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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid has been in special ed since elem.  Over the years he’s learned the necessary skills to allow him to be in mainstream classes.  He’s currently in the Bridge program at Churchill.  This year, he is in mainstream classes for 6 out of 7 periods including 3 AP classes. He has a 4.0 U/W.  He has outgrown the academics of the Bridge program.

We live in the walk zone to RM.  I’m wondering if it makes sense to bring him “home” next year.  His IEP meeting is in May.

Pros—As an 11th grader, he would have access to both AP and IB classes.  His foreign language is ASL so he would not be a candidate for the diploma.

Cons—he will know no one at RM.  He does not have any neighborhood friends.  He’s been with a number of the Bridge kids since elem school.

If I think about college admissions-I think both schools are going to be difficult to stand out at the top on academics alone.

The single period AP science classes vs DP at Churchill is driving my question.  At RM, AP Chem is a single period.  AP Physics C (mech &E/M) is offered as a single class.  This opens up 2 periods for other classes.  He will be in MVC/DiffQ for math next year. His favorite class this year is AP Seminar and he’s beyond excited next year to take AP Research which of course is not offered at RM.  if it was, I think I would move him without question.  While the IB program offers the EE, I think it’s a 2yr sequence like AP Sem/AP Research.  Since he’s already taken AP Sem he would be frustrated by having to repeat similar material.

All of the MCPS graduation requirements are done—health, PE, tech class.  There’s nothing we can push to summer school to open up a class period if he stays at Churchill.  In general he is annoyed and frustrated that he needs to spend 2 periods in classes that come easy to him.  He readily acknowledges that the “extra” period would be better spent helping him in AP Lang or AP Research.  If he got rid of the dbl period science classes, he could take a resource class to allow him time to focus on the humanities classes where he struggles.  I wish taking a resource class wasn’t viewed as such a negative for college admissions.

As for support, for the AP classes, there doesn’t seem to be any at either RM or Churchill.  RM does house the SESES program so if he really needed behavioral support, it would be available.

Thoughts?  I realize that I get to decide between 2 good options.  He is not involved in any ECs at Churchill so he’s wouldn’t lose any standing if he moved to RM.  While he’s been with some of the Bridge kids since elem, he’s not friends with them outside of school.  His friends are the kids he met through CTY and most of them are at Blair.  In 8th grade I could not imagine we would be here and with the number of hours in his IEP, he could not apply for the magnet program.

Apologies for the rambling thoughts—I’m trying to work through the pros and cons of each placement.  One more thing—he cannot stay at Churchill unless he takes at least 1 bridge class.  If I look to his senior year, that’s Bridge English 12 which is in grade level.  So he will be moving from AP Lang in 11th down to grade level English in 12th.  He could take AP Lit as an elective if there was room in his schedule.  In 11th grade, he will be taking Bridge MWH but there’s nothing else offered for senior year.
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RM has a resource class and the teacher has a background in counseling and special ed if that is helpful information for you.[/quote]

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