Phoenix Inheritance Read Free Page B

coming so quickly.”
    â€œI understand your concern.” She tucked her hands into her lap, having no idea what to say. She was frustrated at the school for a situation that could have been avoided, worried about Charlie for running outside and just completely sick to her stomach because she had no idea how to stop it from happening again.
    As bad as it had been at school so far, she’d thought he was at least physically safe there.
    â€œI’m so glad Dorothy was able to reach him, and I understand why you wanted me to come so fast. What now?”
    â€œAs I said, assaulting a teacher is a serious offense, as is running out of the school. Neither of those things should happen. I’ll have to talk to everyone involved and make a decision,” Partnope said.
    Plunge in, she thought. “Isn’t Charlie’s autism a consideration? If anyone had checked with me about this assignment—” she held the quiz in front of her, “—I could have absolutely told them he’d have a bad reaction. Or they could have looked in his IEP.”
    â€œCharlie has some control over his reactions or he wouldn’t have stopped for Dorothy. He is quite willful. He’s responsible.”
    â€œI understand what he did. I’m just looking for the best way to prevent it from happening again.” Renee ground her teeth. Again, she got the feeling Partnope thought all her son needed was discipline. Renee knew discipline. She’d trained her SAR dogs for years. Charlie’s problems were beyond simple discipline. He lacked the ability to think before acting under stress.
    â€œMy son and Dorothy have built up trust over the four years he’s attended school. She notices the little things and knows how to get to him.” Dorothy could have told them not to give Charlie this unnecessary and ridiculous quiz.
    â€œCharlie’s going to have to learn to respect his current teacher. What does his father say about all this?”
    â€œI really don’t feel comfortable speaking for his father.” Partnope wasn’t the only obstacle. Daz was resistant to the idea of full psychological testing too.
    Daz only had Charlie two weekends a month, sometimes less if Daz was pulled away by work. That included last month. As a result, Daz hadn’t seen Charlie’s worst meltdowns. Daz thought she worried too much. He didn’t get all the phone calls from the school.
    â€œIn a case like this, we do like to get the opinion of both parents, whenever possible,” Partnope said.
    â€œAbsolutely, which is why I’ll discuss today’s incident with Mr. Montoya.” But she needed to have the conversation with Daz, not the school. Maybe she was paranoid but it sounded like they wanted to go over her head, which meant they didn’t trust her with Charlie. Maybe that was why they kept stalling despite her repeated requests for full psychological testing for special education services.
    All she wanted was for Charlie to get the help he clearly needed.
    â€œWould Charlie’s father oppose a suspension?” Partnope said.
    The question shredded the last of her self-control.
    â€œAll this talk of a suspension is beside the point,” she snapped. “If I thought suspending Charlie would ensure that this situation would never happen again, I’d be all for it. But I can’t say that and neither can you.”
    If punishment worked with Charlie, she’d be all in with this approach. But it didn’t.
    â€œI want a full psychological testing for Charlie, as I’ve asked at least six times these last two months. I want to have him classified as special education/autism, and I want an aide who can notice when Charlie is getting agitated so they can teach him to calm down at school before he goes overboard like today.”
    Partnope but his hands on his desk and stood. “I’ll consider that.”
    â€œYou’ve had two months to consider