Anonymous wrote:We are at Lee and I just met with the SPED director today to start the IEP process for my 4yr old. I can say that she's very responsive - our teacher sent a referral email and the director was ON IT even though next week is the last of the school year. She is even going to try to get the OT to do an observation next week if possible. I really like that they have OT in house and the SPED director and OT already know my kid because it's a small school and they are in all of the classrooms. I'm also a pro- Montessori person and I'm not fussed about test scores, for a number of reasons.

DCUM is so obsessed with middle school - it's a particularly hard time demographically for middle school right now, but for me, a school that is a good match for my particular kid is way more important than where he'll go to school in eight years. If my very smart but possibly neurodivergent spends those years at a school that aren't meeting his needs, Middle school will be a disaster wherever we are.


We bike to Lee from another neighborhood and it's fine but walking to school is amazing. I would reach out to Breakthrough and ask to have a conversation with their SPED director as an incoming family. If you are happy with how their approach to IEPs feels and are going to be walking distance, I would choose that. If you aren't satisfied and think Montessori is right for your kid, Lee is great.

I’d co-sign this. I have a kid with an IEP at Lee Brookland, and the SPED director is amazing and so responsive and engaged. One service my kid gets is OT, and the OT is also really good. Can’t speak directly to speech, but the speech pathologist is on staff, not a a contractor, and has been at the school for years. Obviously there can be turnover, but I’ve been super impressed and clearly it’s something the school as a whole prioritizes.

Hi, here to offer a different insight on ITDS as a parent of a child with an IEP. When my child was first set up with an IEP the support we received was excellent. After 1 semester that teacher left, the head of the SPED department left, and it was a nonstop roller coaster from there.

The admin who lead the SPED program are constantly changing, as are the instructors, and often the curriculum as a result of these changes. The school does not make sure they always have staff with a certain set of certifications so what they can offer varies.

My child had times where there was a full year of regression on paper but all year we had been told there was improvement. With the exception of a few great instructors (who were always changed out so we did have a long term benefit) over the years, I felt like no one cared. We left the school as have more than a few of our peers who have had kids there with IEPs. It is an inconsistent mess at best.

At the end of the day the worst part was that the teachers (in the regular classes) treated my kid like it was ok not to do the same work as the rest of the class and it became clear that there were many projects my child was excluded from. It was heartbreaking, especially because my child is more than capable.

If you know you will need SPED services long term I would not choose ITDS. If you think a year or so will be all you need, maybe you will get lucky.

That’s terrifying. Can you expand on what happened to the student at Breakthrough with the bad special ed experience? I’m going to take everyone’s advice and ask to speak to the sped coordinator next week. Thank you all so much!

I know of a student at Breakthrough with a horrible special education experience.

Our experience with IEPs and DCPS / DCPCS is sometimes it is year to year dependent.
We had situations where the OT went out on personal leave and there was a temporary person providing services that were not as consistent.
Or when the Special Education Teacher went out on maternity leave and the school DID NOT BACKFILL AT ALL!
Just stopped providing services.
Pick the place that checks the most boxes for you and plan on supplementing if you need to

We are a Breakthrough family and have been very happy with the school through the grade levels. It seems people have more varying experiences in lower el and upper el, but the administration has been great and super responsive to us with any questions we've had. We've felt lucky to have really strong guides, and we know families who have successfully changed guides if they found it a bad fit (within reason of course). In our opinion the communication at the school has been great throughout all the years, and the two EDs we've had have been superb. There will be a new Principal next year and we think she will really focus on firming up on academic standards across the board, particularly the upper el years. If you live in the Takoma neighborhood it would be a great local school. We only wish there was an easier path for MS from there, because families leave throughout the years for other schools with better feeder options. We hope they can solve for it in the future so more families feel comfortable staying.

We are at Lee and I just met with the SPED director today to start the IEP process for my 4yr old. I can say that she's very responsive - our teacher sent a referral email and the director was ON IT even though next week is the last of the school year. She is even going to try to get the OT to do an observation next week if possible. I really like that they have OT in house and the SPED director and OT already know my kid because it's a small school and they are in all of the classrooms. I'm also a pro- Montessori person and I'm not fussed about test scores, for a number of reasons.

DCUM is so obsessed with middle school - it's a particularly hard time demographically for middle school right now, but for me, a school that is a good match for my particular kid is way more important than where he'll go to school in eight years. If my very smart but possibly neurodivergent spends those years at a school that aren't meeting his needs, Middle school will be a disaster wherever we are.


We bike to Lee from another neighborhood and it's fine but walking to school is amazing. I would reach out to Breakthrough and ask to have a conversation with their SPED director as an incoming family. If you are happy with how their approach to IEPs feels and are going to be walking distance, I would choose that. If you aren't satisfied and think Montessori is right for your kid, Lee is great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you also so much for these replies! It confirms everything I have heard, which is that if we get into inspired teaching, we should go to inspired teaching! I love pretty close to Bloomingdale now so that’s actually a really good point about taking the bus from Bloomingdale. My big question is for anyone whose child has an IEP and receives speech or occupational therapy at inspired teaching? I would love to hear what they think. That’s also really interesting about people leaving Lee Montessori… No wonder they said we would get off the waitlist ha ha. I have two friends whose kids have IEPs and they love Lee Montessori. So that’s why I was strongly considering Lee. but it sounds like if we don’t get into inspired teaching, and the choice is between Lee Montessori or Breakthrough Montessori, we should stick with breakthrough.

It really depends on what you want. Personally I do not think Lee and Breakthrough are that different aside from location. And I would rather live in Takoma than where I live now which is near ITDS and Lee. I think some people just don't want Montessori for upper elementary, or they prioritize getting on track for middle and high school. Only you can decide your own wants and priorities.

I think the sped services at ITDS are fine, but I don't have firsthand knowledge.

Can you expand on them not being that different? Looking at the ASPIRE data for them on the PCSB site, their academic data seems pretty different. Meeting or exceeding CAPE for math for white students at Lee is 54% vs 29% at breakthrough, for example, for last year. Neither great, but 29% is much worse.

Well, because I don't place too much stock in CAPE because both schools have a small test-taking population in the grades that take CAPE (3rd-6th). Lee has more experience operating upper grade classrooms, Breakthrough is a newer school. If you really want to dig in, use the OSSE CAPE spreadsheets. You can see there that Breakthrough has more at-risk students and way more English Language Learners and also more with special needs. So the difference in testing is about what I would expect given those things. I know people who are happy at both schools.

Anonymous wrote:Completely agree that choosing convenience and a walkable school is very important. We spent years commuting our kids to elementary school, and even "just a bus ride" really adds up. Especially keep in mind that as they age they will want to do activities at the school (e.g. chess club, girl scouts), plus play on sports teams with kids from the school who will pick practice fields that are close to the school, etc. Their friends will likely live near the school and they will want play dates with them. You will wind up commuting to the school area way more than just your daily school day. As a single parent this seems even more important.

there are a lot of ITDS families who live in the area (or, at least Ward 5 as a whole), but as city-wide charters my guess is they each draw kids from various neighborhoods. I think there is a public website that shows the wards from which people attend each school. The au pair resource would make me care less about getting the kid home from afterschool activities but a good flag if they want to be spending time across town over the weekends. My kid goes to ITDS and we don't live in that area. We find ourselves doing cross town meet ups on the weekends but often they are focused on shared activities where none of us live

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you also so much for these replies! It confirms everything I have heard, which is that if we get into inspired teaching, we should go to inspired teaching! I love pretty close to Bloomingdale now so that’s actually a really good point about taking the bus from Bloomingdale. My big question is for anyone whose child has an IEP and receives speech or occupational therapy at inspired teaching? I would love to hear what they think. That’s also really interesting about people leaving Lee Montessori… No wonder they said we would get off the waitlist ha ha. I have two friends whose kids have IEPs and they love Lee Montessori. So that’s why I was strongly considering Lee. but it sounds like if we don’t get into inspired teaching, and the choice is between Lee Montessori or Breakthrough Montessori, we should stick with breakthrough.

It really depends on what you want. Personally I do not think Lee and Breakthrough are that different aside from location. And I would rather live in Takoma than where I live now which is near ITDS and Lee. I think some people just don't want Montessori for upper elementary, or they prioritize getting on track for middle and high school. Only you can decide your own wants and priorities.

I think the sped services at ITDS are fine, but I don't have firsthand knowledge.

Can you expand on them not being that different? Looking at the ASPIRE data for them on the PCSB site, their academic data seems pretty different. Meeting or exceeding CAPE for math for white students at Lee is 54% vs 29% at breakthrough, for example, for last year. Neither great, but 29% is much worse.

Completely agree that choosing convenience and a walkable school is very important. We spent years commuting our kids to elementary school, and even "just a bus ride" really adds up. Especially keep in mind that as they age they will want to do activities at the school (e.g. chess club, girl scouts), plus play on sports teams with kids from the school who will pick practice fields that are close to the school, etc. Their friends will likely live near the school and they will want play dates with them. You will wind up commuting to the school area way more than just your daily school day. As a single parent this seems even more important.

Anonymous wrote:You haven't gotten any input about Breakthrough yet, and I do not have direct experience, but please ask on the Takoma lists about it. I do think it's a good school, and I would suggest considering your whole life not just your kid's school. Takoma is just a great neighborhood to live in. So is Brookland, but it depends what you want. The schools you're talking about are probably very similar in terms of educational outcomes, and none have a pathway to high school. You may want to choose convenience. I for one eventually moved away from our neighborhood because we got tired after years of commuting across town for school. If you're about to close on a house in Takoma then consider Breakthrough strongly.

I love Takoma and Breakthrough is fine, but ITDS at least goes through 8th. Bridging that gap between 6th and 8th is a real issue for Lee and Breakthrough parents.

You haven't gotten any input about Breakthrough yet, and I do not have direct experience, but please ask on the Takoma lists about it. I do think it's a good school, and I would suggest considering your whole life not just your kid's school. Takoma is just a great neighborhood to live in. So is Brookland, but it depends what you want. The schools you're talking about are probably very similar in terms of educational outcomes, and none have a pathway to high school. You may want to choose convenience. I for one eventually moved away from our neighborhood because we got tired after years of commuting across town for school. If you're about to close on a house in Takoma then consider Breakthrough strongly.

Anonymous wrote:Bonus re bus commute: my kid rode a bus to ITDS with our childcare provider as a small child, then ended up a super-confident transit user at a younger age than his peers. Invaluable to me as a fellow single parent! Good luck to you both!!

I love this! I’m also a single parent Thank you so much.

Bonus re bus commute: my kid rode a bus to ITDS with our childcare provider as a small child, then ended up a super-confident transit user at a younger age than his peers. Invaluable to me as a fellow single parent! Good luck to you both!!