Reply to Is Oyster pushing out special Ed students?

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Reply to "Is Oyster pushing out special Ed students?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is likely fallout from the previous administration. Things were promised that simply can't be delivered safely or effectively in the Oyster campus. A very active parent group with support from teachers, admin, and the then head of DCPS Special Ed (whose kids go to Oyster) were promised a pilot program for dual-immersion inclusion with better training for teachers and creating a career path for SPED aides. For whatever reasons, none of it happened this year. Understandably, people have been upset and disappointed. The SPED community had been promised a lot of things over the years at Oyster.

I can't speak to the administration's motive or methods, but DCPS is opening a dedicated special needs school at River Terrace. Which is kind of odd because they closed the previous full-time SPED school Prospect Learning Center a couple of years ago.

[b]DCPS is legally required to provide an appropriate education, but it is not to offer education at a particular school. It's possible DCPS wants to transfer high needs Oyster kids to River Terrace.[/b]

It's sad to hear that things have been disruptive for these families and for their classmates. Nothing is ever simple with DCPS and special needs.

Anyone with concerns they think are not being addressed may find it helpful to contact the independent Ombudsman for Education. They have free services and useful information.

http://sboe.dc.gov/page/what-expect-08

[/quote]

DCPS -- and all public school systems -- are required to provide an appropriate education in the least restrictive setting. That means that before a kid can be sent to River Terrace, it has to be shown that it was impossible for that kid to make progress in the neighborhood (or general ed) school, even with services, aids, and special instruction. DCPS "wanting" to transfer kids is not a sufficient justification.[/quote]

O-A is not the neighborhood school of many special ed students; in fact they ended up there precisely because the previous principal and DCPS, with little justification and inadequate planning and resources, had them transferred/ enrolled away from their neighborhood schools.

I'm not sure if DCPS is now evaluating accommodating the kids with most severe needs in their neighborhood schools or, as a previous PP noted, moving them to a new one. In any case, there is still a large group of special ed kids happily integrated with the rest. Oyster has 10% special ed kids; Janney only 6% and Eaton 7%.[/quote]

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