CIEP in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

Are there that many schools that MCPS will pay for that also has students private paying? We are in FCPS and the private day schools my ds has been at do not have private pay students-all placed by the school system.

[Anonymous]

So you know you definitely want the first school that has contacted you, and you don't feel you need any more info about the other schools?

Are you sure there's an open spot in the classroom that she would be a good fit for? Sometimes kids are transitioning out and that causes delays.

I would come ready with all the questions you would have if she were enrolled and ready to go, ask about how fast the process can happen, etc

[Anonymous]

the bus stop thing seems crazy to me but we are in FCPS. Isn't it a violation of your child's privacy to tell the public that your child attends a private special ed school, and which particular one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the bus stop thing seems crazy to me but we are in FCPS. Isn't it a violation of your child's privacy to tell the public that your child attends a private special ed school, and which particular one?

They don't tell anything about the kid--they are just given an address. The fact that they can't facilitate any kind of introduction contributes to the weird dynamic. Sometimes a parent who was at the school the previous year will go through an old directory to figure out your contact information and email you. That's happened but not made it any less weird.

For the pp who asked if there were really that many publicly-funded the answer is yes. I think our classroom is about 50% funded but not all of those kids are from MoCo. Of all the people I know who are funded from MoCO only one had the knock-down drag out fight that went on and on. There are huge gaps in their special education programming and if you fit in one of those gaps and know how to navigate the system or hire help that does it's not hard to get a placement.

[Anonymous]

Isn't giving out a home address where a child lives the same thing? I mean, the stop is at the house. ??? I just think it is strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't giving out a home address where a child lives the same thing? I mean, the stop is at the house. ??? I just think it is strange.

It is. And there is nothing you can do. Just another way parents of children with SN have hardships inflicted on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp quoted and every year I think maybe our situation will happen like that but it never does. SO I start out the school year nice and friendly and then the situation devolves because some of the things I've seen are egregious--especially the year we had much older kids at the same stop as my young kid. And then it's hard to take a more aggressive stance about what I'm comfortable with. What's more in three years the parents (different every year) have never shown any interest in getting to know us but I shouldn't be surprised because I don't find that our school is particularly social compared to other placements we've had. I'm sad about it. My kid is outgoing and would love to have a friend for the duration of the ride.

I hope this happens at some point for you and your child. Looking back, those bus years were really an important socialization (and wonderful!) opportunity for both boys.

[Anonymous]

I’m answering the OP. I’m surprised how quickly things went. He visited a school on Tuesday of this week, got accepted on Wednesday, we let our placement specialist know on Thursday. On Friday got informed that his busing has been approved and he is starting on Wednesday next week. So one week total from the day we decided to the day he is starting.

This has definitely been the quickest part of the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m answering the OP. I’m surprised how quickly things went. He visited a school on Tuesday of this week, got accepted on Wednesday, we let our placement specialist know on Thursday. On Friday got informed that his busing has been approved and he is starting on Wednesday next week. So one week total from the day we decided to the day he is starting.

This has definitely been the quickest part of the process.

This must be for RICA. For other private placements, once the acceptance is in you need to have an iep meeting to finish the process. From there they complete the transportation form. It takes a few weeks to get everything in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m answering the OP. I’m surprised how quickly things went. He visited a school on Tuesday of this week, got accepted on Wednesday, we let our placement specialist know on Thursday. On Friday got informed that his busing has been approved and he is starting on Wednesday next week. So one week total from the day we decided to the day he is starting.

This has definitely been the quickest part of the process.

This must be for RICA. For other private placements, once the acceptance is in you need to have an iep meeting to finish the process. From there they complete the transportation form. It takes a few weeks to get everything in place.

This was not the case for our private placement (not at RICA). Gained acceptance. Agreed as a family. Our rep. talked to MCPS placement head on the phone. DS started there.


Great to hear OP!

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am in the beginning stages and waiting to get a CIEP meeting on the books.

Can someone tell me what schools are available so I can start my own research?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, I am in the beginning stages and waiting to get a CIEP meeting on the books.

Can someone tell me what schools are available so I can start my own research?

What are your child’s needs?

[Anonymous]

MCPS has lots of programs:

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/special-education/programs-services/

Getting qualified and into one can sometimes be a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hadn’t thought about transportation! I can definitely see how that would make things more complicated as it’s the middle of the year.

The bus for a private placement is a big deal. My kid is on the bus for an hour in the afternoon even though the school is 30 minutes away. Routing determines everything. In the past when our route has been too long I have had help from our placement officer--that's the official MCPS person who works with the private school and the person who will run your IEP meetings from then on--but I have heard that some of them will not intervene. I have always said that it's not my kid's fault that MCPS does not have a program that can educate him and he should not be penalized by two hours on the bus.

The other fun fact is that MCPS has a program that allows private pay students to come to your house and catch the bus. For three years I have had strangers coming to my house for the bus (and for sticklers out there it is indeed my house because I've had people on my front porch; running through my yard and asking to use my bathroom because seemingly some people don't know how a bus stop is supposed to work). No one asks your consent and no one tells you anything. People will just show up one day and act like they are supposed to be in your driveway.

This is so strange, because we were one of those private pay parents. We had to get parental permission. We unilaterally placed our DD in a non-public one hour from our house, while we were in due process. MCPS did not agree to CIEP for us, and MCPS transportation said we needed permission from the parent to ride a MCPS bus. They also wouldn’t give us names of such parents to get permission. I ended up asking the school to seek permission for me to contact two parents in our county. One was very reluctant and another was very kind and said we were welcome to come to her house to catch the bus, she invited me in once, she helped my DD once when we were late. It was SUCH a lifesaver, and got us through a really difficult time.
Now I guess I understand why the one was reluctant, but at the time we could not understand why we needed parental permission to stand with our kid at the bottom of someone’s driveway. I was just so grateful another parent was willing to help us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- we did previously tour the schools and have one we definitely feel would be best. She has an interview there next week. I’m just more wondering the timing if she does get admitted to that school?

Which is your first choice school?