My oldest son attended Oceanside High School for all four years of his high school career. Things did not go well for him at this school, due to a combination of a gross ineptitude and lack of follow through by the special education department as well as a constant turnover in administrative staff and an inconsistency resulting from that high turnover rate. If you're looking for a school to place an autistic teenager who struggles academically, OHS is the wrong school to place them.
My son's special education teacher seemed more concerned with having his students see him as their friend than he did actually providing quality education to those students. His students all liked him, however their grades did not seem to reflect any type of positive influence that this teacher had upon them. There were also the numerous incidents of bullying (including my son's iPod being stolen, constantly harassed in PE, and literally being punched in the face on numerous occasions by other students that occurred on campus - all of which went completely unaddressed by school officials, district officials, and teachers themselves on campus. In fact, they seemed to insinuate that he brought the bullying upon himself by simply being different and occasionally having the audacity of verbally standing up for himself when he was being actively bullied.
For a brief time (less than a semester), I had to remove him from the program due to him being three years behind in his scholastic education goals and at high risk for not graduating high school at all. Not every child learns the same, and not every predesigned program works for every child...which is why the "I" in "IEP" stands for "Individualized!" That was another disaster, and the teacher there seemed to think her computer program that tracked students' progress was without flaw whatsoever. Because we all know how infallible technology is, right? ;)
After finally eliminating the school and administration from the IEP process altogether and taking my case straight to Oceanside Unified School District, the head of special education, case manager, and I were able to sit down and hammer out an actual individualized plan for my son that allowed him to successfully graduate from Oceanside High School on time with his peers.
Had it not been for gross inadequacies amongst administration and staff at Oceanside High School, (which resulted in 17 different IEP meetings in his junior year alone!), we may not have had as hard of a time getting my son to graduate as we did. Thankfully, I am very well-versed in special education law, and I did not allow the school to get away with anything that they needed to be held accountable for. I ensured that they followed the law, and actually individualized my sons education rather than allow them to place him in some generic program that they had already pre-designed for children that they believed met his "level of education standards." Until you show me a generic, standardized child, I'll continue to argue that there is no such thing as a "one size fits all" program approach to teaching students...regardless of whether or not it is cost effective for the school. Unfortunately, lack of school funds is not a legal excuse to deny a child the right to a free and appropriate education with all of the supports they need to ensure success. Maybe spend a little less on incompetent administrators (they had three assistant principal-level positions...seriously?!? what a waste of resources!) and maybe invest a little more in ensuring that EVERY child that attends your school succeeds. That would mean seeing our children as human beings, not dollar signs, though...and we all know that education is now basically nothing more than yet another business. The bottom line matters more than seeing students succeed.
If I had it to do over again, I would have sent my son to El Camino High school instead. Their special education program is by far better, and after seeing how much progress my son made during ONE summer school when he was with the special education teacher at El Camino high school, I now know why that program is so vastly different and light years better than the program at Oceanside High School. If I could, I would rank it among the worst schools in The school district. Yes. It's that bad. The fact that their mascot is a pirate almost seems absurdly appropriate. read more