So apparently last week, the special ed class went to the school track. They had a bunch of paras (aides) with the kids and also the spec ed teacher there. I believe the ratio was close to one para per kid. One of the paras had Katie sit on a bench... and then forgot her! Somehow the paras switched kids and didn't tell each other and no one ended up with Katie. The teacher forgot to do a head count and the para basically left Katie sitting on the bench!!! I don't know what happened after that with the teachers. I imagine they were frantically looking for her. The details are still a little vague to me. Meanwhile, Katie wandered through a maze of fences, off the school track, off school grounds, down one street and was walking down another (busy) street... AWAY from the school. Obviously she had no clue what to do or where she was going. A principal from another school happened to be going to a meeting and saw Katie and thought something wasn't right. She brought Katie to the school (Katie's school) and asked if she was supposed to be there. They all of course cheered and were relieved. Katie's teacher then spent the day (and the last week) with the principle discussing this whole incident. The para is on administrative leave right now while they figure it all out and could be fired for this. They have since implemented new strategies so nothing like this will happen again.
Obviously, I'm pretty upset that it happened. I'm shaking as I type this out. Partially out of sheer terror, and partially out of... anger?? I'm not angry, just amazed really. I do still trust her teacher, she's a really amazing teacher. But I feel bad for everyone involved... for Katie, her teacher, her para, Blake and I, the school, the other school. When I first heard the story, I was just kinda in shock and I didn't really react or know what to say. I regret that now that I've had time to process it all, and I feel like it's unresolved. So Blake and I are planning on meeting with them again to get some answers. First off the story is so vague to me. Also, the thing that upsets me the most is that this happened Thursday and they're just telling us about it now... 5 days later! Crazy! I would think they would call THAT DAY! What if I would have heard it from Katie? And I would have wanted to know so I could watch for signs that she was upset or traumatized by it. She's doesn't usually tell me about her day so it would have been nice to talk to her about it. Or to watch her behavior at least. Or... well, it just would have been nice to KNOW! And it bothers me that they told us not only 5 days later, but AFTER we signed everything off at the IEP meeting. AND neither the principal or vice principal were there to tell us. The VP was there for the first half of the meeting, but then left before they brought it up. I'm really annoyed that they've handled it so poorly. So we've decided to have another meeting to discuss things further. It freaks me out to think what could have happened if that principal hadn't been driving by at the right moment and found Katie.
More to come as soon as we meet with the school again...
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