To Reach the Unreachable School Personnel

Trying to get someone from the school on the phone? If you're advocating for a child with special needs, chances are you've had the experience of endless phone-tag with someone you have a question for or need an answer from or have a bone to pick with. You probably recognize the secretary's voice by now, and the secretary sure as heck recognizes your voice, and you can just see the not YOU again roll of the eyes.

Your first instinct is probably to call first thing in the morning, try to get the person you're pursuing before they're consumed by daily meetings and activities. That's a good plan, and it often works -- but if all it's doing is getting you repeated conversations with that poor secretary or a cold-hearted answering machine, try mixing up the times you dial in. Sometimes, you may be able to catch your prey late in the day, when the usual phone-call interceptors have gone home. When you're calling teachers, try to find out when they have their break time, as that's when you're most likely to get through. Call at random times; with luck, you'll catch 'em with their guard down.

If your school district has an e-mail system and a standardized address formula, you may be able to skip the phone and try e-mail instead. Our school district has teachers' e-mails on websites for each particular school, and even if the person you need is not on the list, it's easy to figure out the FirstInitialLastName@districtname.com formula and apply it to the personage you're seeking.

That's no guarantee that your e-mail will get a reply, but if you can make your argument fully and in a reasonable manner, it may prove that you are somebody whose calls could have been picked up safely in the first place. Document on your contact log that you sent the e-mail and that it did not get returned by the system.

(You can always escalate to a snail-mail letter with a return receipt, preferably cc'd to some agency that the person you're trying to get in touch with respects more than you.)

Depending on your daytime availability, turning up at the district headquarters to see the special-education administrator in question may at least get the wheels turning a little faster, whether you can get a walk-in appointment or not. Turning an actual person away is harder than turning away a phone call or ignoring an e-mail, and if you are polite but persistent as to when you can have a word with that person, you may at least get the phone call you've been seeking, if only to keep you from storming the barricades again. 

Probably showing up at the school without warning won't get you a sit-down with your child's teacher or an IEP case manager, though it might get you into the principal's office. What can get you some live one-on-one time with folks whose schedules are full is volunteering at the school whenever you can.

When you're there in a non-threatening capacity, opportunities often open up for informal contacts, whether it's grabbing a word with a therapist in a hallway, chatting with a teacher while her kids are looking for books in the school library, or stopping by the IEP team's office for a quick "Hi!" and a question. You may even find them seeking you out for a quick strategy session -- 'cause you can't duck calls from the school when you're there either.