Whistleblower for dcps sped?

[Anonymous]

Proud of you! I am a Gen Ed teacher that moved to a DCPS school (not often talked about on this board) from another state this year. I have been appalled at the mess that is the special education department. I’m beginning to think it’s a DCPS issue across the board. Uncertified teachers who didn’t even apply for the position but got duped and placed there by admin, teachers get pulled all the time from their scheduled service hours to sub, handle behavior issues etc. It makes me so angry for my kids with IEPs. I just don’t have the capacity to support them on my own and feel like we are completely failing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello DCPS! I was a past contributor to this thread. And I did it. I am an inclusion teacher at a 5 star ES. It was impossible to meet the hours on my caseload & I was told to ‘make it work’. Kids with in hours were being pulled out. I was encouraged to count recess duty as meeting kids hours. I felt AWFUL about the work I was doing & the lies we were telling.
I finally involved OSSE, sped central office, & office on integrity. I made a schedule and the excess hours that just don’t fit are going to be filled by the Sped coordinator.
I am now HATED at my school/ because I put it in writing & called in the Troops. But for the first time in nearly 2 years I feel ethical about the work I’m doing.

Former DCPS teacher here,

If you haven't already, I would suggest you start keeping records of every single thing you do. There's a target on your back now, and it's not just your administration who'll be coming for you. The very offices you reported to (central office) will turn around and come for you if your complaints made their way to any federal compliance offices. As a DCPS sped parent, I applaud you. As a former teacher, I know from first hand experience how they really treat whistleblowers. Be careful.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I know. I made peace with this being the end of my teaching career in DCPS before I made the move. I am a sped parent & moved our family to a surrounding school district because I knew he?d been vulnerable here in DC. FWIW- it?s not the teachers. It?s the system.
Parents- you need to advocate for DCPS to allocate teachers based on minutes not caseloads. I had one kiddo with 10+ hours. That?s 2 instructional days. Meanwhile- I had to ?figure out? how to get the minutes in for my other 13+ kids. Guess what- it wasn?t happening.

That?s the structural change- inclusion staffing based on service hours- not caseloads.

[Anonymous]

Sadly, this is very common across the District. Langley is one of those schools that gets glowing remarks on behavior but the way they run Spec. Ed would be an ed attorney's dream.