[FeenixRizing]

I'm curious what others are doing in their push in services.

At our school I do push in services for Junior High ELA. The classes are easily 95% direct instruction. So when I'm in the classroom I'm mostly just an "enforcer", making sure that they are paying attention. I'm not allowed to pull my students to the back of the room to reach the same information but in a way that will make it easier for them to understand.

I've been denied my request to have afterschool group sessions with the ones who are at risk for retention. I don't have a secure work area, I have to work in the staff lounge, and I have to put all of my stuff away in the cabinets of the staff lounge so that the teachers can eat at the only table in our room. I'm left out of the Junior High teacher communications because I've been told that I don't need to have that information. I am left out of the JH Title 1 meetings as well. I have NEVER had a Title 1 meeting with my IC.

To top it all off, NOONE reads my notes. My IC told me point blank, that the only reason I need to take notes is incase the school gets audited. So WTF am I doing?!?!?!

I've never done Title 1 anywhere else so I have no basis for comparison but my gut tells me I could be doing SO MUCH MORE for my students.

[broomrider]

your job is to allow the school (district?) to check off boxes on federal forms.

I would be collecting and keeping at home any written evidence of the kinds of treatment of you have referenced. You can also write AT HOME a diary of what you have been told about where to work, lack of inclusion in communications at the school and district level. You might take a few pictures of your "work space" set up for students and for lunch. You can write an account of conversations with (approximate) and any actual dates, rather like Comey did. Its called CYA. If there is an audit, you may well be blamed for any deficiencies. You'll need some sort of evidence of your efforts for inclusion of you and your students.

You might repeat in an email your request to be included in JH teacher communications and JH Title 1 meetings. I'd do one in January and a different request in February. They might reply in writing. Don't do it all at once as you will incite suspicion. You might start off with a request to do after school groups at the start of the second semester now that the students have settled into the year. Do that in a different month than the other letters or separated by several weeks.

I'd also be looking elsewhere for next year. There are many places that do Title 1 correctly and would value your energy and concern for the students.

If doing any of documentation I mentioned makes you feel a bit frightened, you really need to be in a different setting.

[broomrider]

To get more responses, you could post a similar account of what you are experiencing on the Vent board. It gets much more traffic than here.

[FeenixRizing]

Prior to posting this I had started putting my requests in writing and then printing them out and saving them in a file at home, including any responses (or noting no response which often happens.) I have started a journal to document in person conversations, taking note of any witnesses who were also a part of the conversation. I also got a digital voice recorder that looks like a thumb drive that I keep on my lanyard that I can use to record meetings should I need to provide evidence.

I'm just not sure where to go with the information. Anything reported to District gets kicked right back to the Principle and then there is retaliation.

[broomrider]

the laws in your state regarding recording conversations when only one party knows a recording is being made.

I'd think the evidence you collect is to cover yourself if the feds do a Title I audit and decide appropriate help has not been provided. You could prove that your service delivery methods were not your choice.

Once upon a time I worked for a state hospital that had to return federal funds because some individuals didn't keep appropriate receipts for materials purchased.

I was involved with a different program where I was the teacher which involved federal and state funding. Th auditors came during vacation and were only interested in appropriately labeled equipment and paperwork, not the program itself or seeing children learning.