ACPS kindergarten Placement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It definitely happens so that a SPED teacher can spend more time in the classroom and have a more co-teaching role that benefits all students.

I have a SN child in ACPS, and if I find out that DC is in a class for this purpose, ACPS will rue the day.

Why?

[Anonymous]

That's actually a completely normal practice. Many school districts do this not just ACPS. APS does it too. When special education students are in one classroom it allows the resource teacher to push into the general Education class. That way the students aren't pulled out and are able to receive the service they need in their classroom. If staffing allows sometimes the resource teacher co-teaches with the general Education teacher. It's really a great set up that benefits the students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School dependent. Our larger school had kids on IEP's concentrated into 2 classes so the SPED teachers can more easily push in. They used to put kids from the same preschools together to the extent the knew and could, but new principal stopped that. I think they try to balance gender and I'm not sure what else.

What school is this!?? I’ve never heard this at any ACPS elementary and I have friends with kids in schools all over the city.

Not the PP and can't speak to the balancing of gender & preschools but concentrating the IEPs goes on at GM.

Considering how poor ACPS communication is and the fact that kids notoriously don't talk about their days and parents can't go in the buildings to volunteer in classrooms etc, are you really that surprised that people don't know what is happening in classrooms?

If this is true, the school is exposing the district to litigation as a violation of IDEA. How do you know this?

My (non IEP) kid was in the inclusion classroom in 1st grade at Brooks. It was about 50/50 kids who had pullouts for extra services. It was not remotely secret and any parent of a kid in the class knew about it. Inclusion classrooms are not a violation of IDEA, they came about because of IDEA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It definitely happens so that a SPED teacher can spend more time in the classroom and have a more co-teaching role that benefits all students.

I have a SN child in ACPS, and if I find out that DC is in a class for this purpose, ACPS will rue the day.

Why?

I am a parent for a former IEP in ACPS. If I had been aware of comments like you make above disparaging my child, you would rue the day.

[Anonymous]

This should probably be moved to a different thread but under IDEA, eligible children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education. School districts are required to place students in the least restrictive environment, which would mean that they attend class along with their peers without disabilities so long as students with an IEP are provided with appropriate aids, supports and services.

Just because a group of students with disabilities have been placed within the same classroom does not necessarily mean that there has been a violation of the IDEA or state law. While it may on the surface appear as if students were categorically placed in a classroom based upon their disabilities, each student's placement is supposed to be a delicate balancing act of trying to figure out what would be the best environment for each student depending upon what is required under each student's IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This should probably be moved to a different thread but under IDEA, eligible children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education. School districts are required to place students in the least restrictive environment, which would mean that they attend class along with their peers without disabilities so long as students with an IEP are provided with appropriate aids, supports and services.

Just because a group of students with disabilities have been placed within the same classroom does not necessarily mean that there has been a violation of the IDEA or state law. While it may on the surface appear as if students were categorically placed in a classroom based upon their disabilities, each student's placement is supposed to be a delicate balancing act of trying to figure out what would be the best environment for each student depending upon what is required under each student's IEP.

Just to be clear, the person upthread was focused on his or her neurotypical child who he or she did not want in a classroom half filled with non-neurotypical children who qualify for an IEP. I doubt that person cares about IDEA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This should probably be moved to a different thread but under IDEA, eligible children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education. School districts are required to place students in the least restrictive environment, which would mean that they attend class along with their peers without disabilities so long as students with an IEP are provided with appropriate aids, supports and services.

Just because a group of students with disabilities have been placed within the same classroom does not necessarily mean that there has been a violation of the IDEA or state law. While it may on the surface appear as if students were categorically placed in a classroom based upon their disabilities, each student's placement is supposed to be a delicate balancing act of trying to figure out what would be the best environment for each student depending upon what is required under each student's IEP.

This is very well stated and exactly correct. There is nothing wrong with grouping students so long as the schools comply with FAPE, IDEA, etc. The students with disabilities are still in mainstream classrooms, but pooling limited school staff and resources can be critical to serving all students properly.

[Anonymous]

Inclusive education is a best practice that benefits all students. Unfortunately, ACPS is so underfunded and behind in just about every way, parents still talk about "inclusion classes" like they talk about unicorns. Although I suppose even "inclusion classes" are better than the segregated block of classrooms that are included in the new MacArthur for Autistic students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inclusive education is a best practice that benefits all students. Unfortunately, ACPS is so underfunded and behind in just about every way, parents still talk about "inclusion classes" like they talk about unicorns. Although I suppose even "inclusion classes" are better than the segregated block of classrooms that are included in the new MacArthur for Autistic students.

ACPS is swimming in 54 million in covid relief funds, spends over 16K for general ed students, spends close to 32K for special ed student and brags about having the same number of staffers as the city. ACPS is not underfunded.

I will give you that ACPS has been shafted on capital investments i.e. the actual school buildings for decades. That's on the last thirty years of mayors and city councils.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This should probably be moved to a different thread but under IDEA, eligible children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education. School districts are required to place students in the least restrictive environment, which would mean that they attend class along with their peers without disabilities so long as students with an IEP are provided with appropriate aids, supports and services.

Just because a group of students with disabilities have been placed within the same classroom does not necessarily mean that there has been a violation of the IDEA or state law. While it may on the surface appear as if students were categorically placed in a classroom based upon their disabilities, each student's placement is supposed to be a delicate balancing act of trying to figure out what would be the best environment for each student depending upon what is required under each student's IEP.

This is very well stated and exactly correct. There is nothing wrong with grouping students so long as the schools comply with FAPE, IDEA, etc. The students with disabilities are still in mainstream classrooms, but pooling limited school staff and resources can be critical to serving all students properly.

ACPS is exposing itself to liability if they are pooling SN kids without the knowledge and consent of parents. If they have reasons why it is the most appropriate education, they should have that documented. But, we are talking ACPS, so there is no strategy or preparedness and, almost guaranteed, no documentation.

[Anonymous]

I don't think ACPS cares about liability. They don't need to. They know that lawsuits are expensive and time consuming for parents.

They also know that the majority of Alexandria parents will go along with what they dictate and the school board rubber stamps so the threat really isn't that large anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This should probably be moved to a different thread but under IDEA, eligible children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education. School districts are required to place students in the least restrictive environment, which would mean that they attend class along with their peers without disabilities so long as students with an IEP are provided with appropriate aids, supports and services.

Just because a group of students with disabilities have been placed within the same classroom does not necessarily mean that there has been a violation of the IDEA or state law. While it may on the surface appear as if students were categorically placed in a classroom based upon their disabilities, each student's placement is supposed to be a delicate balancing act of trying to figure out what would be the best environment for each student depending upon what is required under each student's IEP.

This is very well stated and exactly correct. There is nothing wrong with grouping students so long as the schools comply with FAPE, IDEA, etc. The students with disabilities are still in mainstream classrooms, but pooling limited school staff and resources can be critical to serving all students properly.

ACPS is exposing itself to liability if they are pooling SN kids without the knowledge and consent of parents. If they have reasons why it is the most appropriate education, they should have that documented. But, we are talking ACPS, so there is no strategy or preparedness and, almost guaranteed, no documentation.

Do they really need to let every family of a special needs student that there are other special needs kids in their mainstream classroom? I’m not so sure about that. It’s still an inclusive classroom.

[Anonymous]

These are general Education classrooms we're taking about. These are not special education designated classrooms. It makes no difference if there are multiple children in these classrooms who have IEPs. All it does is makes it easier for the teachers to schedule. ACPS is not the only school district that does this. It's actually very common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are general Education classrooms we're taking about. These are not special education designated classrooms. It makes no difference if there are multiple children in these classrooms who have IEPs. All it does is makes it easier for the teachers to schedule. ACPS is not the only school district that does this. It's actually very common.

If they are consolidating IEPs into two classes instead throughout the 5 classes for that grade - they are becoming de facto SN classrooms, so it is not mainstreaming. I am a SN mom, but I can see why the parents of a non-SN child who happens to be in the consolidated classroom would, also, be upset.