Are we crazy to move from NYC to DC Metro for Pre-k w/ IEP?

[Anonymous]

VA has terrible services at least in FCPS. They do have some nice private schools. There are about five of them in the NOVA area.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's a terrible idea. Dcps is imperfect but you can have preK for a couple years and decide from there what makes sense. You have missed the lottery so if you are planning to enroll a kid in the fall the options may be limited, but you can rent near where you are placed. MD has a lot of things going for it, but one point toward DC is that Medicaid waivers have shorter waitlists here.

[Anonymous]

I would move or not move based on where you want to live. 1 million+ things are going to happen with your kid in the next ten years. I would not consider services in my decision. Schools, providers, staff, school philosophy and your child will all change so much in the next decade.

[Anonymous]

Do not move here. People need to stop glorifying MCPS. Stay where your family and friends are. Find good private therapy providers for your child where you currently live. Do not rely on school provided services as they are not comparable to private therapies. Somewhere around 12 or so, you'll cut back on all of the frequent services, and realize you wasted a lot of time and money when you could have spent it on other more important things.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the responses, and wow, the reviews are really mixed.

We were looking at renting inbound somewhere for DCPS (Foggy Bottom/West End/Glover Park) for Prek 3&4 so we have the flexibility to either move back to NY or find a more permanent home after 2 years, once we've had a chance to actually live in the area for a while (our mistake when moving to Westchester county was not renting first).

I'm ok to do private pre-k too, if the public school option turns out to be terrible, but we figured we'd give Early Stages a try. Our experience with the NY counterpart has been ok (they provide services, but only 1hr/week, which is far less than what our child probably needs now, especially speech).

After speaking with Early Stages, it sounds like they would do an IEP transfer with preference for whatever our inbound school would be, provided that school can meet the IEP requirements. The difference is our current program in Westchester the services must be provided by our local school, but as they don't offer pre-k, it is done at a private center, preschool or home depending on the recommendations made after evaluations.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but MCPS sounds similar to what we are working with now (?) with perhaps more funding due to being a much larger district. I'm not sure whether that translates into more/better services or outcomes, just my impression. Here, most people want to opt for the public schools due to the property taxes, being viewed as similar in quality to private. Whether or not that is actually true, I can't say.

From a lifestyle perspective, we're looking to simplify (smaller home, walkable neighborhood, access to community resources and events). We have no family here and it's difficult to make friends, people just live kind of isolated in their homes and shuttle their kids around to expensive activities when not in school. I don't want to get into that rat race (as much as possible).

[Anonymous]

Why here? Go to Boston instead.

[Anonymous]

You would have to do the lottery for prek 3 & 4 regardless of where you live. It is very competitive and no guarantee you will get a place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the responses, and wow, the reviews are really mixed.

We were looking at renting inbound somewhere for DCPS (Foggy Bottom/West End/Glover Park) for Prek 3&4 so we have the flexibility to either move back to NY or find a more permanent home after 2 years, once we've had a chance to actually live in the area for a while (our mistake when moving to Westchester county was not renting first).

I'm ok to do private pre-k too, if the public school option turns out to be terrible, but we figured we'd give Early Stages a try. Our experience with the NY counterpart has been ok (they provide services, but only 1hr/week, which is far less than what our child probably needs now, especially speech).

After speaking with Early Stages, it sounds like they would do an IEP transfer with preference for whatever our inbound school would be, provided that school can meet the IEP requirements. The difference is our current program in Westchester the services must be provided by our local school, but as they don't offer pre-k, it is done at a private center, preschool or home depending on the recommendations made after evaluations.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but MCPS sounds similar to what we are working with now (?) with perhaps more funding due to being a much larger district. I'm not sure whether that translates into more/better services or outcomes, just my impression. Here, most people want to opt for the public schools due to the property taxes, being viewed as similar in quality to private. Whether or not that is actually true, I can't say.

From a lifestyle perspective, we're looking to simplify (smaller home, walkable neighborhood, access to community resources and events). We have no family here and it's difficult to make friends, people just live kind of isolated in their homes and shuttle their kids around to expensive activities when not in school. I don't want to get into that rat race (as much as possible).

The difference in Montgomery County is if your DC is eligible for a comprehensive Preschool Education Program (PEP), they will be placed in a PEP classroom in a public school. It may not be your local school and it's usually not a full day, but they provide transportation between your child care program and the PEP program. For kids that are not eligible for the full PEP program they provide itinerant services that go to a private program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long story short, our family is getting overwhelmed.
We are aging out of NY Early Intervention (birth to 3) and now transitioning to CPSE.
Our soon to be 3 year old child receives 1hr speech, 1hr OT, 1hr PT, 1hr special instruction between home and his preschool and has been diagnosed with a DD, which affects language and motor skills (gross and fine).
Language skills are slowly increasing, but are still limited to labeling a few objects, no receptive language as of yet. No behavioral issues observed so far, apart from frustration when it comes to communication.

Our child is receiving the services via an IFSP, but we'll have our IEP meeting later in June. We've already done most of the evaluations.
From the evaluator's feedback, it's likely they'll recommend more intensive instruction in some kind of a classroom setting. We're still on the waitlist for an ASD evaluation per the Dr's recommendation; it may take a year to get it.
Meanwhile we are supposed to get on all the waitlists for the private special education programs, some of which run upwards of 60-100k, which isn't even an option for us anyway.
Since NY metro doesn't have UPK, we have to wrangle with the school district to cover the costs at one of the more affordable programs, which may or may not be available, likely more waitlists followed by in-home services for however long it takes to get off of one.

We're leasing our home in August, and have the option to move to the DC metro to be closer to both our jobs, which are based there.
I'm unfamiliar with Early Stages and the DCPS in general for pre-k, but am I making a huge mistake? Our plan would be to rent for 1-2 years until we get a better idea for the area and then make a decision.

We have multiple sets of friends that have had to sue NY dept of ed annually for services. It sounds like a horrible situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why here? Go to Boston instead.

Good question.

[Anonymous]

I would not move for services alone. Arlington VA has some preK programs, but there is nowhere that has a magic cheap comprehensive one-on-one full service program. Anything that is decent is way oversubscribed. I’m Arlington, many of the programs also give preference to low income families which I highly doubt you are by their standards. You would do better looking around the NY suburbs in wealthy towns to see what the local district can do, as each district is locally funded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You would have to do the lottery for prek 3 & 4 regardless of where you live. It is very competitive and no guarantee you will get a place.

I thought the same thing, but after speaking to the Early Stages, it's a different process for placement. Still not a guarantee but not the same process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why here? Go to Boston instead.

Our jobs are based out of the DC Metro, not Boston.

[Anonymous]

Early Stages is a hot mess and placements are often times not at all appropriate. I would stay as far away from DCPS as you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my sibling is severely disabled and we grew up and still live in Montgomery county, MD. The special Ed services have been absolutely incredible here; K-12+ of one on one care, PT, speech therapy, etc all arranged by public school systems, all free. Services even included daily pick up and drop off from our home. I would highly recommend you look here, though I don’t know if pre-k is available. Certainly starting with K it’s been absolutely invaluable.

How long ago was your experience?

Sibling is still in MCPS and has a few years left because they allow certain of the special ed kids to stay until 21.