Whistleblower for dcps sped?

[Anonymous]

I have heard that under Betsy Devoss that the department of education OCR is not investigating complaints like they used to. So I wonder if it might be more impactful to wait for a change in administration and tip off parents in the meantime.

Has anyone ever considered trying to certify special ed cases as a class?

[Anonymous]

OCR always struggles under administrations not especially sympathetic to the cause. But believe me, the career attorneys and other career OCR staff definitely are committed to their work in civil rights enforcement. OP you won’t know until you call/email or file a complaint. All of the options are available via the links I’ve posted.
- Former OCR attorney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OCR always struggles under administrations not especially sympathetic to the cause. But believe me, the career attorneys and other career OCR staff definitely are committed to their work in civil rights enforcement. OP you won’t know until you call/email or file a complaint. All of the options are available via the links I’ve posted.
- Former OCR attorney

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not be surprised if it is Janney - the SPED coordinator is a nightmare to deal with.

I always thought the teachers who interacted with my child did have the best interest of my child in mind - BUT I do not believe the IEP is being implemented per federal law.

For example - I do not believe Federal Law States that - if teachers are needed to proctor PARCC exams, services for children not taking PARCC can be truncated. There is always some story.

Oh, yes. We've heard all the excuses, too, but only after confronting them about missed services. They've never let us know when they've missed services due to the numerous meetings they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not be surprised if it is Janney - the SPED coordinator is a nightmare to deal with.

I always thought the teachers who interacted with my child did have the best interest of my child in mind - BUT I do not believe the IEP is being implemented per federal law.

For example - I do not believe Federal Law States that - if teachers are needed to proctor PARCC exams, services for children not taking PARCC can be truncated. There is always some story.

Oh, yes. We've heard all the excuses, too, but only after confronting them about missed services. They've never let us know when they've missed services due to the numerous meetings they attend.

Services can be delivered on a different day - so long as total hours are reached. Special instruction or related services do not need to be made up if they are missed because the school is closed. And if the child's entire class is doing something like an assembly or a field trip that happens when instruction or a related service is usually provided it needn't be made up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a dcps sped teacher. My school (one that gets lots of love on this board) is violating federal law when it comes to students with special needs. I have brought this to the attention of school admin several times.
Where do I go to report? Ombudsman is for parents & families.
I understand that I will very likely lose my job once I report. I just can’t be a part of this anymore.

If it is the school I think it is, they have been doing that for years and need exposing. Others have reported it and once a person from elsewhere was sent to clean up the mess, they left. So downtown are also complicate. Send the information to the media and let the chips fly...the kids deserve it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a dcps sped teacher. My school (one that gets lots of love on this board) is violating federal law when it comes to students with special needs. I have brought this to the attention of school admin several times.
Where do I go to report? Ombudsman is for parents & families.
I understand that I will very likely lose my job once I report. I just can’t be a part of this anymore.

If it is the school I think it is, they have been doing that for years and need exposing. Others have reported it and once a person from elsewhere was sent to clean up the mess, they left. So downtown are also complicate. Send the information to the media and let the chips fly...the kids deserve it!

You mean those kids who one to many English classes? Those ones whose schedule says one thing but they are in a small class, it is not resource it is English. Do you mean that school? You are likely to get a better response from the media if it is a "big name" school, there are so many SpEd issues at DCPS they don't seem to care. It needs to be made public, trust the parents and public will fight the case once they are aware of the information ...

[Anonymous]

Can you please name the school?

[Anonymous]

As a mother of a child in PK3 with an IEP, please take the advice of posters that provided you with information. Thankful that I stumbled upon this thread, I will be sure to not have full confidence in staff to do what the IEP states and question the services they are providing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a mother of a child in PK3 with an IEP, please take the advice of posters that provided you with information. Thankful that I stumbled upon this thread, I will be sure to not have full confidence in staff to do what the IEP states and question the services they are providing.

question the availability of the staff to do what they are obligated to do. One of the problems @ core is that dc doesn’t staff resource teachers by hours- but by caseload. I currently have 15 kids- each with an average 4 hours inside the classroom per day @ outside hours. Do the math- it’s just not possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a mother of a child in PK3 with an IEP, please take the advice of posters that provided you with information. Thankful that I stumbled upon this thread, I will be sure to not have full confidence in staff to do what the IEP states and question the services they are providing.

question the availability of the staff to do what they are obligated to do. One of the problems @ core is that dc doesn’t staff resource teachers by hours- but by caseload. I currently have 15 kids- each with an average 4 hours inside the classroom per day @ outside hours. Do the math- it’s just not possible.

This right here is 100% the problem. It’s not the teachers not doing their jobs. It’s the lack of staffing. DCPS knows this and doesn’t care. Every PD teacher bring up this problem. It’s the central problem throughout the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can file a complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. They are the office that enforces all civil rights laws in federally funded education programs. They deal with issues like this all of the time. They will open an investigation. You can file a third party complaint. No standing necessary.

+1.

This is their job.

[Anonymous]

So what type of reporting of service hours should parents expect? When I’ve asked, I get the fluid, it varies by day every week.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher I’ve also been told DCPS has modified the rules so hours can be done by the classroom teacher if they meet with the child in small groups. So basically you get nothing extra. It’s all about staffing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher I’ve also been told DCPS has modified the rules so hours can be done by the classroom teacher if they meet with the child in small groups. So basically you get nothing extra. It’s all about staffing.

I dare you to get them to put that garbage in writing. They won’t.