Reply to Early PK3 via Early Stages question

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think the differences are:

Early Stages is the Part B coordinator for the transfer from IDEA Part C FOR DCPS. Early Stages would not know anything about enrollment in charters, they are a DCPS entity that is responsible for part C to B transfer. Early Stages C to B transfer process will either develop an IEP and place you at DCPS, agree to extend your IFSP, or drop you once you show proof of enrollment at a charter.

Part C is run by Strong Start.

For Strong Start Part C to charter Part B transfer, the student would already have to be enrolled in the charter. In this case, Early Stages would not be invoked at all. The only way to be enrolled in a Charter is via My School DC lottery between April 1-October 5 for the following school year, for a child turning 3 before Sept 30. There is no way for a charter to enroll a child who didn’t make the cutoff and isn’t in My School DC.

So put together that means that only kids who are on an IFSP, have been accepted into a charter and have enrolled via the regular lottery, and are still 2 at that time, could engage in a C to B transfer with a charter. So we are talking about kids with summer birthdays. They wouldn’t be placed into a charter “early” because school isn’t in session. They could attend ESY though.[/quote]

This is the kind of knowledge base that made this board so great. [/quote]

Except that they’re wrong. The OSSE regulations specifically state that a child who receives an IEP on their third birthday but misses the birthday cutoff can still enroll in PK3 any LEA that accepts midyear transfers - and they explicitly state that this applies to both DCPS and charter schools. Using those exact words.

The wrinkle is that Early Stages was created to serve the (giant) DCPS LEA before charter schools even existed, and no individual charter school LEA can functionally replicate it. So the retcon is that Early Stages performs the assessments and issues the IEP … and while they can’t list any specific school on the document except a DCPS school, OSSE is quite clear in their only public guidance that the same document could also be used to enroll at any charter that is willing to accept that student.

Is it a perfect workaround? No. But it’s a way of making reality match the policy, even in the absence of funding and personnel.[/quote]

Are they wrong? OSSE's policy does not match My School DC requirements nor does it match Early Stages policies.

From Early Stages -- "The Early Stages process ends with an offer to enroll at a DCPS school... Early Stages can only 
offer enrollment with DCPS. If you enroll your child in a public charter school,  you can transfer the IEP. If you enroll your child in a private or religious school, you can request a services plan instead."

My School DC legal agreements with charter schools state that "schools participating in My School DC are required to use a September 30th age cutoff for PK3, PK4 and Kindergarten. In other words, schools may not accept applicants younger than these cutoffs in those grades." There is no exception listed for students with IEPs or for students referred from Early Stages.

My School DC also prohibits enrollment outside of their process. "All participating schools opt-in to use the MSDC application and common lottery, and MSDC collects applications from new students on behalf of participating schools. Participating schools may not collect
applications from new students outside of the MSDC process."

My School DC also says that schools that they will "take appropriate next steps" for schools that break their rules including "referral to the Office of the Inspector General or other governmental authority, limiting future participation, censure, report to chartering authority or other oversight body."

OSSE, My School DC and Early Stages need to get together and align their policies and rules.

[/quote]

Yes. They are wrong. For the reasons outlined above. 
The OSSE guidance, which you can read here for yourself https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/Early%20Childhood%20Transition%20FAQ%20July%202020.pdf - is that "To be eligible for Pre-Kindergarten 3 (PK3), a child must turn age three by September 30. However, three-year-old children with active IEPs are entitled to enroll in DCPS [b]or public charter LEAs with available seats that accept midyear transfer students[/b] at any time once the child is three years old, regardless of when in the year they turn three."

An IEP without any placement option whatsoever, even a non-binding one based on a pool of only some of the available options, would be pretty useless in this city. And Early Stages - the only official assessment process and personnel funded by the city - is an arm of the DCPS LEA, so they can only direct a DCPS placement for a child, even if that recommendation does not represent the full range of available options. Of course it is unlikely that a charter would accept a midyear special ed PK3 placement - but it is by no means impossible...most PK3s in the city are fairly good, most charters have PK3s, and there are more than a few charters who are otherwise struggling for enrollment and would like to be able to get a new kid in the system anytime, looking ahead to the following year when the kid [b]would[/b] be fully funded.

I agree that OSSE, Early Stages and MySchoolDC should get on the same page. For many reasons, there can't be a separate charter version of Early Stages. Nor can Early Stages dictate any actions (such as individual enrollment decisions) to charter schools. That said, it's also not possible for charter schools to just not be in the business of serving an entire group of special ed students for whom they already have the personnel and city mandate to do so. So the best workaround is actually the current imperfect policy. All that's necessary is for everyone who deals with OSSE enrollment policies at MySchool to, you know...be aware of the actual OSSE enrollment policies. Maybe read OSSE's posted guidance on existing policy once in a while, just for kicks. The end.[/quote]

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