My son is entering middle school in a few weeks and I am trying to modify his 504 plan to middle school and really just don’t know where to start. Would anyone be willing to share their experience? My son is 11 and entering 6th grade and will have a traditional 8 period A/B day schedule. We live in a small town without school nurse and I have done primarily most of the care and visits to the school with highs or lows. My son is starting to want to have responsibility for his care and does is own pump sites, calibrating his CGM (he shows us the meter and I watch him put it in) and discussing with us what he thinks should be done for covering, highs and lows.
I have gone through a divorce in 2013-2014 and my ex-husband is making this process difficult by denying my son access to his phone (he doesn’t want my son to have contact with me during his custody time but will eave my son home alone to baby sit his younger siblings without a phone or any way to contact anyone in an emergency). Can I write into the 504 plan that my son is required to have a phone at school to text either parent on his diabetes related stuff? Thoughts? Any divorce situations out there with solutions on how to work the 504 so that it is in the best interest of the child?
Caleb will be entering his second year of middle school this year. I’m happy to say the transition to middle school last year was a very smooth one. Things get easier and less stressful as they get older and more autonomous.
However, I did not have the added stress of this phone situation of which you speak.
Caleb absolutely has included in his 504 plan that he must have unrestricted use of his cell phone. In fact, last year when he spoke to the entire school staff, he held up his Dexcom receiver, his OmniPod PDM and his iPhone as the devices he needs to keep him safe at school. We won’t be having his 504 meeting until after school starts this year bc I expect things all to be carried forward from last year, but I did ask that when the school nurse does her staffwide training on diabetes, that she specifically point out the provision for Caleb to have unrestricted use of his phone.
We had been preparing for middle school since fourth grade, so Caleb’s 504 plan did not change much at all when he moved up. I’m happy to share any particulars. Some of the things I consider more critical are: 1) that he be permitted to check and deal with his blood sugar wherever he is (he does not go to the nurse), 2) that everyone know symptoms of a low blood sugar and know what to do, 3) that someone qualified in his care always be accessible to him including after school activities, field trips, etc. 4) that all bus drivers be trained in recognizing hypo symptoms and that his bus route be minimized and no longer than a half an hour…there are probably a couple more imperatives that I’m forgetting at the moment.
Thanks @Lorraine for your response, I was hoping I’d hear from you! Right now I am dealing with my ex completely denying my son access to his phone. There are no games on there, and I have parental restrictions set up as well as Verizon family base so no random calls and texts from unknown senders can make their way to his phone but his father is very possessive about keeping the numbers private during their custody time. My son called quite a few times during custody exchanges asking for help with his diabetes and his dad got mad at him. It’s been a real nightmare. It is about managing the diabetes not being possessive or controlling about who sees the numbers. Do you have a copy of your 504 plan that you could email me? Do you mind sharing? It would be great to have something to work off of from as a starting point. Before this divorce I handled all of the diabetes care and it has been hard having dad step in and undermine me telling the school that I am being over-protective when the reality of it is I am the one driving in on a daily basis to deal with the diabetes things. I feel David should have unrestricted access to his phone at all times, whether with mom or dad due to his diabetes but his father doesn’t let him talk to me much these days during his custodial time. I figure it will be a blessing when school starts because the school will follow the plan if we have it set up right.
Having taught in the public school setting, I will tell you to fight for the safety of your child (cell phone or whatever). I taught first grade and had a precious newly diagnosed T! boy. He was placed in my room because I grew up with siblings with T1. Now I have T1 too. Cell phones were just beginning to be available. Cell phones were not allowed but I told my principal I would have mine with me and I would use it as necessary. She complied. Mom was very aware of every low or high. There was only a nurse for half a day. What happened? The other students grew in compassion and learned to give. The boy grew up and is a hero to me. He was a lot nicer “low” than I have ever been.
My suggestion is visit with the principal and school counselor. Stand your ground. If you need to contact the school board, do it.
Be willing to allow school officials to check histories though. Your son should only text parents during the school day. Many students are using cells to text answers for quizes to friends from the inside of their pockets.
@yeagen thank you for your insight! I have been much with the elementary in that they were very accommodating with the requests I made to make it work for my son. It wasn’t until my ex filed for divorce that he then tried to tell them I was mentally unstable and that he was to be the primary contact for all of davids needs. Needless to say, last year we dealt with him trying to inject himself into the school system to try to care for david and while I fully support his involvement if he wants to be, when he was unavailable he told them that they were no longer allowed to call me. I had to really seek to repair damages from the lies he told during this time and it wasn’t until the end of the year the the principal finally overstepped him because I was the one that made myself available to them to resolve issues with the diabetes and the principal just said that she was going to contact me first because I was the one answering all the calls and texts. The cell phone is a blessing to us, and my son was able to use it successfully last year, but again his dad is now not even letting him use it except for a 15 minute call/day which often I don’t even get on a daily basis. Not only amy I dealing with school concerns at this point but again the SAFETY of my child. He tells me I am crazy and too paranoid by the numbers but the reality of it is, my son is responsible for his care when he’s with dad and that is because I have helped him get to that point of competency. I am hoping I can get a detailed enough 504 together so that we can have my son feel he is safe in school and free to contact whichever parent he needs to and hopefully this will save us headache in the end. But again, his dad doesn’t think the phone is necessary and any feedback I can get from other t1d parents about their child’s phone use as they get older to manage the disease is helpful in showing that I am not crazy, just wanting the base possible care program for my son to succeed with this disease in school
As a former school administrator, i do have some experience with 504 plans. First the basic answer is no, The 504 plan cannot enforce a sanction or requirement pertaining to another parent. The is the court who handled your divorce. I suggest you talk to to your lawyer and ask they contact opposing counsel to work it ot.
The 504 requirement generally enforces expectations of how the school will react given certain circumstances. In exchange parents tell the school what they will do. But if the parents do not wish to do it then, well it is a problem.
However the school has no way to fundamentally cause a parent to sign an agreement, now in Indiana once signed the school has some dust that can be doubled. My advice, call your attorney . Good luck
I was a special education director a few years ago and now work as a special education consultant. Although 504 plans are typically created by a school counselor or designee in regular education, our department oversees the plans to ensure they are followed. If both parents share custody there must be agreement on the contents of the plan and Rick is correct in that one parent can’t get the other to agree to an accommodation just by having it written within the 504 plan. In fact, if one parent does not agree, the specific 504 accommodation cannot be put in place and the parents are then asked to resolve the issue through their respective attorneys. My suggestion is to come to some sort of compromise or agreement in terms of what equipment and monitoring devices your son needs in order to effectively and safely manage his diabetes before you meet with the school team. Providing examples from other parents of children with type 1 may be helpful to your spouse if it gives information that is needed to understand the importance of cell phone use in school.
So I’m finally dusting off last year’s documents to update them this year and my mystery is solved! At the time the 504 plan was created, he was still using an iPod to communicate with me. He didn’t even have a phone yet! It was a couple months later that we got him an iPhone. He pervasively had a flip phone on which he could not text and that’s why the language about the phone was there.
