Small Town Mom Still Fighting School for Rights of Autistic Son

I was hoping that this year my autistic son would get to go to his first school Halloween party, however I guess it wasn't meant to be. I am still fighting my local school district for my son's rights. The month of November has rolled around and my son, who will be 6 in February, still isn't going to school.

In part I of my story, I explained that my school did not want my son to go to kindergarten in their district. They "thought" that it would be in his best interest, or perhaps their best interest that he continue yet another year in preschool. I did tour this proposed preschool, which is in a town a little over 20 minutes away. It is a city preschool combined with an MRDD preschool. I was very hesitant at first as my son is much older than the other kids in the room and much more advanced. Also, he would only be around his typical peers for a short amount of the day. I did reconsider when I noticed how well the teacher and the two aides were trained in autism. I figured with the low student to teacher ratio, that perhaps my son would finally get the help he rightfully deserves.

I was assuming that everything was all set into place. Our school is required to transport my son to this other district, but this is where my autism mom vs.the school saga continues. The catch was that my son would be on the bus for nearly 4 hours a day. His bus ride in the morning would be 2 hours and 40 minutes and in the afternoon, he would be taken out of school over an hour early and ride the bus for nearly an hour and a half home. To my astonishment, school administrators actually thought that I would agree to this and that this was acceptable.