Moving to DMV for 1st grade next year - where to live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. Thanks for the feedback.

Any other particular schools or specific neighborhoods to consider?

We will both be commuting downtown for work.

No schools advice, but I will suggest you live on the same side of the Potomac River as your workplaces. All of the Potomac River bridges are a mess during morning and evening commute periods.

The only exception might be if both workplaces are directly on Metro and that is the commuting method.

[Anonymous]

Budget? Commute?

What services is your DC likely to need? Do they currently have an IEP or 504? Are they currently in a general education environment or are they in a more restrictive environment? Are they behind or accelerated academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP welcome to the DC area. The standard DCUM advice is for you to tell us your housing budget and where you'll be commuting to before we give you neighborhood advice. There's no DMV school cluster so good for ASD that it would be worth putting up with a long commute.

This x 1000
Montgomery County is a huge county. Honestly, the services are supposed to be the same across the board, but as we all know, it is very principle, teacher, school dependent.


You really should be looking at housing budget, and commute to work because the school issue is basically a crapshoot.


If you want more of a guarantee, you need to choose a specialized private school.

[Anonymous]

Problem with your ask is that the strength of the school depends on the principal and the special Ed staff, none of whom are guaranteed to stay. Asking which schools will likely work for your child a decade from now or even a few years from now is pretty useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will take 6 months to get an iep or longer. Mcps is horrible and going through lots of changes. Bad curriculum.

If OP’s child has an IEP now it will transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Private

GTFO with your reflexive “private” comments.

I mean please, even if you are going to completing ignore the OP’s request for public options, you should name the private that does well with ASD kids. A lot of privates around here don’t even take NT 5 yr olds for K.

Why so hostile? There is probably no recommendation anyone can give that will meet OP's requirements. Certainly not one that I can give, and I have a lot of experience in different school divisions. Even if there was/is a school path with an elementary, middle and high school that is excellent for this profile, things will likely change by high school or even sooner. So my best advice is to also consider private too. The time to consider this is now because OP could live in a cheaper area in order to fund private. It's also the time of year to apply. There is no need for hostility just because you do not agree.

DP - posting the word "private" is not helpful.

I'm hardly an expert on this, but it seems a lot more complicated than this. At a private there is no legal obligation to ensure the child can access the curriculum. Special education is not perfect by any means, but I know many parents who feel the IEP services have been really valuable for their kids. Depending on the type of private, teachers may lack experience working with kids with special needs, and they may simply not admit a child with an ASD diagnosis. The best thing at public for my kid is having teachers with decades of experience and with supporting kids with different needs.

PP here. correct but there are specialized privates that cater to specific disabilty needs. OP could explore those either by asking for school recs or hiring a consultant. or both.

One thing to know about the privates that specialize in serving kids with disabilities is that unless it is a "nonpublic placement" through the IEP process (where the public school system pays for the placement) they still don't face the same legal requirements as a public school to provide FAPE.

I know it sounds like I am super anti private schools and I'm not. I know there are specialized privates in the DC area that many parents have found to be really good fits for their kids with disabilities. I don't have personal experience with them, but OP can search this forum for them if they are interested.

However, OP asked about public schools, and for many kids with disabilities public can be the best option for some or all of their k-12 education and certainly worth trying if they are coming from another public school. There is no need to fearmonger about rushing to put in an application for
private in less than a month which is unrealistic as they'd often expect to meet with you and your kid first. Many do rolling admissions anyway.

why discount advice other than yours - which you admit you have no experience with - as fearmongering?

Lady I am not discounting other people's posts. Just yours because the notion that OP should frantically apply to private schools in the next 3 weeks is preposterous.

Read the posts. At least two others have the same advice as me. No need to be so nasty just cuz you disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP welcome to the DC area. The standard DCUM advice is for you to tell us your housing budget and where you'll be commuting to before we give you neighborhood advice. There's no DMV school cluster so good for ASD that it would be worth putting up with a long commute.

This x 1000
Montgomery County is a huge county. Honestly, the services are supposed to be the same across the board, but as we all know, it is very principle, teacher, school dependent.


You really should be looking at housing budget, and commute to work because the school issue is basically a crapshoot.


If you want more of a guarantee, you need to choose a specialized private school.

If you talk to people who have paid to send their kids to a specialized private, you'd know there are zero "guarantees".