Leaving Public School -- Write a Letter?

[Anonymous]

OP can you share the name of the school you are going to and met your child’s needs?

Always curious about schools that do a good job attracting SN kids

[Anonymous]

If you need to feel heard, write a letter to the head of Special Ed, and copy the Superintendent.
.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're overwhelmed and can't give you what you want. They won't care at all, because they are stretched thin to address other children's more pressing needs than yours.

I've had my son go through MCPS from K to 12 with an IEP. I've met many parents who complain about not getting what their kids need. That is because there is a hierarchy of need and not everyone gets all their needs met. The ones who complain are always the ones whose kids have the lightest needs.

And, you think this is ok? All kids should get what they need. You have no idea if kids needs are lighest or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're overwhelmed and can't give you what you want. They won't care at all, because they are stretched thin to address other children's more pressing needs than yours.

I've had my son go through MCPS from K to 12 with an IEP. I've met many parents who complain about not getting what their kids need. That is because there is a hierarchy of need and not everyone gets all their needs met. The ones who complain are always the ones whose kids have the lightest needs.

This is not true at all in my experience, but this type of parent blaming is truly unfortunate

signed,
special ed attorney

[Anonymous]

This might be a case of writing the letter (and keeping it for yourself) if that makes you feel better and helps you process and reflect on your disappointments.

[Anonymous]

No good can come from writing a letter. They din't care and are happy to blame the victim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you need to feel heard, write a letter to the head of Special Ed, and copy the Superintendent.
.

I actually have good success with this method when I want to get IDEA or 504 non-compliance fixed - whether it is a Child Find failure, a failure to accommodate, a wrong determination, etc.

The best way to do it is to forward an email exchange about the non-compliance or documentation of the problem, note that the failure to… fill in the blank … is a violation of …. Fill in the blank… and that you are reaching out to the superintendent and ASSE so that they can re-direct the school staff and provide any necessary resources to bring the school back into compliance by doing XYZ by X day/time so that you do not have to pursue “due process”.

I have, more than once, had the super or sped asst super re-direct school staff within 24 hours or less to comply.

The reason why it works is that you are putting on notice (with some evidence) the people who know the school system’s legal obligations and have the power to bring staff into compliance, and you are giving them a chance to correct the non-compliance or you will sue. They don’t know that you won’t sue. They just know that if you do sue, it will look very bad in court that the top 2 people in the school system responsible for legal compliance failed to fix the non-compliance when provided opportunity to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're fed up and leaving MCPS because of their failure to provide accommodations. Is there any point to writing a letter to let them know?

No, bad idea. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't care at all.

Curious what was the accomodation? We had this over a calculator, they absolutely refused with my 5th
percentile math calc child that has ridiculously low rote memory. Actually had a math teacher ask what if he was stranded on a desert island..seriously, can’t make that up.

I mean where do you draw the line? 5th percentile is allowed a calculator but 6th isn’t? My kids are top 1% and we’re told it doesn’t warrant any real extra benefits because someone will be the top and someone will be the bottom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're fed up and leaving MCPS because of their failure to provide accommodations. Is there any point to writing a letter to let them know?

Of course you are liar

[Anonymous]

Good luck in Private.

How many privates actually have accomodations? How many actually follow through? LOL

You will be back

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're overwhelmed and can't give you what you want. They won't care at all, because they are stretched thin to address other children's more pressing needs than yours.

I've had my son go through MCPS from K to 12 with an IEP. I've met many parents who complain about not getting what their kids need. That is because there is a hierarchy of need and not everyone gets all their needs met. The ones who complain are always the ones whose kids have the lightest needs.

This is not true at all in my experience, but this type of parent blaming is truly unfortunate

signed,
special ed attorney

I just want to note that you're seeing the truly egregious situations, and I want to remind you that you might be biased because of the nature of the cases you take on. But on DCUM, and talking to random parents for years (my kid with SN recently graduated), it was clear to me that the majority of whiners were parents of children with very light needs who felt entitled to a lot more services and accommodations that the school could reasonably provide. I've never seen parents of children with significant needs complaining that much: the schools either prioritize their kids, or the combination of need is such that these children cannot be adequately cared for in public school. We were in the former category. My neighbor is in the latter: they received a private placement from the school, which ended up not working out. It was a difficult road, but honestly, when you're in those situations, you have a lot of significant obstacles in your path, and negotiating with the school is not the worse one!

So I stand by what I said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're overwhelmed and can't give you what you want. They won't care at all, because they are stretched thin to address other children's more pressing needs than yours.

I've had my son go through MCPS from K to 12 with an IEP. I've met many parents who complain about not getting what their kids need. That is because there is a hierarchy of need and not everyone gets all their needs met. The ones who complain are always the ones whose kids have the lightest needs.

The ones who fight at the ones whose kids get more services.

PP you replied to. No. We did not have to fight - his needs were self-evident. We did have to pay for 5K neuropsychs (2 of them) and suggest placement ideas for middle school, because his elementary IEP team had no clue. But they set up a ton of services and accommodations for his elementary years, above and beyond what we had asked for.

I have a second child with much lighter needs, and some of them are not accommodated. That's OK. Not everything needs to be full-service. Resources must be preserved for the more severely-impacted children. I know this, and I've lived this. I entirely understand that MCPS and other public schools, prioritize certain cases.

As for writing a letter to a large public school system? Ha. That's like sending your thoughts into a black hole. If you want exposure, you'd do better to get the media involved in some way. Contact WaPo's education desk and have them investigate the consequences of the planned reduction in Special Needs services across the board. At least that would be useful, and involves the well-being of thousands of students. No one cares about just one student.

Oh my word. Pleeeeeease don’t do this, OP. I’ma former teacher and SPED parent. We’re already having trouble keeping SPED teachers. If you chase some out with this witch hunt, nobody is coming after them. I live in Virginia, but a news article about how some kids didn’t get his needs met might still demoralize my kid’s SPED teacher. My kids had behaviors, so no private school in town will take him. We are very dependent on the public schools. Just move away. They know you’re not happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't care at all.

Curious what was the accomodation? We had this over a calculator, they absolutely refused with my 5th
percentile math calc child that has ridiculously low rote memory. Actually had a math teacher ask what if he was stranded on a desert island..seriously, can’t make that up.

I mean where do you draw the line? 5th percentile is allowed a calculator but 6th isn’t? My kids are top 1% and we’re told it doesn’t warrant any real extra benefits because someone will be the top and someone will be the bottom.

I think there is a difference when a kid has an 80th Percentile iq and 5th percentile math calculation score and a diagnosed disability that impairs the ability to retain rote info….. And the incredible thing is we have the ability to provide technology to assist those kids with that type of disability. I have an extremely high percentile kid across the board too and somehow I manage to recognize the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

How many privates actually have accomodations? How many actually follow through? LOL

You will be back

You clearly know nothing about privates, and that's OK. There is a number of schools in the area catering to various levels of SN. There are also some privates that allow a 1:1 aide if family pays for it. Some parents homeschool, so it's also "leaving public school". In all these scenarios "being back" is not a necessity.