It Takes a Cyber Charter School to Raise a Child

March 14, 2024 | Written by The Dean Family | Delaware County, Pennsylvania

When my daughter started struggling in PE class a couple of years ago, her doctor suggested I talk to the school about the issue. I followed the doctor’s advice and reached out to the school to get help. It was a very basic thing that a parent would do, and there is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, so in my mind, school and parents should work together for the benefit of the minors.

Little did I know, my innocent effort to get help from the school ignited a series of severe backslash from the school.  While I was thinking simply about helping my daughter, the school district only focused on their budget. I was not aware that telling the school that my daughter needed to be evaluated for possible disabilities would only be heard as a threat to their pockets by the school district.

What followed after that was a story that might be hard to believe.  I was being naïve and still believed that school and parents should work together for the children, so I shared the contacts of my daughter’s private physicians and therapists. They were professionals whom I pay out of pocket to help my daughter. Instead of sharing correct information to help the professionals help my daughter, the school district created false stories to prevent the professionals from correctly diagnosing and treating my daughter. Later I learned that parents could sue the school for failing to identify students with disabilities and provide them with the necessary services. For this reason, it is a disadvantage for the school district if my daughter received a diagnosis and care. It disturbs me deeply that the school district would go that far to save money in their pocket and cared nothing about my daughter’s wellbeing.

My daughter needed help, but she could not get help due to disparaging comments the school district made about me and my daughter to the medical professionals and psychologists. I had to change professional multiple times one after another, about 10 times in the span of 6 months, when I found they were again compromised by the school district. The school district has multiple connections in the area because they are school districts, so one way or another they were able to reach out to my family’s private providers.

At school, instead of helping my daughter, the school district put her on the stage during PE classes for everyone to see that she was not able to do things that other children could do. When the PE class was conducted outdoors, my daughter was told to sit on the ground . Once she was stung by the bees and nobody helped her.  Eventually, my daughter started cutting herself. 

Then the school district provided a 504 plan which says one statement “PE causes anxiety” only, without any accommodation or whatsoever, and continued humiliating her by putting her on the stage during PE classes. I am proud of my daughter that she told me all of these experiences. Some children chose to keep it to themselves, and this can be fatal. Parents send their kids every morning but many of us never know what happens behind the walls inside school buildings.

Friends recommended me to reach out to politicians or even police to stop the school district’s harassment against my daughter and my family. However, my efforts to get help outside the school were also blocked by the school district. I reached out everywhere to get help, but the school district has connections with politicians and police, and they misuse it to avoid prosecution.

Also, as long as our children go to the school district, parents have very limited room to fight against them because the children would suffer like  my daughter. Instead of helping her, they harassed her. The school district that my daughter went to is one of the best in the state. It is within the top 15. This gives them even more power to bully students and parents because they know people want to stay in the district. When their bullying against my daughter escalated, I finally had the courage to transfer her to cyber charter school.

Soon I realized that it was the best decision ever made. It was like a rainbow after a hurricane. The cyber charter school felt so warm and safe for our wounded minds and hearts after months of bullying by the school district. They provided evaluation and services for my daughter even without me asking. They made some special needs findings that I did not even think that my daughter had. This is how schools are supposed to be.  Schools should help and work with parents, not suppress and bully parents. Not only did my daughter receive help for her special needs, but she was also found to be gifted by the cyber charter school. And despite all the rumors about cyber charter school’s lacking academics quality, I found out that even the academics are more advanced in cyber charter school compared to the “award winning school district” where my daughter went. 

My daughter is now thriving socially, emotionally and academically in the cyber charter school. The staff in cyber charter school knows her by her name. She makes friends and participates in theater programs outside the school. It is so heartwarming to see her singing and dancing confidently on the stage. Just a couple years ago before we transferred to cyber charter school, she spent her time after school and on weekends in her room and refused to go outside or do any activities.  A happy child is a happy parent. Now I feel peace knowing that I can trust the school and my daughter receives all the help she needs at the cyber charter school. No more fighting a giant entity , which is called a school district, so I can focus my energy elsewhere and be more productive.

Cyber charter school comprehensively provides my daughter with what she needs in her process growing up into a functional adult. Cyber charter school is my ally in raising my kids.  It takes a cyber charter school to raise a child. My daughter is in good hands at the cyber charter school. I wish I knew earlier about cyber charter school. Cyber charter school is literally my daughter’s safe place physically and emotionally. The cyber charter school genuinely helps my family, while our school district uses their budget to fund their travelling sports teams and sees special needs students as holes to their budgets. Cutting the cyber charter school’s budget will give even more power to the school district to do whatever they like, and many students and families will lose their safe place.