Are Great Falls schools failing in more then one area?

As a parent and a writer, Education is at the top of my list of concerns.
Recently I had to send my eldest son to live with my sister so that he could
attend a better school. Why would I do such a thing? Whats wrong with the school
I was sending my son too?

The school my son attended is Lincoln Elementary school. The problems started very
early in his academic career. From being assaulted with books and rocks by an older
student to being left to deal with his reading block almost by himself. I feel the school
has failed my son miserably. Now at Sacajewea my son is doing much better and reading is
now his strong point.

For a long time I felt alone in the struggle with Lincoln. Until I learned of other parents
who felt the same way. One parent has a child who has a host of mental challenges, one
of which is symptimatic of distractions and outbursts. At one point the child misbehaved
he was made to go home for the day, the principal drove him and then took him to Ice
Cream at Dairy queen, unknown to his mother. That is not the way to handel a
situation that required being sent home.

Another circumstance tells of a teacher (same child) who made the class raise their hand
if they didn't want to be in the specified childs class. When children raised their hand the
teacher asked the students to tell the child why. My son came home crying telling me how
cruel the teacher had been to this other child, So I called the childs mother promptly.
The principle told the mother she would have to take the problem up with the teacher.
The teacher admitted the event saying she had a migraine and just couldn't deal with
the child. (lets put a little rewind on here) WHAT? Isn't that what teachers are trained
for?

I myself have a son who is being tested for autism. He had an IEP from Headstart and
those papers were lost when he went into kindergarten, My copies lost in a basement flood.
I requested a new Iep and was refused or given the run around. Only this week (my son is
now a first grader) did the new school psych happily agree to help me. A year later.

Lincoln promotes a slogan of no bullying, yet the some of the teachers are bullies themselves.
How well can a child learn in an enviroment where they feel threatened by peers and adults?
When our children (numerous younger children) were assaulted by 2 older
boys with text books, It was left to us to contact police and the parent. At the end of the
school year 2006, lincoln was met with no less then 2 bomb threats. I will follow up that one
with an interview of Mrs. Kathy Johnson. I have been told that she did not deal with the
problem because the childs parents were somewhat threatening...but we will see what the truth is on that. While i am interviewing Mrs. Johnson I am going to ask questions pertaining to
other issues. If anyone has any questions they would like asked in the interview, I would be happy to ask for you and keep your name anonymous, simply mail me at tatjannam@gmail.com.


On a side note, I want to say that not all of Lincolns teachers are misguided. I want to throw
out a big thumbs up to teachers like. Mrs. Haines, Ms.Spragg. Ms. Combs, Ms.Vansickle. Ms, Thornton and there are others who I have not had the pleasure of meeting, I'm sorry I missed you on this list. There are teachers who make a good difference and ones who do not. I think that it is pointless to keep the ones who do not.