What if there are no spots in non-public sped schools?

[Anonymous]

We are going through the process of being referred to a non-public special education school. DC’s needs can not be met in public.

There are waiting lists at the schools identified as a fit. What happens if school district agrees to pay, but there is no where to go?

[Anonymous]

Not certain, I think you end up waiting for a spot, cast a wider net and get homebound services in the interim.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately I think this is not uncommon. You wait, cast a wider net, look on your own and pay out of pocket if needed, homeschool, get homebound services… anything you can do that has availability.

[Anonymous]

You can also extend your geographic reach. If your kid is older you might consider boarding. MCPS sends kids all over the country.

[Anonymous]

This happened to us. It took 6 mo for placement. Officially DS was on homebound. I ended up enrolling him in on line virtual school. The home bound teacher just followed the virtual curriculum.

MCPS CIEP kept sending out referrals as far as Frederick and Baltimore. Eventually we found a spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately I think this is not uncommon. You wait, cast a wider net, look on your own and pay out of pocket if needed, homeschool, get homebound services… anything you can do that has availability.

This is pretty much what everyone I know experienced. It’s a tough time between getting agreement for placement and getting an actual placement. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

For FCPS placements, there are no seats anywhere. We waited almost 9 months (on "home instruction" which is really basically nothing).