Private placement, DCPS

[Anonymous]

If you’ve successfully gotten private placement at a SN private from DCPS, what piece of advice would you give your former self about how to approach the child find/IEP/placement process?

One lawyer we met with told us to say upfront we were seeking the pp, another told us this is not the way to go.

Any anecdotal feedback you can provide to a parent trying to do right thing for her kid would be a help. What did you learn the hard way that I can bring to help my kid?

[Anonymous]

Just an FYI, it will be a private placement at a school with only children with special needs as well, so there won’t be any inclusion (if you care).

You have to prove their current setting isn’t FAPE and negligence, the staff likely also has to be fed up with you enough to lose the court case. Private placement is extremely difficult to get and your child will have to have very significant and multiple disabilities or severe behavioral needs.

How is their current school not meeting your child’s needs?

[Anonymous]

Not DCPS but I once sat at a support group for MCPS families being ignored by MCPS and private placement -- but one Mom said she simply recorded the IEP meeting, (MCPS protested and she said she would call the State Dept of Education if they didn't allow a recording, so they yielded); then she transcribed the tape, spent 300 bucks on an attorney's fee and filed for private placement after the lawyer wrote down all of the violations. So maybe try that technique! DCPS is much kinder about private placement than MCPS though... may not need all the tactics. (MCPS spent 11 million fighting IEPs in 2017 alone).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just an FYI, it will be a private placement at a school with only children with special needs as well, so there won’t be any inclusion (if you care).

You have to prove their current setting isn’t FAPE and negligence, the staff likely also has to be fed up with you enough to lose the court case. Private placement is extremely difficult to get and your child will have to have very significant and multiple disabilities or severe behavioral needs.

How is their current school not meeting your child’s needs?

Don’t think you have to prove negligence. You have to prove that a program that provides FAPE for your child does not exist within DCPS. For our kid, we had to show that there was no grade level autism classroom that could meet his behavioral and academic needs. It also helps if you have an idea of which SN school will for your kiddo and if they have room.

[Anonymous]

Plugging in what a family friend has learned- you don't make your intentions known. You quietly collect evidence and spring it on them at the due process hearing. Some advocates can be good with assisting with this process. Our friend used one with expert witness experience. I know there's several in this area that do both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not DCPS but I once sat at a support group for MCPS families being ignored by MCPS and private placement -- but one Mom said she simply recorded the IEP meeting, (MCPS protested and she said she would call the State Dept of Education if they didn't allow a recording, so they yielded); then she transcribed the tape, spent 300 bucks on an attorney's fee and filed for private placement after the lawyer wrote down all of the violations. So maybe try that technique! DCPS is much kinder about private placement than MCPS though... may not need all the tactics. (MCPS spent 11 million fighting IEPs in 2017 alone).

They will know you are recording and that info is 10 years old, DCPS is much more strict on PP, what you might be thinking of is how much they are sued. They are sued quiet a bit but doesn’t result in PP.
You must prove FAPE is not being provided, not just simply record a bad IEP meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just an FYI, it will be a private placement at a school with only children with special needs as well, so there won’t be any inclusion (if you care).

You have to prove their current setting isn’t FAPE and negligence, the staff likely also has to be fed up with you enough to lose the court case. Private placement is extremely difficult to get and your child will have to have very significant and multiple disabilities or severe behavioral needs.

How is their current school not meeting your child’s needs?

Don’t think you have to prove negligence. You have to prove that a program that provides FAPE for your child does not exist within DCPS. For our kid, we had to show that there was no grade level autism classroom that could meet his behavioral and academic needs. It also helps if you have an idea of which SN school will for your kiddo and if they have room.

Eh, proving negligence would certainly make it easier. And I think you got lucky. If you mean academic needs in the sense your child was above grade level they have HFA CES programs, even without that I know just a regular one should meet your child’s needs academically and behaviorally, unless the behaviors were ED level.

At least from what I’ve seen in recent years DCPS has become more strict and it really has to be the school that drops the ball.

[Anonymous]

There are quite a few threads on this if you do a search. You need to get information from families that have done this recently. You can find the list of schools that DCPS sends kids to. Are any of those schools where you want your kid? Does your kid fit the profile for the schools you are interested in? If your kid is young, lawyer up. It isn't going to magically happen without an attorney.

[Anonymous]

1. You need an attorney. An advocate isn't enough. Everything starts with the IEP. Are you getting enough services? Are they being implemented with fidelity? Is your child hitting goals? A neuropsych and psycho-educational assessment will help you a lot. If your child is not getting ahead, is it because DCPS isn't providing the services or is it because they can't? Big difference there. We didn't ask for placement up front. But we did end up forcing the school into a position where they simply couldn't provide what my son needed.

2. This process can take a long time because it's not easy to prove that DCPS cannot provide FAPE. Anyone who tells you this is quick, easy, cheap, or clean is lying. OSSE will not grant you that placement until DCPS, not you, proves they cannot provide FAPE. Just you or some advocate saying it's so won't get you far. Your kid needs to fail, basically. It's not fair, but I've never seen otherwise within DCPS proper.

3. Admission is heavily luck. Does your timing line up with the school having the space? The fit can be perfect but if the space isn't there, you're not getting in. Have AT LEAST three schools in mind in ranked order. Call the schools. Do tours if you can. Build relationships with admissions and ensure that they know your child's name and profile before the packet arrives.

4. OSSE will try to scare you out of the placement. Honestly, all they care about is not spending money. So they will tell you all sorts of garbage like "nobody gets in to that school" or "you may end up in a worse situation" or "the transition will be really difficult." My attorney was very good about telling OSSE to quit the BS.

5. The private schools are not just assessing your kid. They're assessing you. Be cordial and flexible, ask smart questions, and show that your child will have everything they need at home. There are a lot of people who want those spots, so make sure you show them that you are the kind of family they want at the school.

My attorney was Frances Shefter and I strongly recommend doing a consultation with her. At this point you may not even have a case, and she'll be very honest with you about that.

[Anonymous]

My family friend used Michael Eig and had a positive result.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbors worked with Brian Gruber, they had a good experience working with him. As PP mentioned, DCPS has changed over the past ten years and the burden is on the parents to prove the school can not provide FAPE. It's possible, but it can be a long process.

[Anonymous]

Your kid will have to be severely disabled to qualify. You must prove they cannot provide FAPE and as others said it will take a while. DCPS and the general public does not want to pay for your child's private schooling.

[Anonymous]

OP, have you considered enrolling in a charter and trying to get private placement that way?

[Anonymous]

If you have the money to gamble, you put your kid where you want them, pay tuition, and then turn around and file due process to get reimbursement.

It's a BIG gamble, for sure, and don't do it unless an attorney tells you that you have at least some kind of shot, but you have better chances this way than to just file due process and hope OSSE tells them to do a private placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid will have to be severely disabled to qualify. You must prove they cannot provide FAPE and as others said it will take a while. DCPS and the general public does not want to pay for your child's private schooling.

your kid does not need to be severely disabled. and who tf cares what the general public wants? it's a federal law.