Atlantic article by a mom with a dc in PG County special ed

[Anonymous]

Good article, but where did she get her private testing done for "only" $2,000? That seems way low.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/01/the-charade-of-special-education-programs/421578/

[Anonymous]

You can have them done at U of Md College Patk for that amount.

[Anonymous]

I read really fast but is her point that she had to leave the public school system and go private to help her daughter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read really fast but is her point that she had to leave the public school system and go private to help her daughter?

No. Her point is that the system is difficult to navigate, legalistic and that schools aren't set up to handle bright kids with LDs very well. It sounded to me like PGCounty schools are paying for a private placement for her daughter at the high school level, but that she'd been in neighborhood schools up to that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read really fast but is her point that she had to leave the public school system and go private to help her daughter?

No. Her point is that the system is difficult to navigate, legalistic and that schools aren't set up to handle bright kids with LDs very well. It sounded to me like PGCounty schools are paying for a private placement for her daughter at the high school level, but that she'd been in neighborhood schools up to that point.

Where did you get that PG county schools were paying for the private placement? I didn't get that at all. I thought her family had decided to pay in order to get out of the extremely frustrating non-functioning public school system that was mostly offering her options that wouldn't work for her kid's disabilities.

[Anonymous]

I think the author was ambiguous but I also thought the school was paying after I read the article. It was a good article and made me frustrated with the system all over again... even though I pulled my kid out of MCPS voluntarily!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, she and her husband are totally footing the costly bill for the private schooling, not PG County:

After eight years of emails, too many meetings to count and countless homework battles, I found myself rounding a corner yesterday and feeling a flush of anxiety—a hot feeling in my chest, an extra thump of my heart—at the sight of a county school bus. I have to remind myself: This isn’t us anymore. This fall, my daughter started at a private high school for college-track students with a variety of non-standard learning styles, where the motto emblazoned on the front of the buildings is “Because not all great minds think alike.” There’s no relentless standardized testing, classes are small, there’s a rich arts curriculum, teachers are skilled in addressing individual learning needs, and teacher pay is not determined by student test scores. The full retail price of sanity is steep—$32,800 a year—and over the next four years that will make a sizable dent in our retirement funds. But at least we have retirement funds to plunder. Parents with fewer financial resources than ours take out loans or second mortgages, or they homeschool. Or they settle for what they can get.

[Anonymous]

It looked like PG was maybe going to pay for a private placement at the "school in Baltimore" but that didn't work out and the family is paying for a private special ed school. (Wonder which one?)

[Anonymous]

I liked her point about the schools trying to force the existing programs with open seats to magically suit the child in need of a placement. This has been our experience in FCPS as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It looked like PG was maybe going to pay for a private placement at the "school in Baltimore" but that didn't work out and the family is paying for a private special ed school. (Wonder which one?)

Based on the information given in the article, http://www.wyeriverupperschool.org/

[Anonymous]

What Baltimore schools take placements from PG county schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read really fast but is her point that she had to leave the public school system and go private to help her daughter?

No. Her point is that the system is difficult to navigate, legalistic and that schools aren't set up to handle bright kids with LDs very well. It sounded to me like PGCounty schools are paying for a private placement for her daughter at the high school level, but that she'd been in neighborhood schools up to that point.

Where did you get that PG county schools were paying for the private placement? I didn't get that at all. I thought her family had decided to pay in order to get out of the extremely frustrating non-functioning public school system that was mostly offering her options that wouldn't work for her kid's disabilities.

Yes, because she talked about raiding her retirement savings.

I think her point was how few choices there are for kids with learning disabilities and above average intelligence. Which based on our experience, is certainly true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looked like PG was maybe going to pay for a private placement at the "school in Baltimore" but that didn't work out and the family is paying for a private special ed school. (Wonder which one?)

Based on the information given in the article, http://www.wyeriverupperschool.org/

Yup - that's their slogan. Which is quite a haul for her from PG County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I liked her point about the schools trying to force the existing programs with open seats to magically suit the child in need of a placement. This has been our experience in FCPS as well.

Same here. Funny how it doesn't really matter your district, many of us have the same experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What Baltimore schools take placements from PG county schools?

Kennedy Krieger does, but that's not the one she's referring to.