Orphaned AND Blind!

(We live two blocks away from my son’s high school. When he was in middle school, his IEP stated he had to have a bus because he is legally blind, but he can walk to his current school without ever having to cross a major street. I get a letter from the school system saying that because they can’t get a bus scheduled for him, they are going to give him a cab. I immediately call the cab company and tell them that he won’t need one. They say they’ll take him off the roster, but they suggest I call the Office of Pupil Transportation to ensure that he won’t have a cab sent. I call the office and tell them I want to remove him from the list for getting a bus or cab. They look up his name, ask for my name… and then tell me that I’m not on my son’s record, so they can’t do that.)

Me: “Who is listed on his record, then? Is he marked down as an orphan?”

Person: “I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re not on the record, so we can’t tell you that.”

(My son has been attending school in the same school system his entire life, he’s a sophomore in high school this year — for non-Americans, that’s ten years of school so far counting kindergarten, going into his eleventh — and as his mother, I’ve filled out all of his paperwork since the day I signed him up for kindergarten. How am I not on his record?)