Have you ever disagreed with the rest of the IEP team over school or class placement?

[Anonymous]

To all my fellow mother and dads of SN kids who are willing to keep fighting -

I salute you. Life is hard enough dealing with the daily needs of our children. I never thought when my daughter was in preschool and missing developmental mild stones one after another that I would have to fight MCPS for a basic education for my daughter. Instead of being helpful, they have stigmatized her, lumped her into inappropriate settings, dismantled her self esteem and self worth and then say that's the best we have to offer. I have had to pay for private services to dismantle some of the damage but she will carry some of the scars for the rest of her life. I have hired attorneys to continue the fight even though the damage is done in hopes that other children won't suffer what my child has at the hands of people who call themselves educators.

MCPS doesn't care they violate the law or if they even questionable practices are being used by staff working with the school's most vulnerable kids. MCPS only cares about covering their asses and keeping parents with legitimate issues silent through coercion and confidentiality clauses. I pray for the day both the State Board of Education and the Montgomery County Board of Education investigates common practices by the Office of Special Education, school administrators, school psychologists, school administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, counselors, and any other staff that routinely is involved in Special Education matters. Our horror stories are common placed in Montgomery County but they are also replicated throughout the State of Maryland. More should be done to protect the safety, well being, and education of Special Needs kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To all my fellow mother and dads of SN kids who are willing to keep fighting -

I salute you. Life is hard enough dealing with the daily needs of our children. I never thought when my daughter was in preschool and missing developmental mild stones one after another that I would have to fight MCPS for a basic education for my daughter. Instead of being helpful, they have stigmatized her, lumped her into inappropriate settings, dismantled her self esteem and self worth and then say that's the best we have to offer. I have had to pay for private services to dismantle some of the damage but she will carry some of the scars for the rest of her life. I have hired attorneys to continue the fight even though the damage is done in hopes that other children won't suffer what my child has at the hands of people who call themselves educators.

MCPS doesn't care they violate the law or if they even questionable practices are being used by staff working with the school's most vulnerable kids. MCPS only cares about covering their asses and keeping parents with legitimate issues silent through coercion and confidentiality clauses. I pray for the day both the State Board of Education and the Montgomery County Board of Education investigates common practices by the Office of Special Education, school administrators, school psychologists, school administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, counselors, and any other staff that routinely is involved in Special Education matters. Our horror stories are common placed in Montgomery County but they are also replicated throughout the State of Maryland. More should be done to protect the safety, well being, and education of Special Needs kids.

That is so depressing to hear. Years ago MCPS was known to be very strong for SN and I even knew a few people who moved there because they were in school systems that were not strong in the department.

I am really glad on this thread we can all laugh and vent and there is no attacking or anything. If you ever need a laugh type into google IEP humor. Lots of funny images and sites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This same exact thing is happening to the child of a friend of mine. No supports but suspensions and school seems to be doing it on purpose. MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A family friend a few years ago disagreed with putting her K-er straight into a special ed-only class at a center far from their house without trying the local school. They suspended the kid for bad behavior over and over again that fall until the parents finally agreed to move the child to the center. (My guess is they were not providing whatever supports the kid needed to on purpose but who knows what really went on?) Once they reached the limit on suspensions (not sure how many days), they went to in-school suspension and just made the kid sit in a room alone with a teacher all day.

This was in FCPS.

This whole story is .

Please file a state complaint. It is easy to do. These kinds of things happen systemically and do not get fixed until a state complaint is filed, which triggers an investigation by external authorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This same exact thing is happening to the child of a friend of mine. No supports but suspensions and school seems to be doing it on purpose. MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A family friend a few years ago disagreed with putting her K-er straight into a special ed-only class at a center far from their house without trying the local school. They suspended the kid for bad behavior over and over again that fall until the parents finally agreed to move the child to the center. (My guess is they were not providing whatever supports the kid needed to on purpose but who knows what really went on?) Once they reached the limit on suspensions (not sure how many days), they went to in-school suspension and just made the kid sit in a room alone with a teacher all day.

This was in FCPS.

This whole story is .

Please file a state complaint. It is easy to do. These kinds of things happen systemically and do not get fixed until a state complaint is filed, which triggers an investigation by external authorities.

A Maryland PP chiming in - State complaints in Maryland are useless. The investigation is cursory at best and they most often side with the school. The state's job is to cover the butt's of the county school systems. That is one of the reason the system is so broken in our state. The BS tactics start at the top.

[Anonymous]

PP's post is the most depressing thing I've heard all week. Who advocates for the kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP's post is the most depressing thing I've heard all week. Who advocates for the kids?

There are two sides to every story. I would like to know the child's diagnosis and the issues that lead to suspensions. Usually they have to do with self harm or harming others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP's post is the most depressing thing I've heard all week. Who advocates for the kids?

There are two sides to every story. I would like to know the child's diagnosis and the issues that lead to suspensions. Usually they have to do with self harm or harming others.

Maybe, but the original post was about a 5 year old. Do you think excluding a 5 year old from school repeatedly or making him sit alone in a room all day (regardless of behavior) is the best educational practice?

[Anonymous]

There is no excuse for repeated suspensions of a child this age. No excuse. If the services aren't enough they need to fix them or come up with other strategy. Every educator knows this is terrible practice and even the U.S. DOE STRONGLY recommends suspensions/exclusions of children this age even with children who are not SN.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP's post is the most depressing thing I've heard all week. Who advocates for the kids?

There are two sides to every story. I would like to know the child's diagnosis and the issues that lead to suspensions. Usually they have to do with self harm or harming others.

Maybe, but the original post was about a 5 year old. Do you think excluding a 5 year old from school repeatedly or making him sit alone in a room all day (regardless of behavior) is the best educational practice?

[Anonymous]

I have no knowledge of the case being discussed but let's assume that the 5 year old child does harm himself or harm others. HOW DOES REPEATEDLY MAKING IM SIT IN A ROOM ALONE HELP HIM?

[Anonymous]

They weren't trying to help him. They were trying to get the parents to agree to move him to another school so he would be someone else's problem.

[Anonymous]

Someone should sue that school.

Anonymous wrote:They weren't trying to help him. They were trying to get the parents to agree to move him to another school so he would be someone else's problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They weren't trying to help him. They were trying to get the parents to agree to move him to another school so he would be someone else's problem.

And you know this how? Maybe the school wasn't equipped to handle the child and his/her needs.

[Anonymous]

That seems clear but it also seems clear they are not equipped to be educators in the first place. This is not the appropriate way to treat any child, much less one with SN.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They weren't trying to help him. They were trying to get the parents to agree to move him to another school so he would be someone else's problem.

And you know this how? Maybe the school wasn't equipped to handle the child and his/her needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They weren't trying to help him. They were trying to get the parents to agree to move him to another school so he would be someone else's problem.

And you know this how? Maybe the school wasn't equipped to handle the child and his/her needs.

Because the original post about the issue stated that the school wanted the child in a different school, the parents placed the child in the local school, and the local school kept suspending the child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To all my fellow mother and dads of SN kids who are willing to keep fighting -

I salute you. Life is hard enough dealing with the daily needs of our children. I never thought when my daughter was in preschool and missing developmental mild stones one after another that I would have to fight MCPS for a basic education for my daughter. Instead of being helpful, they have stigmatized her, lumped her into inappropriate settings, dismantled her self esteem and self worth and then say that's the best we have to offer. I have had to pay for private services to dismantle some of the damage but she will carry some of the scars for the rest of her life. I have hired attorneys to continue the fight even though the damage is done in hopes that other children won't suffer what my child has at the hands of people who call themselves educators.

MCPS doesn't care they violate the law or if they even questionable practices are being used by staff working with the school's most vulnerable kids. MCPS only cares about covering their asses and keeping parents with legitimate issues silent through coercion and confidentiality clauses. I pray for the day both the State Board of Education and the Montgomery County Board of Education investigates common practices by the Office of Special Education, school administrators, school psychologists, school administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, counselors, and any other staff that routinely is involved in Special Education matters. Our horror stories are common placed in Montgomery County but they are also replicated throughout the State of Maryland. More should be done to protect the safety, well being, and education of Special Needs kids.

What questionable practices? Having a child in sn preschool makes me wonder. I'm sorry about what your daughter endured