Message
Happy to chat, and will PM you. You may want to read about our experience here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1152347.page#25656640
-Dava
-Dava
Anonymous wrote:Commonwealth Academy in Alexandria specializes in this.
They claim they do anyway. Our experience there was actually horrific.
See my post about it here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1152347.page#25656640
I've seen Commonwealth Academy (CA) in Alexandria discussed here as a good place for kids with ADHD and executive function (EF), and they do promote themselves as focusing on that and executive function issues as well. However, our experience there this last year with our son (12) was the opposite. We found they do not provide meaningful support for ADHD and EF, and the staff was extremely unwilling to work with us on his needs. It gets worse. In the end, a false report of child abuse and neglect was filed against us. Based on the timing, language, and certain information in the report, we believe and have strong evidence that one or more of three specific senior school staff were the source of this report, and that it was done in retaliation for disputes we had with them. Because this evidence is still circumstantial, I will not name these staff members here, and this is not an explicit accusation. However, you may draw your own conclusions from the timeline below. In my opinion, CA is not a safe place for your kids or you.
I am posting under my real first name. From that and the details below, CA will be easily able to know who I am exactly should they wish to dispute any of this. However, all of the facts in this post are 100% true and documented. I am leaving out some details here in the interests of our son's privacy.
We enrolled our son mid-year in the 6th grade, when our local school was having issues meeting his needs. He has a learning profile that includes ADHD, language processing difficulties, and executive function difficulties. When we interviewed the school, which is billed as particularly suited for a child of his profile, we were very excited about the approach and attention to executive function, and the admissions head similarly felt it would be a great fit for our son.
For a school that supposedly focuses on executive function skills, they offered him almost nothing in the way of support there, and made it very difficult for him (and us) to figure out what his assignments even were. There was no consistent place where or how assignments were listed; some were online, some were via emails, and some were given in class. This is a nightmare for someone with executive function difficulties, and only set him up for failure. The school was also slow to implement an assisted listening device, provided by us, that has greatly helped our son in his previous school. We had discussed using the device with CA prior to enrollment and they had agreed in principle. It took them over three months to actually begin using it.
One of us is a licensed counselor and former teacher with years of professional expertise and success in helping children with learning profiles similar to our son’s. With this expertise, we tried very hard to work with the school on how best to serve our son, and offered specific interventions to help him access the curriculum and get through the day. The school presented considerable resistance and foot-dragging and at one point, the head of the middle school told us that we were no longer welcome to email them, saying "we want you to be a parent, not an expert." They were not only not interested in the resources we offered, they at times seemed offended by it.
Another dispute centered around repeated and inappropriate suggestions from the school nurse and other staff that we should get medical diagnoses and/or therapy for our son. For our son's privacy, I am not going to discuss the nature of these requests, but we have in fact involved his health care providers in addressing his in-school challenges, and we provided evidence of this in the form of doctor's notes to the staff on multiple occasions. About the third and last of these requests came in the form of an email from the Director of Student Services citing our "difficult/unsettled" family situation, possibly referring to our changing marital situation, or possibly referring to the fact that I'm a transgender parent. We complained to the Head of School, who responded very supportively and agreed the Director of Student Services had been inappropriate, and that she would handle it. One week later the Head of School asked for a meeting with us to discuss our son's in-school challenges. It was two days after this that the false report to DC CFSA was made. The report included the allegation that we refused to take our son to the doctor, and other disturbing allegations that were simply made up out of whole cloth. After about 35 days the report was ruled Unfounded by DC CFSA, which means a report they consider untrue and potentially made in bad faith. Based on the timing and the content of the allegations in the report as communicated to us by the social workers, we believe it's almost a certainly that it was made by one of three people there, two of whom are still there and are fairly senior in the school's administration. The investigation and interviews with CFSA were rather traumatic for us and our son.
We removed him from the school the day the report was filed and home schooled him for the remainder of the year. The school was uncooperative in providing assignments and materials during this time, and was obstructive in our investigation of who filed the false report. They also did not provide materials needed for applications to other schools, obstructing our efforts to find a new placement for him.
Parents considering Commonwealth Academy should be aware that (1) it is not what it claims to be in terms of support for ADHD and executive function, and (2) it apparently employs people who are willing to weaponize Child and Family Services against parents they don't like by filing false and malicious reports accusing them of child abuse and neglect.
I am posting under my real first name. From that and the details below, CA will be easily able to know who I am exactly should they wish to dispute any of this. However, all of the facts in this post are 100% true and documented. I am leaving out some details here in the interests of our son's privacy.
We enrolled our son mid-year in the 6th grade, when our local school was having issues meeting his needs. He has a learning profile that includes ADHD, language processing difficulties, and executive function difficulties. When we interviewed the school, which is billed as particularly suited for a child of his profile, we were very excited about the approach and attention to executive function, and the admissions head similarly felt it would be a great fit for our son.
For a school that supposedly focuses on executive function skills, they offered him almost nothing in the way of support there, and made it very difficult for him (and us) to figure out what his assignments even were. There was no consistent place where or how assignments were listed; some were online, some were via emails, and some were given in class. This is a nightmare for someone with executive function difficulties, and only set him up for failure. The school was also slow to implement an assisted listening device, provided by us, that has greatly helped our son in his previous school. We had discussed using the device with CA prior to enrollment and they had agreed in principle. It took them over three months to actually begin using it.
One of us is a licensed counselor and former teacher with years of professional expertise and success in helping children with learning profiles similar to our son’s. With this expertise, we tried very hard to work with the school on how best to serve our son, and offered specific interventions to help him access the curriculum and get through the day. The school presented considerable resistance and foot-dragging and at one point, the head of the middle school told us that we were no longer welcome to email them, saying "we want you to be a parent, not an expert." They were not only not interested in the resources we offered, they at times seemed offended by it.
Another dispute centered around repeated and inappropriate suggestions from the school nurse and other staff that we should get medical diagnoses and/or therapy for our son. For our son's privacy, I am not going to discuss the nature of these requests, but we have in fact involved his health care providers in addressing his in-school challenges, and we provided evidence of this in the form of doctor's notes to the staff on multiple occasions. About the third and last of these requests came in the form of an email from the Director of Student Services citing our "difficult/unsettled" family situation, possibly referring to our changing marital situation, or possibly referring to the fact that I'm a transgender parent. We complained to the Head of School, who responded very supportively and agreed the Director of Student Services had been inappropriate, and that she would handle it. One week later the Head of School asked for a meeting with us to discuss our son's in-school challenges. It was two days after this that the false report to DC CFSA was made. The report included the allegation that we refused to take our son to the doctor, and other disturbing allegations that were simply made up out of whole cloth. After about 35 days the report was ruled Unfounded by DC CFSA, which means a report they consider untrue and potentially made in bad faith. Based on the timing and the content of the allegations in the report as communicated to us by the social workers, we believe it's almost a certainly that it was made by one of three people there, two of whom are still there and are fairly senior in the school's administration. The investigation and interviews with CFSA were rather traumatic for us and our son.
We removed him from the school the day the report was filed and home schooled him for the remainder of the year. The school was uncooperative in providing assignments and materials during this time, and was obstructive in our investigation of who filed the false report. They also did not provide materials needed for applications to other schools, obstructing our efforts to find a new placement for him.
Parents considering Commonwealth Academy should be aware that (1) it is not what it claims to be in terms of support for ADHD and executive function, and (2) it apparently employs people who are willing to weaponize Child and Family Services against parents they don't like by filing false and malicious reports accusing them of child abuse and neglect.
Seems fair. Thanks.
jsteele wrote:Generally if you start a thread with a post that criticizes a school, or any business really, it has a good chance of being removed. Such posts have the appearance of being attempts to use DCUM as part of a personal vendetta. The target of such posts will almost always contact us to complain that the author is a disgusted former employee or customer or a competitor trying to make them look bad.
For what it is worth, unsolicited threads that a started with a post offering lavish praise of a school or business will generally suffer the same fate because they appear to be shills drumming up business.
Also, I am happy to post non-anonymously.