Who ultimately makes the COSA decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principals get a lot of say in anything at their schools. Most of the time it's convenient for them to claim it's out of their hands but it rarely ever is...

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principals get a lot of say in anything at their schools. Most of the time it's convenient for them to claim it's out of their hands but it rarely ever is...

This is exactly right.

[Anonymous]

I can assure you principals do not have a say. I am school based and we have had several cases where my admin wanted to rescind a COSA for behaviors and was told no due to the behavior not being egregious enough. My admin also told me she had no idea who was on a COSA or who was applying for one unless it happened to be divulged to her or she happened to look in their file. This was very recent as of this year and last

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it odd to hear that principals have no say in the matter. We applied for (and received, after an appeal) a COSA a few years ago, and during our appeal process, the investigator suggested a different school--my guess is that one was underenrolled, but it was very close to the requested one--and said that she spoke with the principal of the different school who said he would happily agree to the COSA. Maybe she was just trying to get us to change our minds, who knows.

+1. We also worked with a principal closely in the COSA process. Maybe central office has to approve all COSA's, but, a principal can "advocate" for a placement at their own school? Like much in MCPS, it is a less than transparent process that seems to have different rules for different people.

Yes the central office staff member mentioned the receiving principal 's support for the COSA as a factor for getting it approved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principals get a lot of say in anything at their schools. Most of the time it's convenient for them to claim it's out of their hands but it rarely ever is...

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can assure you principals do not have a say. I am school based and we have had several cases where my admin wanted to rescind a COSA for behaviors and was told no due to the behavior not being egregious enough. My admin also told me she had no idea who was on a COSA or who was applying for one unless it happened to be divulged to her or she happened to look in their file. This was very recent as of this year and last

Big difference between rescinding a COSA and advocating for/against one to be approved. The point of the COSA is that it would cause undue hardship on the family. Behavior doesn't really factor into that--a badly behaved student's family is still facing that undue hardship if their COSA is rescinded. You can argue "so what?" but that's an issue that would be considered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can assure you principals do not have a say. I am school based and we have had several cases where my admin wanted to rescind a COSA for behaviors and was told no due to the behavior not being egregious enough. My admin also told me she had no idea who was on a COSA or who was applying for one unless it happened to be divulged to her or she happened to look in their file. This was very recent as of this year and last

The COSA form LITERALLY requires the home principal to sign off on it.

They may not have much of a "say" (though, in reality, they do), but they 100% are aware of who is applying for one. The form has to cross their desk before its even considered.