In October, 2012 we met with the regional PTA regarding the actions of the PTA and SSC at Sierra Madre Elementary School in the collection of data and actions that we consider discriminatory. After the meeting we heard nothing else. In the spirit of reminding the regional PTA of their obligations, or lack thereof, we present a thread for others to let them know you can never, ever forget to follow up.
When you stand alone against a group, they get the attention and solutions based on their numbers. For the targeted family, you must stand alone, and resolve to continue your pursuit of truth and equity because, we promise, it never comes without persistence.
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We have been given a document by PUSD flunkie Steve Miller clearly stating that the PTA President met with Honowitz, PUSD Board Member, in January 2011, and it is confirmed by email and inference that the PTA Webmaster/E-Communications at said meeting.
OK. It exists. They had a meeting, they discussed our child. They did it without our being there, and Elizabeth "Bucking" Blanco talked with them and upper cabinet before they met. Everyone knew what was going down.
If you want to know who these Sierra Madre people are, do the research. We won't confirm it, but we sure as hell won't deny it either. And, new documents from PUSD and their attorneys show they are still harassing us and trying to stop our child from attending school here.
Why?
Well, the complaint was filed against us the day after they found out our child was going back into the general education program. Oh, I'm sure that was a coincidence. It was paired with a meeting in which they wanted to tape record us in a meeting with the principal, Esther salinas, and an upper cabinet administrator as mediators.
Really?
Since when does a family- mine- get invited into a highly charged meeting in which they are accused, without any legal representation- to meet with two administrators, and an attorney? It was a set-up, a turkey shoot.
We don't hide who we are, but why do they?
I don't even have a recognition of who most of these people are. I haven't met them. I haven't talked to them, and I haven't spent time with them in any capacity. I don't know them, and sure as hell don't care about them either way.
What I do know is that they have done their best to interfere in the education of my youngest child. Maybe the lawyer/ graffitti cop thinks that autism leads to a life of tagging urinals and park benches. Maybe his faded Lily Snow-White spouse needs to get herself a real job and stop acting like the queen bee of the block, Mrs. Kravitz.
When you stand alone against a group, they get the attention and solutions based on their numbers. For the targeted family, you must stand alone, and resolve to continue your pursuit of truth and equity because, we promise, it never comes without persistence.
*********************************
*********************************
We have been given a document by PUSD flunkie Steve Miller clearly stating that the PTA President met with Honowitz, PUSD Board Member, in January 2011, and it is confirmed by email and inference that the PTA Webmaster/E-Communications at said meeting.
OK. It exists. They had a meeting, they discussed our child. They did it without our being there, and Elizabeth "Bucking" Blanco talked with them and upper cabinet before they met. Everyone knew what was going down.
If you want to know who these Sierra Madre people are, do the research. We won't confirm it, but we sure as hell won't deny it either. And, new documents from PUSD and their attorneys show they are still harassing us and trying to stop our child from attending school here.
Why?
Well, the complaint was filed against us the day after they found out our child was going back into the general education program. Oh, I'm sure that was a coincidence. It was paired with a meeting in which they wanted to tape record us in a meeting with the principal, Esther salinas, and an upper cabinet administrator as mediators.
Really?
Since when does a family- mine- get invited into a highly charged meeting in which they are accused, without any legal representation- to meet with two administrators, and an attorney? It was a set-up, a turkey shoot.
We don't hide who we are, but why do they?
I don't even have a recognition of who most of these people are. I haven't met them. I haven't talked to them, and I haven't spent time with them in any capacity. I don't know them, and sure as hell don't care about them either way.
What I do know is that they have done their best to interfere in the education of my youngest child. Maybe the lawyer/ graffitti cop thinks that autism leads to a life of tagging urinals and park benches. Maybe his faded Lily Snow-White spouse needs to get herself a real job and stop acting like the queen bee of the block, Mrs. Kravitz.
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Re: local PTA involvement in discriminatory actions
to Carol, Colleen, Brian, me
Hello again Ms. Kocivar,
I'm resending this email, this time with the attachment I forgot to add. I've also cc'd others that may be able to help in resolving this.
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Attached you will find the cover letter to the parent petition of removal of my son. I obtained this, and much more, after numerous public records requests.
If you look closely at this attachment, you will see that this cover letter was sent by a school site PTA Board member to a PUSD Board of Education member, who they later met with in a public forum, sans us- child's parents. These hostile parents, led by two school site PTA Board members in correspondence with the Board of Ed member, had my son under surveillance, violated his confidentiality, and harassed/bullied him out of school- because of his autism, and behavioral manifestations of his disability.
GIven the PTA statement on inclusion and diversity, I would expect some direct effort on the part of the California PTA regarding this situation of disability discrimination, which was led by school site PTA board members. Instead, as you can see in this email thread, all I've seen is stalling and ignoring.
Regards,
Mary Brandenburg
On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 11:48 PM, Mary Brandenburg
Hello Ms. Kocivar,
I'm forwarding this thread to show you the amount of time, and number of contacts I've made to ultimately resolve nothing regarding what happened to my son, a child with a disability who was petitioned out of school by parents at Sierra Madre school in Pasadena Unified.
The circulator and sender of this petition was a school site PTA Board rep, and I've shared the Public Record docs with the previous PTA contacts I've tried to make in trying to find some accountabiltiy in this situation. I began contacting the CPTA December 2011 as you can see below.
I see that you'll be speaking with one of the senior administrators involved in our son's situation/cover up: Alice Petrossian at the 2012 Leadership Summit in San Diego. I'm sure you could speak with her regarding this, but who knows how open she'd be to speak of this since she left before it all broke.
I'm very disappointed so far in the support our family has received from the local and regional PTA. I'm hopeful that you can show me otherwise.
Thanks,
Mary Brandenburg
Date: Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 6:39 PM
Subject: Re: local PTA involvement in discriminatory actions
To: Lynn Miyamoto <c>
Cc: Danelle Jiron <d>
I'm resending as I have not received a response. I have waited months for an acknowledgement of PTA's stance re: this type of discriminatory behavior from people representing the PTA.
These PTA parent reps played a significant part in my son's denial of an education, and I can't even get a simply apology- let alone some steps to insure that bigotry, discrimination and harassment against a child with a disability does not come directly from PTA parent leaders.
At what point is someone going to take this one on? Is there another avenue I should take within the state/national PTA leadership?
Mary Brandenburg
On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 7:47 AM, Mary Brandenburg wrote:
Hi,
I never heard back re: discussing the involvement with local PTA Board members and discriminating against a child with autism. I'm cc'ing Danelle as she's the local rep for the PTA, and I had originally contacted her.
Since our last contact, more has come to light through our Public Records requests. We now have documentation supporting that:
• Parents involved knew that my son had a disability
• Parents actively conspired to remove my son from his home school
• Parents created false statements in order to do so
• At least 2 local PTA Board members acted as parent leaders and disseminators of information re: my son and his removal
• The petition full of hateful and defamatory statements was sent by a person representing herself as a PTA Board member to the Pasadena Board of Education member.
• The District has no investigative process for community members, including PTA, involving their actions while on school property involving students. (I'm requesting a Board policy be adopted to address this).
• A Board of Ed member and the former Superintendent held a public forum with these parents, including the PTA parent leaders, to discuss my son and his disability, at the District offices. The District's position re: my son was discussed, including pacifying the parents' re: their request to remove my son.
It also has become painfully clear that nothing will be done to hold any of these people accountable as the District denied an external investigation, and that the senior administrative staff involved have left the District.
One thing the Board of Education dictated to the Superintendent when denying the investigation was that the hostile school environment at Sierra Madre School needs to be addressed. Since this statement was made in February, nothing has been done.
Because these PTA parent leaders were never held accountable, and because the District has no process to investigate their actions- it appears to this large group of people that what they did was fine.
Not even a simple apology has been offered by a single parent involved. Not even a single attempt by the school PTA to show our family support, let alone welcome after the group effort to remove my son. So my son remained segregated from the rest of the school the entire year. So much for a school community.
I do not want to believe that the PTA condones this type of discriminatory behavior, but I have seen nothing showing otherwise.
Mary
On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 9:57 AM, mary brandenburg wrote:
Hi,
Any word on Laura's availability to meet?
Thanks,
Mary
On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 10:55 AM, Lynn Miyamoto <cm> wrote:
Let me find out Laura's availability
Lynn Miyamoto
-----Original Message-----
From: mary brandenburg
To: Lynn Miyamoto
Sent: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 10:55 am
Subject: Re: local PTA involvement in discriminatory actions
Hi,
We're generally available weekdays after 3:30, and most weekends.
Does that work for you and Laura?
Mary
On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 5:03 PM, Lynn Miyamoto <c> wrote:
Laura Kieffer and I thought it might be best to talk in person. I apologize but I had some family issues over the holidays and I just got my daughter off for her semester in Paris. Can you give me several times to see if it meets with our schedules.
Lynn
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 18, 2012, at 2:40 PM, mary brandenburg <m> wrote:
Hi,
I'm just following up on things.
Yesterday we presented our situation to the Board of Education requesting an outside investigation. We did not name the PTA members, as we didn't want to violate any confidentiality. We can explain how the PTA Board members figured in to the whole scenario.
Here's a link to the meeting. We were item Q on the agenda.
http://pusd.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=12&clip_id=410
Please keep me posted on things, ok?
Thanks,
Mary Brandenburg
On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 2:43 PM, mary brandenburg wrote:
Hi,
I tried calling you today, just realizing it's the beginning of a holiday weekend. Sorry I didn't get back sooner. I'll be around next week at my home number xxxxxxxxx.
When you get a chance to discuss the situation, please give me a call, ok?
Thanks again for following up with me.
Mary
On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 9:20 AM, mary brandenburg wrote:
Hi Lynn,
Thank you for responding so quickly. I'll try getting in touch with you today.
Mary
On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 9:23 AM, Lynn Miyamoto <c> wrote:
Dear Mary
Thank you for your e-mail. I left you a message in hopes that we can discuss this more at length. You can reach me at my work telephone number: xxxxxxxxxx or on my cellphone which is xxxxxxxxx
Sincerely yours,
Lynn Miyamoto
-----Original Message-----
From: mary brandenburg
Cc: laurakieffer <lm>; education <erg>; communityconcerns
Sent: Tue, Dec 27, 2011 9:47 pm
Subject: local PTA involvement in discriminatory actions
Hello,
I'm trying to file a complaint regarding the discriminatory behavior of some of our local school PTA Board members.
It has taken months to get the public documents involved in the situation, and the District Superintendent just recently provided us with the petition a PTA board member circulated to remove my son from school.
My son is a special needs student who was harassed and bullied by a group of parents who didn't understand autism, and associated behaviors. These parents gathered at the school to "discuss" my son and his disability, collected and shared confidential "data" while working in his classroom, then circulated a petition for his removal- without a single person ever discussing any concerns with us.
This group of parents, led by PTA Board members, arranged for two of the parents to file false assault reports with the local police department. These reports were based on gossip and hearsay circulated by the parents (the charges were dropped by the police, based on no evidence). But the damage was already done. When the police went to the school to follow up on the parent reports, the District determined that my 7 year old son was a "danger", and he was segregated from his peers. My son was denied access to eat, play, and learn with his peers, instead forced to sit in a hallway on the floor........and this change of program was what was offered as his new "plan for success".
The school culture at Sierra Madre Elementary has been poisoned by the leadership of this group of elite parents, including those representing the PTA. The District has indicated that they can only control the staff hired by them, not the PTA, not even the school site council. We are dealing with the District's lack of action with the Board of Education. We have the public documents from these PTA parents which support what I've said here.
What can be done to ensure that something like this doesn't continue, nor ever happen again to another child? Lack of understanding, experience, or of knowledge, does not excuse the group expression of hatred directed at a child they are supposed to be advocating for.
Thank you in advance,
Mary Brandenburg
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