ACPS

[Anonymous]

Any experiences good or bad with special ed in ACPS?

[Anonymous]

ACPS does poorly supporting Children with dyslexia. We also had struggles with behavioral supports due to autism (and protecting our child from bullying).

[Anonymous]

The chair of the ACPS school board, Megan Alderton, was a special ed teacher so she knows across the board the kind of instruction ACPS provides.

She sends her kids to private school.

[Anonymous]

Run, do not walk, to Fairfax County if your kid is special needs/needs an IEP. ACPS is the worst system in the region for those programs. I know families who tried to stick it out in ACPS and when they ultimately went to Fairfax after years of battles with ACPS they were amazed at the difference. Unlike many on this board, I like Alexandria and generally think ACPS has a worse reputation than it deserves for most things. But for this - totally deserved. Don't even try. It's horrible.

[Anonymous]

ACPS is a sped nightmare and does everything they can to illegally deprive kids of services. Run.

[Anonymous]

As an actual parent of an actual student in an actual Alexandria school with an IEP (two kids actually), we have had a reasonably good experience. That said, from talking to other parents of IEP kids in middle and high, I’m not sure we are going to stay for middle. We were originally considering it for the first year, because of home prices and interest rates, but maybe we will just have to bite the bullet. FCPS is no saint when it comes to denying kids FAPE, so be sure you are eyes wide open on that.

https://dcist.com/story/23/01/23/disability-rights-class-action-against-fairfax-public-schools-widened/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an actual parent of an actual student in an actual Alexandria school with an IEP (two kids actually), we have had a reasonably good experience. That said, from talking to other parents of IEP kids in middle and high, I’m not sure we are going to stay for middle. We were originally considering it for the first year, because of home prices and interest rates, but maybe we will just have to bite the bullet. FCPS is no saint when it comes to denying kids FAPE, so be sure you are eyes wide open on that.

https://dcist.com/story/23/01/23/disability-rights-class-action-against-fairfax-public-schools-widened/

Just because others' lived experience with ACPS isn't the same as yours doesn't mean they aren't authentic.

Also, by trashing FCPS you are doing the exact same thing you are accusing others of doing. You aren't an "actual" parent at an "actual" FCPS school.

[Anonymous]

I haven't had a good experience. My child is older (14) and has an IEP with an executive functioning goal only. His teachers generally don't follow it, and it is hard to even get anyone to respond to my concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't had a good experience. My child is older (14) and has an IEP with an executive functioning goal only. His teachers generally don't follow it, and it is hard to even get anyone to respond to my concerns.

According to the PP, you aren't an "actual" parent.

I'm sorry that ACPS has failed you and your kid. They don't care because they know it's expensive and hard to sue. They can do whatever they want and collect that 36K+ of funding for your kid.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry that ACPS has failed you and your kid. They don't care because they know it's expensive and hard to sue. They can do whatever they want and collect that 36K+ of funding for your kid.

Thank you. It may be hard, but both DH and I are VA barred lawyers, so it would be less expensive for us than many, and we are considering it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't had a good experience. My child is older (14) and has an IEP with an executive functioning goal only. His teachers generally don't follow it, and it is hard to even get anyone to respond to my concerns.

According to the PP, you aren't an "actual" parent.

I'm sorry that ACPS has failed you and your kid. They don't care because they know it's expensive and hard to sue. They can do whatever they want and collect that 36K+ of funding for your kid.

If you read my post I actually acknowledged that the parents I know with students in middle or high have not generally reported good things (one parent friend with one who just finished at FHMS with ADHD had good things to say; allllll the others say they haven’t a clue how to support their kids or try to push them to a 504 instead of an IEP), and that FCPS is not well known for their stellar treatment of students with disabilities either (contrary to “trashing” FCPS). For goodness sake they only implemented policies banning restraint and seclusion in 2019! Several posters prior to my post made claims about ACPS without identifying their own personal experience, counter to what OP was seeking. I am no denier of ACPS’ MANY failings, and may very well jump to another district for middle, but the truth is any parent with a disabled child is going to have to fight for them wherever they go. Our experience has not sucked, in that we have gotten nearly everything we’ve asked for in the IEP process and have had high quality special education teachers paired with high quality general education teachers. I do not know if our experience is an anomaly, and I am not getting great impressions from the transition to middle school discussions we are having. I will also say that not all ACPS schools or FCPS schools are created equal. Some will have much better outcomes than others. At the bigger schools you can see the SOL results for students with disabilities, and I think it’s at least one way to evaluate how well or not students are supported at those schools.

[Anonymous]

At the Elementary level, ACPS students with disabilities have a reading proficiency of 27% and a math proficiency of 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the Elementary level, ACPS students with disabilities have a reading proficiency of 27% and a math proficiency of 20%.

Barrett reading proficiency is 35%, math is 37%
George Mason reading is 15%, math is 8% (no wonder everyone is fleeing this school)
Polk reading is 15%, math is 21%
Jeff-Houston reading is 22%, math is 15%
Ramsey reading is 16%, math is 8%
MacArthur reading is 19%, math is 15%
Brooks reading is 29%, math is 29%
Cora Kelly reading is 13%, math is 22%
Lyles Crouch reading is 58%, math is 58%
John Adams reading is 37%, math is 30%
Mount Vernon reading is 54%, math is 22%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm sorry that ACPS has failed you and your kid. They don't care because they know it's expensive and hard to sue. They can do whatever they want and collect that 36K+ of funding for your kid.

Thank you. It may be hard, but both DH and I are VA barred lawyers, so it would be less expensive for us than many, and we are considering it.

Yes but do you practice special education law?

[Anonymous]

Thank you. It may be hard, but both DH and I are VA barred lawyers, so it would be less expensive for us than many, and we are considering it.


Yes but do you practice special education law?

No, but I've got a pretty good network available to me. I'm confident.