Reply to Early PK3 via Early Stages question

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[quote=Anonymous](Posting here because the special needs forum keeps saying all questions that even mention DCPS belong in this forum)
My kid has a minor delay - just enough to qualify to start PK3 on her third birthday in a few months. The OSSE language seems pretty unequivocal: "To be eligible for Pre-Kindergarten 3 (PK3), a child must turn age three by September 30. [b]However, three-year-old children with active IEPs are entitled to enroll in DCPS or public charter LEAs with available seats that accept midyear transfer students at any time once the child is three years old, regardless of when in the year they turn three.[/b]" And then they detail the process by which this occurs at DCPS schools and charters, mentioning both as a singular category throughout the document.

We are zoned for a (poorly performing) public school, but my kid's older brother is in a bilingual charter school with available PK3 seats that accepts midyear transfers and provides language support for both languages spoken in our home. OSSE policy on PK3 early starts says sibling preference and other factors can be taken into account when relevant. So if my kid - who is dealing with a speech delay - qualifies, and the school is willing to enroll her to attend with her brother - all good, no?

No. First the charter wasn't sure they could enroll her for this year because they'd never heard of this birthday cutoff exception for IEP kids (some new staffers), so when I mentioned this was a special provision via Early Stages they reached out to that agency for clarity - and ES told them there are only a few schools in the city that can enroll kids for PK when they're [b]under[/b] the age of 3, and that they weren't one of those schools. True enough - but not even remotely what we'd asked about. So I told the school to circle back to ES to stress that they were asking about enrollment for a kid with an IEP [b]after[/b] her 3rd birthday - at which point the ES response was that charter schools are in a different category than other public schools, and that the early PK3 start and special services provision just applies to zoned DCPS public schools... even though there is literally nothing anywhere in OSSE guidance that even implies the slightest distinction between the two - [b]private[/b] schools are treated as a clearly delineated special category, while [b]charter[/b] schools are grouped with regular DCPS.

Obviously zoned schools have a special [b]obligation[/b] to enroll ES PK3 if they can, but other DCPS and charter schools clearly have the [b]option[/b]. Now, I get that this situation - a school being willing to voluntarily enroll a kid with special needs after count day - probably doesn't come up often, but by my read there's literally nothing in the rules that prohibits it. What we need is for the school at which we would like my kid to enroll to be listed in the coming IEP as our specific enrollment option. But we won't do that until we can confirm they are in fact willing and able to enroll our kid. And the school won't do that until ES confirms the very clear OSSE policy written in black and white on the website. And so far, ES isn't doing that...for reasons. They just keep coming up with irrelevant or inaccurate "reasons" our only option is our zoned school and we can't even have a conversation with any other.

Am I correct in my read on this policy? Or am I missing something? If you've had a PK3 kid start early due to an IEP, did they tell you you [b]had to[/b] seek enrollment at your zoned school before looking elsewhere? If so - where on earth can one find the language stating that requirement...is it written in invisible ink? What's our next move to get an eligible kid enrolled at a school with space?[/quote]

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