FCPS elementary lack of SpEd staffing = not following DS' IEP

[Anonymous]

So then state education departments should sue the federal government…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d hire a lawyer immediately, you’re dealing with the school breaking federal law.

What will the lawyer do, clone or assemble a new special ed teacher out of spare molecules? Make the remaining staff feel horrible and attacked and chew up hours prepping for and sitting in your IEP meetings so they burn out faster and other kids miss all their services too? What is the actual, real-world solution that a lawyer will provide that's worth the financial outlay?

The current situation is unsustainable. The feds and the state education departments tell school systems they must provide all these entitlements, give 30% of the funding necessary to do so, and then expect it to work by magic. I genuinely don't get it. It's not working for our kids and it's not working for the teachers.

I don’t get it either but the reality is you’re dealing with federal law and you have to work within that system. That’s how changes are made. I’ve worked with a lot of families, some hired the lawyer some didn’t. Many waited and hired a lawyer later but I often heard I wish I’d started with a lawyer. This has proved especially true when the school system messes something up.

I don’t think of it as oh let’s stick it to the teachers and school nor do I think it’s just this school system. What I’ve learned is when enough parents start complaining about how things aren’t being done correctly then the schools start changing the system. Why do you think certain areas have better SN programs than others? It’s because of parents complaining when things like this happen. I’ve watched it happen in real time several times over. Usually this doesn’t mean hiring new teachers, usually it means building a SN school that can address multiple families concerns, adding EI services within the school, contracting with other companies to provide services within the school, etc.

The issue is that a regular complaint to the principal or teacher will get you nothing. Multiple complaints via different lawyers / families properly documented with proof that schools aren’t properly staffed or available and aren’t meeting their obligations then you start seeing change. If you can’t afford a lawyer at least find a free advocate. This just isn’t a fight you want to start on your own imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So then state education departments should sue the federal government…

State education departments are populated by clueless bureaucrats who have all kinds of theories about how things should work on paper or based on the latest fad they read in a newsletter or what a consultant told them. As far as actually doing the work on the ground? Nope. MSDE is the king of glomming on to pointless paperwork nitpicks that have no practical benefit for students and merely drive staff mad and reinforce their cluelessness (e.g. "omg your goal objective didn't write 'by MM/YYYY' in the text, never mind that it's stated elsewhere on the page, you must fix all of this immediately, look at us, we're so conscientious with our audit while your building is burning down").

Actually, they're very similar to MCPS central office, come to think about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So then state education departments should sue the federal government…

State education departments are populated by clueless bureaucrats who have all kinds of theories about how things should work on paper or based on the latest fad they read in a newsletter or what a consultant told them. As far as actually doing the work on the ground? Nope. MSDE is the king of glomming on to pointless paperwork nitpicks that have no practical benefit for students and merely drive staff mad and reinforce their cluelessness (e.g. "omg your goal objective didn't write 'by MM/YYYY' in the text, never mind that it's stated elsewhere on the page, you must fix all of this immediately, look at us, we're so conscientious with our audit while your building is burning down").

Actually, they're very similar to MCPS central office, come to think about it.

[Anonymous]

I’m very sorry about this. The school should have told you, but of course the teachers didn’t, because the principal would have yelled at them for doing so. You need to file a state complaint immediately. You also need to contact your region superintendent and the director of special education, Michelle Boyd, about this. Cc the principal. You can get their emails by putting first name, dot, last name @fcps.edu for any staff member. You need to ask for money to pay for a summer tutor who is licensed in special education.

This is happening everywhere in the county. If you have a child who should be receiving services in pull-out form, you should find out what the schedule is, and ask your child if they are happening. I can guarantee they aren’t during testing season. Push-in services aren’t happening now with testing either, because so many people ate pulled to help with testing.

Parents need to use their collective power to push back against so much testing, demand accountability for special ed services, insist that the government fully fund special education, and lobby for more behavioral support for struggling students so that special education teachers can teach and behavioral supports can be provided by other staff who are trained for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m very sorry about this. The school should have told you, but of course the teachers didn’t, because the principal would have yelled at them for doing so. You need to file a state complaint immediately. You also need to contact your region superintendent and the director of special education, Michelle Boyd, about this. Cc the principal. You can get their emails by putting first name, dot, last name @fcps.edu for any staff member. You need to ask for money to pay for a summer tutor who is licensed in special education.

This is happening everywhere in the county. If you have a child who should be receiving services in pull-out form, you should find out what the schedule is, and ask your child if they are happening. I can guarantee they aren’t during testing season. Push-in services aren’t happening now with testing either, because so many people ate pulled to help with testing.

Parents need to use their collective power to push back against so much testing, demand accountability for special ed services, insist that the government fully fund special education, and lobby for more behavioral support for struggling students so that special education teachers can teach and behavioral supports can be provided by other staff who are trained for that.

It's so much more than this....it's that some SPED teachers are spread across multiple grade levels and barely getting prep time as it is. IT's too much and everyone is stretched thin. No amount of complaints will change this....no one wants to teach SPED anymore-it's miserable.

[Anonymous]

If FCPS offered $10K pay bump for special Ed teachers for say 1,000 special education teachers, it would be $10million. Still less than they are paying in lawyer fees and lawsuit settlements each year.
The teachers would be happy and they might be more willing to do the difficult job, so more people going into it.
Or, the $10million could be 500 special Ed teachers get the 10K pay bump per year and 500 long term aids get an extra $12.50/hr (so $32.50 if the $20/hr pay indicated is correct).
More money would help in finding people.

[Anonymous]

I’m a sped teacher and we know the problem. But when parents come in personally attacking us —-it’s hard. I am not out to fail your child or not meeting the hours because I’m having a nap. I wish angry parents would focus their anger on people who can do something about the problem. I’m already giving up my planning and my lunch. I don’t have any other time to give.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So then state education departments should sue the federal government…

For what? There are all sorts of unfunded mandates from the federal government, SPED is just one of many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a sped teacher and we know the problem. But when parents come in personally attacking us —-it’s hard. I am not out to fail your child or not meeting the hours because I’m having a nap. I wish angry parents would focus their anger on people who can do something about the problem. I’m already giving up my planning and my lunch. I don’t have any other time to give.

+1 and I get why you would want a lawyer to help settle this but lawyers aren't able to clone people. If you start with legal steps at a school level it just means that the SPED teacher who works with your child will lose more time to meetings with you and the legal team, meetings with admin prepping for the meeting, prepping materials for the additional meetings etc...

Your intentions are good and I totally get it, but it's sadly not going to help your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a sped teacher and we know the problem. But when parents come in personally attacking us —-it’s hard. I am not out to fail your child or not meeting the hours because I’m having a nap. I wish angry parents would focus their anger on people who can do something about the problem. I’m already giving up my planning and my lunch. I don’t have any other time to give.

+1 and I get why you would want a lawyer to help settle this but lawyers aren't able to clone people. If you start with legal steps at a school level it just means that the SPED teacher who works with your child will lose more time to meetings with you and the legal team, meetings with admin prepping for the meeting, prepping materials for the additional meetings etc...

Your intentions are good and I totally get it, but it's sadly not going to help your child.

Lawyering up means that you become the squeaky wheel who gets what they want. When there aren't enough hours or dollars, and the law is clear and clearly being broken by the school, those able and willing to sue will get the resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a sped teacher and we know the problem. But when parents come in personally attacking us —-it’s hard. I am not out to fail your child or not meeting the hours because I’m having a nap. I wish angry parents would focus their anger on people who can do something about the problem. I’m already giving up my planning and my lunch. I don’t have any other time to give.

+1 and I get why you would want a lawyer to help settle this but lawyers aren't able to clone people. If you start with legal steps at a school level it just means that the SPED teacher who works with your child will lose more time to meetings with you and the legal team, meetings with admin prepping for the meeting, prepping materials for the additional meetings etc...

Your intentions are good and I totally get it, but it's sadly not going to help your child.

Exactly... there are ways to advocate for change but bringing a lawyer into this situation will not result in better services for your child and will certainly take away more time from other students as well. And for the PP who said this is the reason some districts have better SPED services... that is definitely not why.

[Anonymous]

OP, ask them for Compensatory Education which is $$ you can use for a tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m very sorry about this. The school should have told you, but of course the teachers didn’t, because the principal would have yelled at them for doing so. You need to file a state complaint immediately. You also need to contact your region superintendent and the director of special education, Michelle Boyd, about this. Cc the principal. You can get their emails by putting first name, dot, last name @fcps.edu for any staff member. You need to ask for money to pay for a summer tutor who is licensed in special education.

This is happening everywhere in the county. If you have a child who should be receiving services in pull-out form, you should find out what the schedule is, and ask your child if they are happening. I can guarantee they aren’t during testing season. Push-in services aren’t happening now with testing either, because so many people ate pulled to help with testing.

Parents need to use their collective power to push back against so much testing, demand accountability for special ed services, insist that the government fully fund special education, and lobby for more behavioral support for struggling students so that special education teachers can teach and behavioral supports can be provided by other staff who are trained for that.

FYI, participation in state mandated testing is considered an absence from a session and they are not made up. Services cannot conceivably occur during that time since no students are receiving instruction during this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If FCPS offered $10K pay bump for special Ed teachers for say 1,000 special education teachers, it would be $10million. Still less than they are paying in lawyer fees and lawsuit settlements each year.
The teachers would be happy and they might be more willing to do the difficult job, so more people going into it.
Or, the $10million could be 500 special Ed teachers get the 10K pay bump per year and 500 long term aids get an extra $12.50/hr (so $32.50 if the $20/hr pay indicated is correct).
More money would help in finding people.

I’m a parent of a child with an IEP but also a teacher. I am currently certified in special education and general ed, teaching general ed. I would not switch back to special ed for an extra 10k. They are stretched too thin, there are unrealistic demands and our special ed teachers are getting it from both ends. Admin and parents. I don’t have a good solution. It’s a terrible mess. We are currently looking into private schools for my child but I’m not sure they will be better either. It’s discouraging.