Ewon

'HELLO, Jung Ewon-ssi. It's Kwon Yuri from Cloverville Academy returning your call. I'm sorry, Jung-ssi. It looks like Jessica would be a great fit for our program and we have a spot for her, but unfortunately our endowments you inquired about have all alloted for the year. If you fill out paperwork now for summer and/or next school year, I can almost guarantee she will have full tuition and fees covered. I wish I could be of more help. Please call if I can be of further assistance.'

I listened to the voicemail for the tenth time in half as many days, hoping-praying that I would hear something different. I should've known that once the school year was underway that it was going to be a slim to none chance that they would help us financially, but I was desperate.

Sica's current school was down my back begging me to sign her placement page of the individual education plan, or IEP for short, so they could transfer her. All the research I had done on my rights, including calls to three advocasy groups, told me that I could refuse to sign or check the box for a request of due process. Due process, as it turned out, was a very complicated and time-consuming series of steps that tended to benefit the parents when they were looking to add services, but historically our state seemed to side with the school when it came to scaling back servises, which was the case with Jessica.

There had to be another way. I knew there did. , I'd even spent hours looking at what a surrogate would entail. The biological logistics of it were simple enough-go to the clinic, get implanted with a child not of your genes, grow a baby, done. Except that was the least of it. There were medical tests up the wazoo, picking a couple, deciding on how involved you and the couple were wanting you to be in any of the process, picking parents, parents picking you, the financial pieces, and in some cases, international concerns.

The most insurmountable of all for me was the emotional turmoil of carrying a child that wasn't yours. That was my deal breaker. If I carried a child, which my biological clock begged from me more often with every passing year, then giving that baby up was going to devastate me.

The ring of my phone pulled me from my head, which was a blessing since I was spiraling into despair quickly. I needed a solution to all our woes, and every time I looked into a new avenue to help Jessica, I hit a brick wall.

"Yoboseyo?" I grimaced as I saw it was the school's front office. They knew I would answer it even though all of the calls from the special education director went to voicemail. The calls that had been coming more ad more frequently. Calling from the generic number, the one they used when kids were sick or hurt and needed to be picked up, was a low blow, and even though I knew it was Choi-ssi and not the nurse, I had to answer, just in case. Asshats.

"Hello, Ewon, it is Choi-ssi."

Oh. how it pissed me off when they used those subtle power plays like this, using my first name but their title to show some sort hierarchy. It didn't skip my attention that she called when I would normally be slinging coffee. I was only home where I could talk unfiltered because my manager needed me to switch with him on Sunday.

"Is Jessica ill?" because that was the only thing I gave a about at the moment. Their paperwork could wait.

"She is not sick, no, Ewon. But she needs you to be a grown-up and sign the paperwork so she can get the help she needs."

Be a grown-up. She was such a condescending, awful human. I became a grown-up when most people my age were trying to get into a bar with their face IDs so they could play pool, drink twofer beers, and if they were lucky, get laid. That night my parents died, I became my little sister's guardian and more of a grown-up than half the people I had seen working in that school. Judgmental piece of garbage.

"No. What she need from me is to stand my ground and get her the actual help she needs instead of letting her be corraled into a program that guarantees she will not be successful."

What Sica needed from me was to hit the lottery and have enough money to provide her with the education she needed, the time with me she and I both needed, and all the little things in life kids needed-like fresh fruits and vegetables daily.

"Star Ave Elementary has an excellent program, Ewon."

"That it does, for very specific populations, none of which Jessica is part of."

I'd spent more time looking into Star Ave over the past few days than this woman could ever imagine. They had an amazing program for the deaf, another for the blind, one with mixed reviews for children with severe autism, and the program they wanted Jess to be in, one reserved for the kids whose IQ fell below the average range. It too, was excellent, but not for a child who Cloverville was sure would test out above average, if not superior, IQ wise.

"Her test results would suggest otherwise."

"Her test results are not accurate. You used an IQ test that numerous studies have shown to be inaccurate with students facing the types of challenges Jessica does. You used a reading-based assessments for her mathematics, and you tested her directly before lunch during her recess time."

That took her a pregnant pause to respond to. I knew she looked at me as an undereducated, too young to be a dad, signle father with little if any knowledge about education. All of which had been true until recently. I was still undereducated and too young for the job at hand, but I spent every waking moment not at work or with Jess, making sure I knew everything I possibly could about programs for her. I care, ad that was something Choi-ssi didn't quite grasp.

"We have been doing this a long time, Ewon. We strive to do what is best for our students, even when their guardians who are Google versed in education decide to live in denial."

"I am going to pretend you didn't just insult me and get back to the issue at hand. Cloverville Academy has accepted Jessica."

It was probably for the she had called. There was no way my face hid the sheer rage I felt, as calm as I forced my voice to be. With my luck, security would've been hauling me out of there before the converation was over.

"They do not accept students with cognitive issues, I assure you. You probably were sent an application."

Because she thought I was lacking of intelligence as she thought Jessica was. It was then I realized that even if I managed to get her retested and given a proper IEP in her current school, they would never treat her a anything alse. That school had officially become toxic at her placement meeting, possibly earlier. She needed to be out of there.

"No, Choi-ssi. I filled out the application in person and then last Saturday they did some screening assessments and she was accepted, with a full battery of assessments and an idividual learning progra