Yet another teacher has left BASIS and parents are in the dark

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't know what the specifics are which are causing the family in question grief due to IEPs or 504s.

I do know they have done a lot to help special needs kids such as ours, we have had no problems at all with Basis accommodating us and as I mentioned earlier, our DC is thriving there - but then again, we haven't asked them for much, either.

From what I had heard, they do offer things like extra time to SN students based on IEPs as well but I don't know any specifics or details beyond that. I don't think it's valid to suggest they ignore IEPs or 504s outright based on what we know, there may be some very specific issues that I'm not aware of - but overall from what I have seen, they have been working with families.

So why are we all being sent notices about "compensatory services" meetings that are due to a federal investigation which determined that our child's rights may have been violated by BASIS during the 2012-2013 year? And I think there is more than one family posting about this here and saying all is not is so hunky dory in BASIS land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basis has a model that is demanding and challenging for ANY child, whether with disabilities or no. But that's their model, like it or not - and I don't think it will change. They already have a half dozen or more other schools already operating on this model.

Our child has disabilities but is very bright and is very highly functioning so it hasn't been an issue for us, DC is thriving at Basis. I know of several other kids with disabilities who are also doing extremely well there, because they are bright and highly functioning. But, it entails hours of work after school and on weekends to keep up.

It's individual decisions but Basis isn't for everyone. Many kids without disabilities will wash out because it's too demanding and challenging - and it will be even more hard for some of the kids with disabilities. IEPs and 504s are fine and reasonable accommodations are fine but if the expectation is that the curriculum or model should change, or that it should be any less demanding, I don't think that will happen, since they already have a half dozen or more schools operating on this same model. I think Basis would sooner pick up stakes and move elsewhere. And sadly, that's what some would sooner have them do - and there would be nothing academically equivalent to replace it.

I read things like this and I just shudder. It's as though you think a public school can decide it's just not going to serve children with special needs because "it's their model." Since when does a model trump federal law? I have to wonder what it will take for some local civil rights lawyers and/or education advocates to take a serious look at this school and respond accordingly. There has to be something one can do to facilitate that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Charter schools are public schools, and as such, they must comply with IDEA, which is federal law.

That's a separate issue from the rest of public school law. Nobody said charters didn't have to comply with IDEA. But the question I'd ask is if the charters are adequately supported where it comes to serving special needs students. I doubt charters receive the same amount of money per special needs student as DCPS does. Charters already get shortchanged everywhere else to begin with.

Bullshit. That money comes straight from OSSE, and it is in accordance with a formula that has strict guidelines for the number of hours students receive accommodations and services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis has a model that is demanding and challenging for ANY child, whether with disabilities or no. But that's their model, like it or not - and I don't think it will change. They already have a half dozen or more other schools already operating on this model.

Our child has disabilities but is very bright and is very highly functioning so it hasn't been an issue for us, DC is thriving at Basis. I know of several other kids with disabilities who are also doing extremely well there, because they are bright and highly functioning. But, it entails hours of work after school and on weekends to keep up.

It's individual decisions but Basis isn't for everyone. Many kids without disabilities will wash out because it's too demanding and challenging - and it will be even more hard for some of the kids with disabilities. IEPs and 504s are fine and reasonable accommodations are fine but if the expectation is that the curriculum or model should change, or that it should be any less demanding, I don't think that will happen, since they already have a half dozen or more schools operating on this same model. I think Basis would sooner pick up stakes and move elsewhere. And sadly, that's what some would sooner have them do - and there would be nothing academically equivalent to replace it.

I read things like this and I just shudder. It's as though you think a public school can decide it's just not going to serve children with special needs because "it's their model." Since when does a model trump federal law? I have to wonder what it will take for some local civil rights lawyers and/or education advocates to take a serious look at this school and respond accordingly. There has to be something one can do to facilitate that...

That's nonsense. They do serve children with special needs - I know for a fact that many of the special needs students are doing just fine - ours is. To make a broad accusation like that is outrageous and baseless, unless you have evidence and have personally met with every special needs family there - and I'm pretty sure you've never talked to us and some of the other sn families that we know.

So you "shudder" at the fact that a school would want to offer a rigorous curriculum? I shudder at the fact that most schools DON'T offer a sufficiently rigorous and challenging curriculum. Nobody is forcing anyone to go to Basis - there are lots of choices out there that would meet your evident desire for a less demanding curriculum. Civil rights come into play when you have no choices, when you are forced into something unacceptable. But that's definitely not the case here - there are a wealth of choices in this city, where it comes to schools that don't offer as much challenge. We on the other hand have vastly fewer choices available to us, since we DO want challenging academics. And here you want to take our choices away? What about our civil rights that you seem to want to trample all over? FAPE applies to us as well, it's not a one-way-street to be abused by just one set of interests at the expense of all others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis has a model that is demanding and challenging for ANY child, whether with disabilities or no. But that's their model, like it or not - and I don't think it will change. They already have a half dozen or more other schools already operating on this model.

Our child has disabilities but is very bright and is very highly functioning so it hasn't been an issue for us, DC is thriving at Basis. I know of several other kids with disabilities who are also doing extremely well there, because they are bright and highly functioning. But, it entails hours of work after school and on weekends to keep up.

It's individual decisions but Basis isn't for everyone. Many kids without disabilities will wash out because it's too demanding and challenging - and it will be even more hard for some of the kids with disabilities. IEPs and 504s are fine and reasonable accommodations are fine but if the expectation is that the curriculum or model should change, or that it should be any less demanding, I don't think that will happen, since they already have a half dozen or more schools operating on this same model. I think Basis would sooner pick up stakes and move elsewhere. And sadly, that's what some would sooner have them do - and there would be nothing academically equivalent to replace it.

I read things like this and I just shudder. It's as though you think a public school can decide it's just not going to serve children with special needs because "it's their model." Since when does a model trump federal law? I have to wonder what it will take for some local civil rights lawyers and/or education advocates to take a serious look at this school and respond accordingly. There has to be something one can do to facilitate that...

But isn't there a difference between serving children with disabilities by providing accommodations so that the children can access the standard curriculum and changing the curriculum or model?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Charter schools are public schools, and as such, they must comply with IDEA, which is federal law.

That's a separate issue from the rest of public school law. Nobody said charters didn't have to comply with IDEA. But the question I'd ask is if the charters are adequately supported where it comes to serving special needs students. I doubt charters receive the same amount of money per special needs student as DCPS does. Charters already get shortchanged everywhere else to begin with.

Bullshit. That money comes straight from OSSE, and it is in accordance with a formula that has strict guidelines for the number of hours students receive accommodations and services.

Really? Says here they spend $80 million dollars to educate less than 1500 special needs students via DCPS. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/council-questions-push-for-special-ed-students-in-dc-public-schools/2013/04/22/29ac6aaa-ab85-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_story.html

That's at least $50,000 allocated per student on the DCPS side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't know what the specifics are which are causing the family in question grief due to IEPs or 504s.

I do know they have done a lot to help special needs kids such as ours, we have had no problems at all with Basis accommodating us and as I mentioned earlier, our DC is thriving there - but then again, we haven't asked them for much, either.

From what I had heard, they do offer things like extra time to SN students based on IEPs as well but I don't know any specifics or details beyond that. I don't think it's valid to suggest they ignore IEPs or 504s outright based on what we know, there may be some very specific issues that I'm not aware of - but overall from what I have seen, they have been working with families.

So why are we all being sent notices about "compensatory services" meetings that are due to a federal investigation which determined that our child's rights may have been violated by BASIS during the 2012-2013 year? And I think there is more than one family posting about this here and saying all is not is so hunky dory in BASIS land.

Exactly!
IEP's are children's rights.
They have definitely been violated in our case because they are not being implemented. More so this year than last year.
It does not mean watering down the curriculum. There is a difference between format and content.The teacher who helps students with IEPs should work with the specified students to meet their goals, not go to the classroom and act like an instructional assistant to all students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Charter schools are public schools, and as such, they must comply with IDEA, which is federal law.

That's a separate issue from the rest of public school law. Nobody said charters didn't have to comply with IDEA. But the question I'd ask is if the charters are adequately supported where it comes to serving special needs students. I doubt charters receive the same amount of money per special needs student as DCPS does. Charters already get shortchanged everywhere else to begin with.

Bullshit. That money comes straight from OSSE, and it is in accordance with a formula that has strict guidelines for the number of hours students receive accommodations and services.

Really? Says here they spend $80 million dollars to educate less than 1500 special needs students via DCPS. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/council-questions-push-for-special-ed-students-in-dc-public-schools/2013/04/22/29ac6aaa-ab85-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_story.html

That's at least $50,000 allocated per student on the DCPS side.

That 1500 number represents the number of students with IEPs that dcps has decided need to be educated In private school. According to the DCPS website 17% of their students have an IEP so the actual number is around 7,440. So no, not 50,000 per kids. More like 11,000 per kid.

[Anonymous]

DCPS has its own dedicated Special Education budget

http://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/ga_dcps_tables_2014j.pdf

FY 2013 approved budget: $160,390,000 - that means it's at least double that, over $20,000 extra funding per special needs student.

Meanwhile, 31,562 students in DC are in charters, generally with a similar percentage of students with IEPs - roughly 5,000; yet OSSE only has $37m budgeted for supporting them, which only works out to around $7,000, barely a third of what DCPS gets per student.

OSSE http://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/gd_osse_tables_2014j.pdf

FY 2013 approved budget: $37,229,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS has its own dedicated Special Education budget

http://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/ga_dcps_tables_2014j.pdf

FY 2013 approved budget: $160,390,000 - that means it's at least double that, over $20,000 extra funding per special needs student.

Meanwhile, 31,562 students in DC are in charters, generally with a similar percentage of students with IEPs - roughly 5,000; yet OSSE only has $37m budgeted for supporting them, which only works out to around $7,000, barely a third of what DCPS gets per student.

OSSE http://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/gd_osse_tables_2014j.pdf

FY 2013 approved budget: $37,229,000

I don't know if they know what they are talking about, but I got legal advice recently that if a child with an IEP at a charter could not be accommodated there, OSSE not the charter would pay for the costs of placing the child elsewhere. If it is true, it might be a good solution for BASIS for those whose kids need a modified curriculum.

[Anonymous]

If a child has a disability that requires private placement at a special needs school, it makes no sense that his/her parents would send them to a school like BASIS in the first place and expect that they will be "fine" using a modified curriculum and "accommodated".

Yes, it's true. OSSE pays the tuition for private placements not the charter. The child is still considered a student of the charter school even while attending the private SN school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a child has a disability that requires private placement at a special needs school, it makes no sense that his/her parents would send them to a school like BASIS in the first place and expect that they will be "fine" using a modified curriculum and "accommodated".

Yes, it's true. OSSE pays the tuition for private placements not the charter. The child is still considered a student of the charter school even while attending the private SN school.

Are you serious? Are you confused about the concept of public education? Or are you just willfully stupid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis has a model that is demanding and challenging for ANY child, whether with disabilities or no. But that's their model, like it or not - and I don't think it will change. They already have a half dozen or more other schools already operating on this model.

Our child has disabilities but is very bright and is very highly functioning so it hasn't been an issue for us, DC is thriving at Basis. I know of several other kids with disabilities who are also doing extremely well there, because they are bright and highly functioning. But, it entails hours of work after school and on weekends to keep up.

It's individual decisions but Basis isn't for everyone. Many kids without disabilities will wash out because it's too demanding and challenging - and it will be even more hard for some of the kids with disabilities. IEPs and 504s are fine and reasonable accommodations are fine but if the expectation is that the curriculum or model should change, or that it should be any less demanding, I don't think that will happen, since they already have a half dozen or more schools operating on this same model. I think Basis would sooner pick up stakes and move elsewhere. And sadly, that's what some would sooner have them do - and there would be nothing academically equivalent to replace it.

I read things like this and I just shudder. It's as though you think a public school can decide it's just not going to serve children with special needs because "it's their model." Since when does a model trump federal law? I have to wonder what it will take for some local civil rights lawyers and/or education advocates to take a serious look at this school and respond accordingly. There has to be something one can do to facilitate that...

That's nonsense. They do serve children with special needs - I know for a fact that many of the special needs students are doing just fine - ours is. To make a broad accusation like that is outrageous and baseless, unless you have evidence and have personally met with every special needs family there - and I'm pretty sure you've never talked to us and some of the other sn families that we know.

So you "shudder" at the fact that a school would want to offer a rigorous curriculum? I shudder at the fact that most schools DON'T offer a sufficiently rigorous and challenging curriculum. Nobody is forcing anyone to go to Basis - there are lots of choices out there that would meet your evident desire for a less demanding curriculum. Civil rights come into play when you have no choices, when you are forced into something unacceptable. But that's definitely not the case here - there are a wealth of choices in this city, where it comes to schools that don't offer as much challenge. We on the other hand have vastly fewer choices available to us, since we DO want challenging academics. And here you want to take our choices away? What about our civil rights that you seem to want to trample all over? FAPE applies to us as well, it's not a one-way-street to be abused by just one set of interests at the expense of all others.

Actually you have this all backwards. No one is forced to go to BASIS but anyone can choose to go to BASIS. That is the point of a charter school. Equal access to everyone. It isn't incumbent upon the student to make a public school work for them but incumbent upon the school to make it work for all students. BASIS is great and perhaps, in the DC setting, should have opened as a private school. They chose to open as a charter school which means they accept the students regardless of ability, want of a rigorous education, parent involvement, previous school ability to educate properly, etc.

Challenging academics isn't a civil right.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's up to the charters to send a student to private school, but I likewise don't think OSSE goes around making that money readily available either (particularly given the fact that far less is allocated to charter schools than is the case in DCPS).

So, if a parent is trying to use the system in order to get funded for a private school, they probably have to raise a major complaint like this and say the student's needs can't be met at the school in question.

But given the big disparity in budgets for special needs (a third as much allocated per student in charters as opposed to DCPS), it seems to me that would probably have been easier done in a DCPS school than in a charter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis has a model that is demanding and challenging for ANY child, whether with disabilities or no. But that's their model, like it or not - and I don't think it will change. They already have a half dozen or more other schools already operating on this model.

Our child has disabilities but is very bright and is very highly functioning so it hasn't been an issue for us, DC is thriving at Basis. I know of several other kids with disabilities who are also doing extremely well there, because they are bright and highly functioning. But, it entails hours of work after school and on weekends to keep up.

It's individual decisions but Basis isn't for everyone. Many kids without disabilities will wash out because it's too demanding and challenging - and it will be even more hard for some of the kids with disabilities. IEPs and 504s are fine and reasonable accommodations are fine but if the expectation is that the curriculum or model should change, or that it should be any less demanding, I don't think that will happen, since they already have a half dozen or more schools operating on this same model. I think Basis would sooner pick up stakes and move elsewhere. And sadly, that's what some would sooner have them do - and there would be nothing academically equivalent to replace it.

I read things like this and I just shudder. It's as though you think a public school can decide it's just not going to serve children with special needs because "it's their model." Since when does a model trump federal law? I have to wonder what it will take for some local civil rights lawyers and/or education advocates to take a serious look at this school and respond accordingly. There has to be something one can do to facilitate that...

That's nonsense. They do serve children with special needs - I know for a fact that many of the special needs students are doing just fine - ours is. To make a broad accusation like that is outrageous and baseless, unless you have evidence and have personally met with every special needs family there - and I'm pretty sure you've never talked to us and some of the other sn families that we know.

So you "shudder" at the fact that a school would want to offer a rigorous curriculum? I shudder at the fact that most schools DON'T offer a sufficiently rigorous and challenging curriculum. Nobody is forcing anyone to go to Basis - there are lots of choices out there that would meet your evident desire for a less demanding curriculum. Civil rights come into play when you have no choices, when you are forced into something unacceptable. But that's definitely not the case here - there are a wealth of choices in this city, where it comes to schools that don't offer as much challenge. We on the other hand have vastly fewer choices available to us, since we DO want challenging academics. And here you want to take our choices away? What about our civil rights that you seem to want to trample all over? FAPE applies to us as well, it's not a one-way-street to be abused by just one set of interests at the expense of all others.

Actually you have this all backwards. No one is forced to go to BASIS but anyone can choose to go to BASIS. That is the point of a charter school. Equal access to everyone. It isn't incumbent upon the student to make a public school work for them but incumbent upon the school to make it work for all students. BASIS is great and perhaps, in the DC setting, should have opened as a private school. They chose to open as a charter school which means they accept the students regardless of ability, want of a rigorous education, parent involvement, previous school ability to educate properly, etc.

Challenging academics isn't a civil right.

No, I think YOUR view is entirely backward. Yes, it's YOUR choice - but that doesn't mean you pick any school and force it to fit your expectations, instead you pick a school that already IS a fit for your expectations - particularly that we have dozens and dozens of schools to pick from.

By your backward worldview, evidently it would be appropriate to send a kid with no disabilities to St. Colettas - and then demand they accelerate him with Algebra I in 5th grade like they do in Basis. Or, to send a kid to Carlos Rosario and demand Mandarin immersion. Your view of the world makes ZERO sense. Whatsoever.

Frankly, your view of the world is far more abusive and destructive to the public school ecosystem than anything else going on in these threads.