Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Transition Meeting

The next step in Chloe's transition from Early Intervention to Pre-School was a transition meeting at our house with the Director of the Centerville Pre-Schools.

A little background on Centerville schools: we have two Primary Villages - North and South. Kids go to PVN or PVS for Pre-K through First grade.  After first grade the kids from each Primary Village are split up into 3 elementary schools which they'll attend from 2nd through 5th grade. We live in the PVN area and that's the school Solana attends.

The Pre-Schools are physically located in PVN and PVS but are sort of a separate entity from Kinder/1st. Each of the Primary Villages has its own Principal but the Pre-Schools at both PVN & PVS are run by a single Director. She came to our house a couple of weeks ago for the Transition meeting.

We sat on the floor in our living room and discussed the program for about an hour and a half, filled out paperwork, and observed Chloe at play. It was a good meeting and I like the director. She's professional but personable and very agreeable to just about anything I wanted to request for Chloe. Linda, Chloe's current VS, was in attendance (mainly because she's almost as over-protective of Chloe as am I) and her presence was a blessing.

Here are some of the things the Director agreed to:
-Linda will accompany Chloe for her first day or two of school.
-Chloe will work with the orientation & mobility person to help her learn the school
-The floating helper will be assigned specifically to Chloe during recess for the first year. Their sole responsibility during Chloe's recess will be to keep her from getting hurt.
-Chloe will attend PVS even though that's not our home school. This was suggested by Linda because she knows that PVS is a much newer building full of natural light. This will make a HUGE difference in Chloe's ability to function easily at school.
-We'll work with the nurse so that I can train someone on Chloe's contacts in case of contact emergencies during school.

It was a good meeting. I'm pretty certain that Chloe will qualify for special services just based on her diagnosis, doctor's report, and Linda's report. They can't tell us that for sure now but I think that's just a formality. They've given every indication that she'll be approved. The fact that the Director was so agreeable to special requests right at the start made me feel good. I know we're in a good school district but it's relieving to have such a smooth first meeting.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love learning about how other districts work. We don't have public Pre-K, only one program, in one school, by lottery. Chloe is going to do great. She is an amazing little girl.

The Hillbergs said...

wow -- what a blessing to be in such a great school district! I can't even imagine how hard this all would be if you were in a less-funded school! The main thing is that chloe won't get lost in the system - everyone seems so hands on! that's great!!

Megan B ♥ said...

Can't wait to hear how she does! She is going to love it! I was so nervous/panicked about sending Crew to his preschool, but I knew he was ready. He loves it and I am at peace. She's growing so fast! xoxo