Private placement, DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They do have to be severely disabled. If you are in a school with only other children with disabilities that is a step above self contained. If dcps cannot meet your kid’s needs your kids is severely disabled or you are gaming the system, which FYI federal law doesn’t protect but parents with money and tired sped teams let them get away with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

It's a gamble, of course, because if you lose you're on the hook for tuition. But if you are going to pull your child from DCPS regardless, it's good advice. It's much easier to prove that a school *is* an appropriate placement in which your child *is* making progress than to prove that it *will be* an appropriate placement. Of course, this assumes that the school you're considering is a special ed school -- this isn't a way to get reimbursed for Sidwell. There are also specific requirements for how and when you have to give the district notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

It's a gamble, of course, because if you lose you're on the hook for tuition. But if you are going to pull your child from DCPS regardless, it's good advice. It's much easier to prove that a school *is* an appropriate placement in which your child *is* making progress than to prove that it *will be* an appropriate placement. Of course, this assumes that the school you're considering is a special ed school -- this isn't a way to get reimbursed for Sidwell. There are also specific requirements for how and when you have to give the district notice.

Lol, okay. Poll - if this tactic worked for you, tell us about it. Otherwise, there's a lot of good info in here from people who have actually BTDT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

It's a gamble, of course, because if you lose you're on the hook for tuition. But if you are going to pull your child from DCPS regardless, it's good advice. It's much easier to prove that a school *is* an appropriate placement in which your child *is* making progress than to prove that it *will be* an appropriate placement. Of course, this assumes that the school you're considering is a special ed school -- this isn't a way to get reimbursed for Sidwell. There are also specific requirements for how and when you have to give the district notice.

Lol, okay. Poll - if this tactic worked for you, tell us about it. Otherwise, there's a lot of good info in here from people who have actually BTDT.

Of the half dozen people I know who successfully sued for private placement, all did unilateral placement first.

[Anonymous]

Most of the advice from people above seems to be from people who have not gone through this or is out of date. What used to happen in DC is not current. The current DCPS approach is to fight most private placement cases - except some more significant cases, especially if you’re looking for placement at one of their approved placement schools like Chelsea.

In the past, they often paid for placements at Lab. Most people would move their kid to Lab (if accepted) and then show FAPE wasn’t being met at DCPS and DCPS would often just settle. Which is the typical way to go.
Now they contest it heavily until you get far in the process which includes going through rounds of IEP meetings and arguments with DCPS - and then they may offer a settlement for some portion but not near full pay. In more and more cases they will go to hearing (which means they believe they can win it). Consider how much you may pay the attorneys and consultants and school to get to this point - and it takes a lot of time and effort.
Labs newish head of school has taken an approach of not really helping or supporting families or trying to make any real in roads with DCPS to do things the school used to do to - and seems completely fine with giving up getting lots of DCPS placed kids vs getting more families who are “fine” with full pay. For instance, they stopped doing school based IEPs at the school and other things that are complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

We did unilateral private placement and won. The challenge is that you need to prove year after year that DCPS messed up.
It is not for the faint of heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

It's a gamble, of course, because if you lose you're on the hook for tuition. But if you are going to pull your child from DCPS regardless, it's good advice. It's much easier to prove that a school *is* an appropriate placement in which your child *is* making progress than to prove that it *will be* an appropriate placement. Of course, this assumes that the school you're considering is a special ed school -- this isn't a way to get reimbursed for Sidwell. There are also specific requirements for how and when you have to give the district notice.

Lol, okay. Poll - if this tactic worked for you, tell us about it. Otherwise, there's a lot of good info in here from people who have actually BTDT.

Of the half dozen people I know who successfully sued for private placement, all did unilateral placement first.

Then when DCPS come back and writes a better IEP, you’ll lose it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the advice from people above seems to be from people who have not gone through this or is out of date. What used to happen in DC is not current. The current DCPS approach is to fight most private placement cases - except some more significant cases, especially if you’re looking for placement at one of their approved placement schools like Chelsea.

In the past, they often paid for placements at Lab. Most people would move their kid to Lab (if accepted) and then show FAPE wasn’t being met at DCPS and DCPS would often just settle. Which is the typical way to go.
Now they contest it heavily until you get far in the process which includes going through rounds of IEP meetings and arguments with DCPS - and then they may offer a settlement for some portion but not near full pay. In more and more cases they will go to hearing (which means they believe they can win it). Consider how much you may pay the attorneys and consultants and school to get to this point - and it takes a lot of time and effort.
Labs newish head of school has taken an approach of not really helping or supporting families or trying to make any real in roads with DCPS to do things the school used to do to - and seems completely fine with giving up getting lots of DCPS placed kids vs getting more families who are “fine” with full pay. For instance, they stopped doing school based IEPs at the school and other things that are complicated.

This makes sense. Unless the school keeps f’in up (possible of course) it’s hard to picture a kid who can be accepted to LAB who cannot be served with a DCPS IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the advice from people above seems to be from people who have not gone through this or is out of date. What used to happen in DC is not current. The current DCPS approach is to fight most private placement cases - except some more significant cases, especially if you’re looking for placement at one of their approved placement schools like Chelsea.

In the past, they often paid for placements at Lab. Most people would move their kid to Lab (if accepted) and then show FAPE wasn’t being met at DCPS and DCPS would often just settle. Which is the typical way to go.
Now they contest it heavily until you get far in the process which includes going through rounds of IEP meetings and arguments with DCPS - and then they may offer a settlement for some portion but not near full pay. In more and more cases they will go to hearing (which means they believe they can win it). Consider how much you may pay the attorneys and consultants and school to get to this point - and it takes a lot of time and effort.
Labs newish head of school has taken an approach of not really helping or supporting families or trying to make any real in roads with DCPS to do things the school used to do to - and seems completely fine with giving up getting lots of DCPS placed kids vs getting more families who are “fine” with full pay. For instance, they stopped doing school based IEPs at the school and other things that are complicated.

This makes sense. Unless the school keeps f’in up (possible of course) it’s hard to picture a kid who can be accepted to LAB who cannot be served with a DCPS IEP.

That's the wrong take away -- DCPS poorly serves the kids and doesn't meet the needs, but then they won't support private placement or anything that comes close to helping many kids - and you are just screwed and left with no good options to help your kid get an education if they 'learn differently' other than paying a huge amount for a school that does provide supports or paying a ton in private tutoring.

They offered to put my kid with dyslexia in a small class setting with kids with a range of different types of disabilities and teacher without any training in O-G or reading methods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

We did unilateral private placement and won. The challenge is that you need to prove year after year that DCPS messed up.
It is not for the faint of heart.

Ditto. We did unilateral placement and won vs DCPS too. And, to PP, my kid isn't "severely disabled" whatever that even means. But they had refused to identify my kid as needing an IEP at all, which was ludicrous even by the results of their own testing, so they lost.

It's not that they just cave, it's that it's a lower burden of proof than convincing them to place the kid outright.

[Anonymous]

PP here. And my advice to you (someone told me this and it helped immensely) -- get an excel spreadsheet and document EVERYTHING. I documented every in person conversation, phone call, email, etc. "Contemporaneous notes" were used in my DOE Civil Rights case, which we won. DCPS admitted verbally that they removed my child from Spanish immersion due to her disability.

But then I followed up EVERY in person conversation/phone call wiht an email so it would be documented. "As we discussed today at dismissal," or "per our phone conversation" ... Then when they denied it they didn't have a leg to stand on because no one ever replied to my emails saying I was mistaken or I had misunderstood or anything. This helped w/ the Due Process piece. (we had due process on top of a DOE civil rights claim, it was a doozy)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

We did unilateral private placement and won. The challenge is that you need to prove year after year that DCPS messed up.
It is not for the faint of heart.

Ditto. We did unilateral placement and won vs DCPS too. And, to PP, my kid isn't "severely disabled" whatever that even means. But they had refused to identify my kid as needing an IEP at all, which was ludicrous even by the results of their own testing, so they lost.


It's not that they just cave, it's that it's a lower burden of proof than convincing them to place the kid outright.

Maybe in the past white privilege was enough but now your child will have to at least be in self-contained. Or your lawyer is excellent and your child is severely disabled. Severely disabled means your child’s needs are so high they cannot be served in a public setting, private full sped is considered one of the most restrictive environments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

We did unilateral private placement and won. The challenge is that you need to prove year after year that DCPS messed up.
It is not for the faint of heart.

Ditto. We did unilateral placement and won vs DCPS too. And, to PP, my kid isn't "severely disabled" whatever that even means. But they had refused to identify my kid as needing an IEP at all, which was ludicrous even by the results of their own testing, so they lost.


It's not that they just cave, it's that it's a lower burden of proof than convincing them to place the kid outright.

Maybe in the past white privilege was enough but now your child will have to at least be in self-contained. Or your lawyer is excellent and your child is severely disabled. Severely disabled means your child’s needs are so high they cannot be served in a public setting, private full sped is considered one of the most restrictive environments.

Yes, that's the literal definition of who gets funded. That is *the* issue that is litigated at due process. So you aren't really saying anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is abysmal advice. There is no guarantee of getting into the school you want and if you think DCPS will agree to pay for your private school tuition just because you're already enrolled, I have beachfront property in Kansas that you might be interested in. This is the kind of stuff attorneys were telling their clients a decade ago.

We did unilateral private placement and won. The challenge is that you need to prove year after year that DCPS messed up.
It is not for the faint of heart.

Ditto. We did unilateral placement and won vs DCPS too. And, to PP, my kid isn't "severely disabled" whatever that even means. But they had refused to identify my kid as needing an IEP at all, which was ludicrous even by the results of their own testing, so they lost.


It's not that they just cave, it's that it's a lower burden of proof than convincing them to place the kid outright.

Maybe in the past white privilege was enough but now your child will have to at least be in self-contained. Or your lawyer is excellent and your child is severely disabled. Severely disabled means your child’s needs are so high they cannot be served in a public setting, private full sped is considered one of the most restrictive environments.

It’s not really race privilege in DCPS, it’s economic privilege. That’s who gets the private placement, the people who can pay for it. Who have the time and money to get an advocate to stay on the IEP team members and wear them down.