Dear Editor:

We live in Blacksburg and transport our child to Gaffney every day. He is in a Special Education Class most of the day except for P.E., which is two to three days a week.

He has at least one teacher with him all day long, even at P.E.

I called the school Monday, Oct. 19, at 11:15 a.m. and talked to his Special Education teacher to see where a ring ceremony was going to take place. She told me it has been a long time since she had a child to participate and that she would call me back.

She called me back at 11:30 a.m. and told me the administrator told her he could not participate because he did not sign a form.

Our child cannot understand an announcement and if he did, he couldn’t remember it when we picked him up.

I called back to talk to the administrator and she had her secretary to call me back and tell me “no.”

I called Bill James and received no response. I called Josten’s to try to pick up his ring that day before they were brought to the school. They told me they would try to talk to her and she told them “no.”

I then called back to the Cherokee County School District Office to speak with a Special Education Coordinator. I talked to her secretary’s answering machine and about 20 minutes or so later, Bessie Westmoreland called and said she would find out why.

At around 3:30 p.m. while on our way to Josten’s in Spartanburg, Bessie called back and told us to have Ronnie there at 6:30 p.m.

This is how our special needs child gets treated, but we only wanted him to participate like all the others in the 11th grade.

I would like to thank the Gaffney High Coordinator for Special Education, Bessie Westmoreland, and Josten’s for trying to make our child’s day special by ordering him his very own piece of cake.
Thanks again,
Sheila & Jerry Self
Gaffney, S.C.