1645 E Thomas Rd #1127
Phoenix, AZ 85016

My son is on the spectrum (high functioning). I made it clear to them of this prior to school starting, I asked to get an IEP meeting or at-least to meet/speak the team prior to school starting. That never happened. I did not meet the SPED teacher until 2 weeks after school starting (I met her by coincidence as she was at the gate greeting kids). I asked 2 times for a meeting after. Nothing has happened since school started. I have received several updates on my son’s behavior (which I understand) but when I question them what leads to my son behaving as such THEY NEVER KNOW! I can never get a straight forward answer to my questions. My son since starting school has started to urinte on himself again. He has not had an accident since getting potty trained. He has started to elope since starting school and has been attached to me more than usual. They got in contact with his preschool teacher to see if he had these behaviors in preschool, she stated he did not have these behaviors which is why he graduated from SPED PRE-K. They keep saying they don’t know why he is behaving this way.Fast fwd to today, I am bot sure what happened but he ended up “punching” a teacher. The teacher pulled me inside the classroom to tell me about the incident and tell me he was getting a referral for hitting the teacher (who is pregnant) & stated the teacher cannot be around my son anymore. I questioned what led to this incident and of course the led to ‘WE DON’T KNOW’. How can they do a referral w/o knowing what led to such behavior.The teacher he “punched” is the assistant for his home room teacher. So my question is if the teacher can’t be around him.. are they removing her from class or my son?I’d like to add that the FEW times I have had the chance to speak to the SPED teacher.. all she did was basically COMPLAIN and made it seem like my son was an inconvenience for her. Her tone of voice was always as though she was annoyed. I think she should reconsider her career. YOU ARE A SPED TEACHER AND YOU ARE GOING TO COME ACROSS SO MANY DIFFERENT KIDDOS WITH DIFFERENT BEHAVIORS AND NECESSITIES!! I am removing my kid from this school. I would steer clear from them if your kiddos are needing extra help. They do NOT help. They make everything worse.

We moved from out of state to central Phoenix before my son was starting 9th grade. He applied for North’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program and started there last year. I was worried about the transition from a rural small school to an urban large school as a new kid freshman year after being online for 8th grade d/t COVID but he has never been happier. Supportive environment, great teachers, and he feels like he’s found his ‘people’. He also was in two high school sports teams and plans on joining a third next year. We couldn’t be happier.