Reply to DC council giving away DCPS property to Lab School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We live in VA but that document is not accurate as far as DC kids who go to school with my child, it lists 1 but I know of at least 4. Not the Lab school.[/quote]

The document lists kids who are being paid for by DCPS, which happens after a court finds that DCPS has failed at providing an appropriate education. Not all kids from DC go through that process.[/quote]

Kids don't have to sue to get private placement. The school system can offer it as a placement. [/quote]

I don't think that's true any more as a practical matter.

In 2010, Vincent Gray ran for mayor and one of his campaign promises was to halve the number of kids in private placements, which was then 2200. He got it down to 1100 by 2014. According to OSSE it is now 821.  Part of the push was to aggressively challenge parents who were seeking private placements. There's a story about it here:
https://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?utm_term=.7c88a4f02831

Lab treats kids with moderate disabilities, which is exactly where the city has been trying to take all of the kids in-house. And the number of DCPS kids at Lab has been falling. I've talked to Lab parents who've said the number of hoops they have to jump through has increased, including having to recertify annually their child's need.

That's what's weird about this whole situation: why is the city trying to bolster a private provider of special education while at the same time it is trying to de-emphasize the role of private providers in the system? This all started back in 2013, when Gray was mayor and he considered reducing private placements a signature accomplishment. And why a 50 year lease when the landscape changes so quickly?

The relationship between the city and the private schools is a strange one, it's not one of partners or client and contractor. When a parent is successful in suing the city, the court orders the city to pay, but the court and the parent get to decide which school the kid is sent to. The parent and the city are adversaries, and the school is providing a service to the parent. From a legal perspective it's very strange to be providing favors to the agent of your adversary. [/quote]

Yes it's bizzarre. So follow the money.  Someone upthread mentioned an influential fundraiser with a kid at Lab.[/quote]

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