Last fall, I told my child’s advocates and therapists that, after months of painful meetings and MANY dollars spent, we had decided not to sue our school district after all, because we believed Trump would shut down the DOE anyway before the next school year started.

Oh, the looks I got.

Somehow, no one believed he would do what he said he would. But the first thing he was coming for was special education, and the snowball of destruction would just roll downhill from there.

Now here we are.

Because I did believe him, we’ve spent the last five months enrolling in home therapies, signing up for long-term state-funded waivers, and settling into a long-term plan for augmenting homeschool instead. As long as Medicaid and homeschooling exist, we’ll have a supportive environment we worked like hell to create out of nothing for our kid. And if one day they don’t exist, we’ll work from there too.

Two thoughts, at this moment.

1. No family should have to endure years of lost careers and fighting powerful districts just to get their child an education. This predates Trump. The right to a free and appropriate public education is FAPE law, even if schools only adhere to it when 1/10 of the families that sue for their rights have the money and paper trail to win.

2. Trump’s decision to go straight for the jugular of public education will create future generations of voters that are uneducated and uninformed (and therefore easy to direct with propaganda and state-sponsored news, or funnel into for-profit schools). Critical thinking and recognizing misinformation are two ESSENTIAL skills our children will need over the next decade.

Whatever Trump says he will do, believe him. Prepare what you can for your families. Tap into the networks of people who have already been forced out of public education and are creating ways to support their kids on their own. And fight, fight, fight every executive order, law, or budget cut that reduces funding to education.

I don’t have enough of an audience to think that anyone who needs to hear this will read this, but… maybe if I put it out there, one less family will fall through these widening cracks.

#sped #specialeducation #doe #education #homeschooling #publiceducation #iep #school #community #alternativeschools #academic #academia #parenting #neurodivergent #asd #adhd #audhd

I have a friend who is pretty much a #Republican by default (i.e., he claims to be apolitical but only consistently avoids political topics when the Republican position is the status quo; he will comment on other issues). He might be trying out a new "open mindedness" thing, though, and he once even claimed to be "more or less an #Anarchist" at heart.

I'm making a list of #questions to ask him about #anarchy. They were significantly more provocative until my partner (who is very good at this kind of thing) offered some rewordings:

Anarchy questions

• How do you feel about the unrestricted movement of people? (i.e., #OpenBorders)

• What are your thoughts on loving relationships (romantic/sexual) with multiple partners (i.e., more than 2), where everyone consents, up to and including marriage? (i.e., #polyamory, #RelationshipAnarchy, etc.)

• How would you feel about your children having an equal voice in their education, along with all other individuals that are a part of their school around decisions like hours of operation, topics taught, hiring, etc.? (i.e., #AlternativeSchools, #AlternativeEducation)

• What are your thoughts about individual police accountability when officers break laws?

• What is your cost/benefit analysis of the existence of #police?

• What is your cost/benefit analysis of the existence and/or current implementation of #prisons?

• What are your thoughts on people inhabiting abandoned houses they don't own? (i.e., #squatting)

• What do you think about #RightToRoam (i.e., even private land should allow people to freely pass through, temporarily camp, etc.)?

Notes:

• I'm purposefully staying away from questions about capitalism, socialism, or other economic systems; I think his brain would just shut down.
• Same with LGBTQIA+ issues; he's LDS (and devout), so that will run directly into current doctrine/practice/programming and end the discussion.
• I'm just sharing this to share; I don't need feedback or suggestions but am open to them.
• I do not believe I can call myself an anarchist. I resonate strongly with many anarchist principles but I don't walk the walk and there are some issues I'm not totally comfortable with.

#persuasion #ProbablyWontWork