Leaving Public School -- Write a Letter?

[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.

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.

You have very limited experience and you're so naive to think the little you know applies to all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

Private schools are obligated under the ADA to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities. As a tutor, I regularly see the top privates accommodate. Also all the catholic schools accommodate. Again , they are legally obligated to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

Private schools are obligated under the ADA to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities. As a tutor, I regularly see the top privates accommodate. Also all the catholic schools accommodate. Again , they are legally obligated to do so.

Private schools can refuse to accommodate. Waldorf-like schools do it all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

Private schools are obligated under the ADA to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities. As a tutor, I regularly see the top privates accommodate. Also all the catholic schools accommodate. Again , they are legally obligated to do so.

Private schools can refuse to accommodate. Waldorf-like schools do it all the time.

They can refuse, but it’s not legal and it could end up being very expensive for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

Private schools are obligated under the ADA to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities. As a tutor, I regularly see the top privates accommodate. Also all the catholic schools accommodate. Again , they are legally obligated to do so.

Private schools can refuse to accommodate. Waldorf-like schools do it all the time.

They don't refuse, they simply counsel kids with moderate and higher SN out. I.e. if they don't have extra staff to provide 1:1 - they say it upfront and don't have to hire one. If a child needs preferential sitting, extra time on assignment or to wear headphones - they usually consider it. Specifically with Waldorf system the issue is that they don't "believe" in special needs, meaning the Waldorf philosophy doesn't (individual teachers and administrators may be fully recognizing existence of SN). They think that Eurythmics, late introduction of academic disciplines and delay in use of technology can help with hyperactivity or inattention. But this is for a different thread topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

Private schools are obligated under the ADA to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities. As a tutor, I regularly see the top privates accommodate. Also all the catholic schools accommodate. Again , they are legally obligated to do so.

Private schools can refuse to accommodate. Waldorf-like schools do it all the time.

They don't refuse, they simply counsel kids with moderate and higher SN out. I.e. if they don't have extra staff to provide 1:1 - they say it upfront and don't have to hire one. If a child needs preferential sitting, extra time on assignment or to wear headphones - they usually consider it. Specifically with Waldorf system the issue is that they don't "believe" in special needs, meaning the Waldorf philosophy doesn't (individual teachers and administrators may be fully recognizing existence of SN). They think that Eurythmics, late introduction of academic disciplines and delay in use of technology can help with hyperactivity or inattention. But this is for a different thread topic.

1:1 support isn't an accommodation, so that's not really relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

NP here. I can think of 15 kids with special needs who left our MCPS cluster schools for private. After several years, only two have returned. It wasn't for of lack of accommodations at the privates, it was because they got the attention they needed, and felt ready to jump back into the larger environment. W school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck in Private.

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

You will be back

Private schools are obligated under the ADA to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities. As a tutor, I regularly see the top privates accommodate. Also all the catholic schools accommodate. Again , they are legally obligated to do so.

Private schools can refuse to accommodate. Waldorf-like schools do it all the time.

They don't refuse, they simply counsel kids with moderate and higher SN out. I.e. if they don't have extra staff to provide 1:1 - they say it upfront and don't have to hire one. If a child needs preferential sitting, extra time on assignment or to wear headphones - they usually consider it. Specifically with Waldorf system the issue is that they don't "believe" in special needs, meaning the Waldorf philosophy doesn't (individual teachers and administrators may be fully recognizing existence of SN). They think that Eurythmics, late introduction of academic disciplines and delay in use of technology can help with hyperactivity or inattention. But this is for a different thread topic.

Waldorf schools will definitely NOT allow headphones (technology) as an accommodation. They provide zero accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

You have very limited experience and you're so naive to think the little you know applies to all.

Right back at you. You have no clue what goes on unless someone brings you a case. Thus, you don't know how the majority of us work it out with our schools.