like the rest of the kids.  the ADA law was passed in 2011 and the school district hasn't made any plans to upgrade the playground.  They even built the new elementary and didn't build it up to the new code. Our district has a $158.9 million bond and is the third wealthiest in the state.  They can't say they don't have the taxpayers/funds to do it.

This is his 3rd year of not being able to play with the other children independently.   For the past few years, I have met with teachers and presented at the school board to no avail.  I meet with the district rep on Wednesday.  I have filed with the Office of Civil Rights and have made friends with a parent in another district that sued in a class action suit and won for the whole district.  I hope that through persistence & tenacity, the community that we adore will see the injustice through their own compassion and will do right by the law and this cute little boy and the many other children that are left out of the same experiences for social/emotional development won't be any longer.  The ADA is only 20 years old this year.  There is still much to do...

I am happy to report, we all made it home safe and are ready for the school year to start!
We love our school!

Garrett was feeling a little left out and missed his big brother and sister the most.  He starts his first Pre-school this year and I am sure will love the two days to play with his little friends.