Reply to Basis DC just withdrew its request to amend their charter and add elementary school

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Basis DC just withdrew its request to amend their charter and add elementary school"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

OK. IDEA means that schools including charter schools have the obligation to provide disabled students with an appropriate education and the supports needed to access the curriculum. BASIS repeatedly violated these requirements in its middle school. Not because the kids were too dumb to keep up (your extremely ignorant and insulting suggestion) but because BASIS outright ignored their IEPs (the legally binding plans stating the supports they needed due to their disabilities).  Hence, the charter board was exactly right to questiom whether BASIS had a plan for special needs for their elementary schools. Special needs are identified in elementary and preschool and kids benefit greatly from early intervention. Those kids have rights and BASIS was not prepared to meet them. [/quote]

I don't think I ever suggested kids who weren't a good fit for BASIS were too dumb, and I most certainly do not believe that.  I'm sorry if someone has expressed that opinion to you, I agree it is wrong.  I want to see every child in a school that is a great fit and for parents to have to make a hard decisions because there are so many good options available.  I did suggest that the hostility towards basis extends far beyond their willingness to make reasonable accommodations to students who are otherwise a good fit.  For example, there is nothing in the law that requires a school be located in particular ward and yet based on the questioning of the board, this is clearly a factor in the decision making process.  It's also a particularly unfair one in this case because the options near the locations BASIS was considering are quite limited.

I also suggested that there seemed to be an excessive focus in the hearing on accommodating students who fit a particular profile to the exclusion of everything else.  That doesn't mean I believe there shouldn't be reasonable accommodations, just that additional considerations seemed to be given short shrift.  I hope BASIS is able to work to meet your concerns, but I also hope you are open to the idea that there should be many options for parents and not every option will be right for every child.  I think supporting and working with BASIS will make the district a more attractive place for other charters to open and excessive hostility will have the opposite effect. 
[/quote]

Charter schools are not private schools.  Under the law, schools do NOT get to decide if kids with special needs who are educated in the general classroom are a fit.  The school has to fit the student.  That's how it works.  You don't seem to have internalized that fully and I suggest you do.  Maybe DC schools are not a good fit for you if you think that considering BASIS's proven record of flouting IDEA is "excessive focus."

As for ward locations -- it's right there in the charter law that the applicant has to provide a "A statement of the need for the proposed school in the geographic area of the school site." [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics