My son started first grade today. He has Albinism and a simple 504 plan that lets him wear a hat during recess and lunch to protect his skin as well as always letting him sit up front/have personal print outs of what is on the board and so on. Basically he has sensitive skin and 20/70 vision that cannot be helped with glasses.He did really well in Kindergarten and we were assured he would be put into a great first grade class. We show up on his first day and immediately notice that he is in a class with ESL students, students whose parents do not primarily speak english and some kids we know have behavioral issues. The ESL/parents not primarily speaking English is important to point out because it is very very rare for our school district. The other 2 first grade classes had noticeably less ESL students. He only knew 2 classmates from Kindergarten, whereas all his friends were divided between the other 2 first grade classes.My son is very verbally advanced. It is almost like he developed those skills, as well as ability to do simple math in his head, to make up for his low vision (the majority of his life his vision was 20/140. It only moved up to 20/70 around age 5).Anyways, we feel he was put in a classroom with kids that may need some extra care, explanation and time with subject matter. That is fine for them and great they are getting what they need. Our issue is that the school is treating our son as though he needs a slower pace, surrounding him with that type of academic environment, when in reality he is very bright with his only challenge being low vision.His whole life we were pushed towards ADHD, Autism and slow learners type therapy. It was like because he fell outside the norm that he was identified as special needs. We moved to an expensive area in the Bay Area for an excellent public school district and now feel he is being lumped in with a slower paced class. His class is also the only one in the whole school that has a shared teacher thing going on where 1 teacher works 3 days, the other 2 days. This further speaks to me that the children in it need extra care.We have called the principal. She is also in charge of developing plans for kids who needs 504 or IEP plans. She is a major bitch and the only complaints you can find online is that she is not engaged with parents or teachers at all. We are waiting for a call back but were told that all other classes are full and there is no where to move him to.I get it is just first grade and that, in the grand scheme of life, he will be fine. I just wasn't expecting that if my son had a non-cognitive, language or behavioral issues that he would be lumped in with all the kids that did, and in such an obvious lumping at that. I don't know how to push for him to be moved and deal with a disengaged principal who I know will not want to help at all as well as being told there is no room for him to be moved. Any stories, thoughts or opinions would be helpful! via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2bxi2J9
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