OT:Has anyone been successful with the school district paying for private services?

[Bird-Mom]

If anyone has been successful with getting their school district to pay for private school, could you give me some tips? We moved into this district (award winning, or so they say) in December, after asking about their programs, and all we have done is gotten more and more frustrated. They deceived us with the initial information, and it goes downhill from there. We should have stayed in the old district, but my dh got a new job and wanted to be closer. Ugh. The old district had a maximum of 12 students (2 or 3 typical) with a wide range of diagnoses and 3 aides plus the therapists when they had time.

I have a just turned 4 year old dd who is developmentally delayed except for motor skills by about one year. This district tried first to put her in a classroom of 22 (half typical/half SN) with one teacher, one aide for all children, and one aide only for the SN children. This will not work for dd because she falls to the back of the crowd and lets everyone step on her. She also was only given afternoon placement even though she naps. And she would have been on the bus for an hour and 15 minutes each way! We live about 7 minutes from the school if you hit every traffic light. Then they wanted to put her in a class where the children have much more severe issues and where there are no typical peers. We happened to meet a mama in the park whose ds is in that class, and she confirmed that it wasn't an appropriate placement either, which was our first instinct when we tried to tell them we didn't think that would work. They refused to listen.

Every time we ask for info, another placement, to talk to someone else, we are given the wrong info. We then take that bad info higher and are told, no that isn't true. The director of spec ed *yelled* at me for expressing my concerns. (I have an MS Ed, and she spoke to me like I was a child. ) We have been lied to, embarrassed, humiliated, put off... We wrote a letter to the Superintendant, principal, and head of spec ed asking for placement in private school since the public school was not providing a FAPE. It took 3 weeks to get a response, and we would still be waiting if my dh didn't make many calls. Their excuse...they each thought the other would be following through. Oh yeah, they cannot get dd's name right, and continuously call her wrong names. That is so irritating. Miranda is not so difficult. And it really bothers her. She gets mad if we try to call her a nickname.

There is no way that I can trust the school with my most precious dd. We put her in private school, which dh's grandfather was paying for. Unfortunately, he passed away suddenly. The estate looks to be very messy, so there may not be anything for my dh, and if there is, it is going to take forever. We have enough saved to pay for the rest of the school year and the summer, but no way can we afford next year. I would love to hear thoughts on how we should proceed.

TIA for reading my book!

 

[ducklite]

I did. But it wasn't easy. After YEARS of dealing with the public schools inability to educat my child, IEP meetings that I can't count on my fingers and toes, and more, I finally took them to court.

You need to PROVE that they are failiing to educate your child in the least restrictive environment. And "Failure to educate" is a broad term. In my case 20 completed pages of math work over an entire year because "he wouldn't do it" was a good place to start--particularly when I had a regular parent teacher meeting with his teacher not a month early and he never mentioned it. A letter from the Director of Special Services which stated "while we could have provided a better placement..." was more ammo. I documented five years of ineffective education before I got what he needed.

What you would be FAR better off doing is requesting a f/t aid for your daughter in a mainstream class--that will cost the school a lot less and they might be more amicable to it.

Good luck.

Anne

 

[dclfun]

Which state do you live in? In Florida, McKay scholarships cover SN children in private/parochial schools and from what I've heard the parent uses the scholarship voucher for their child to attend their school of choice, not relying on the public schools to make that decision. Good luck getting what you need! ---Kathy and Skye

 

[mamaminnie]

I'd say a good place to start would be with a lawyer who specializes in kids/special education. They would be able to tell you what usually happens in your area.

In NYC you have to sue the city to get them to pay for private special ed school and usually you win.

 

[joanchris]

It sounds like your DD is in preschool....and the placement sounds similar to what we have in our district (I work as a one on one aide in the preschool, and have a DD10 who has severe multible disabilities, and has her own one on one aide in 4th grade in mainstream, in her home school). I have not had huge issues with my own daughter's placement, but have heard from many families through a listserv that have had issues and had to litigate etc.
--the bus ride sounds ridiculous, however that is usually not under the schools control, unless you can give them a good medical reason why she cannot be on the bus that long (ie it's not air conditioned and she cannot control body temp, she has medical needs that might require a nurse, etc) you probably have little leverage.
--if I read correctly, she's delayed about a year? If you're concerned about her in the large class, then are there goals for her in her IEP for social problems, like letting the other kids do everything?
--did she attend the school at all? were there problems? At our school, not sure if all schools do this, most kids come in to the preschool under a 30 day evaluation, where they are observed, obvious issues are worked on and placement changes can happen at the end of that time (some kids, like my student, get a one on one at the end of the placement, others are moved to another classroom....etc) If you didnt' try her first in the public school, then you will have very little basis for proving that they did not provide FAPE.
---By this time of year the classrooms are all very crowded at our school, they are at max students, as we lose no students unless someone moves, but anyone moving into the district, turning 3 or just getting services for the first time enters school. By the time school starts again in Aug, we will again have nice small classes, which will again grow by the end of the year, maybe that would be a time to bring her back to public school--she can start the year, get comfortable before the classes grow larger again.

--it does sound like you're getting the run around of sorts....have you put your requests in writing, and gotten signed receipt of letters you've sent? You need to document everything and have a way to prove it. Do you tape our IEP meetings? If not, start. I stopped getting so much run around when I started bringing my cassette recorder to meetings.

Good luck!

 

[Hannathy]

Just responding to the bus time, my DD's times were the same 1:15 on bus 10 minutes if we took her. So for 4 yrs we just drove her because they were providing transportation we just didn't like it so it was up to us to provide different. Sorry but not everyone can be picked up last and with special needs kids pick ups can take a long time.

 

[Densgirl]

I live in the NE and we did it too. I used a way out there tactic that wouldn't work for everyone and we only did it out of pure desperation. The placement DS was about to be sent to was completly inappropriate, unsafe and just wrong. He's 16 functioning around 4 or 5 and was going to be sent to a pretty hectic place for even the most typically developing child. I refused the placement and wouldn't send him to school. The entire time he was home I was following the states homeschool guidelines but I hadn't been approved to do it yet. I had a friend who was doing it and I was using her basic lesson plan adapted to DS. The state board of education contacted me and hinted around at suing us for what basically would've amounted to a truancy thing. It wouldn't work for our DS because he is sick enough to be written out of school entirely but it isn't in his best social interests. I told them to bring it on and next thing we knew DS was given a placement we'd always dreamed of. It isn't for the faint of heart but this was after many times of trying to work things out their way and DS crying his entire way through middle school. It broke my heart and I wasn't doing it for another 4 years, more importantly I wasn't allowing him to endure another 4 years like that. For us it was remediated before the courts were involved but as everyone said contact a lawyer and use them. You will thank yourself for it later. We didn't do it soon enough.

 

[HappyLawyer]

I am a former special education teacher, i do not think the district will pay for a private school, but they should pay for any educational services your child needs. If they cannot provide it, they sould look at out of district resources and other types of schools but i believe it is their choice of where they will send your child to meet their needs, they will pay for that, if you agree but if you do not then it will fall on you. Good Luck

 

[boosmom96]

I agree with the other posters, you should probably make an appointment with a good spec ed attorney. We spent a few years in hearing and even federal court with our district. It's a very draining process. Our DD is now in a private school and our district has really turned around, but it was a long, hard battle.
It's really important that you document everything. Good luck and hang in there!!!

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Have you thought of cross contracting with your old district? Basically your new school district will pay your old district to educate your daughter. The will provide bus transportation for her and she will attend like she lives in the district except the funds for her education will be paid by the district you currently live in. If you were happy there and think that it was a better placement for her then I would see if your state does that. I know my district does this and I am in Long Island NY

 

[Bird-Mom]

Thanks everyone for your input. I had a feeling that it will be a long, uphill battle, and I'm torn about starting that. We currently live in WA, and we are hoping to move to FL in 2-3 years, depending on how long it takes my dh to transfer into a different position with his company.

In all honestly, I would much rather keep her at the private school because she is making huge strides, unbelievable progress compared to when she was in the other school district last year. Anne, your idea about asking for an aide and keeping her in a mainstream classroom is perfect; however, she is in preschool and they do not have mainstream preschool classrooms. Should we still live in the district when Kindy comes up, I will ask for that (assuming she doesn't evaluate out of special services). All of the children except my dd and one other girl are typical.

I can't let her try the preschool. I asked if I could go with her for the first few days to observe (when they wanted to put her in such a large class) and make sure that she wouldn't be swallowed up. They told me no because I would have to bring my other dd. We have no family here and no childcare available during the day. After trying to work with these people, I am 150% sure that they are not capable of taking care of my dd.

I know that sometimes the bus can be long, and I would drive her no problem, but she begs to go on the bus. Last year when she started, I was too worried about letting her on the bus. Then they took a field trip at the end of the year, and I let her go. Oy, every day after that "Miranda go bus!"

I know 2 people (not local to my SD) who have gotten their SD to pay. One got it very easily by writing one letter. No fight or anything. Her dd's situation is different from mine, but I was hopeful. The other person's ds' IEP says the SD must pay, but they aren't paying and are on the way to court.

I am really only worried about next year because hopefully in fall 2007, I will be teaching at the school for trade when my other dd is old enough to attend. The school currently goes through first grade, so Miranda would be set for awhile if for some reason we haven't moved to FL yet. If worse comes to worse, I will keep her home for the fall, and we will move back to the old district in December. You do not legally have to go to school here until age 8. That will cost much less than a legal battle although I will make some calls this week to see if I can find a lawyer. My dh is still following up with the head of spec ed; they keep missing each other.

 

[crazyme5kids]

My sister and brother-in-law were able to get my nephew in a private school. They live in NJ. The problems they had were so bad, the district knew that they would lose a court battle, they agreed to send him where my sister and BIL wanted him to go. It did take almost the entire school year of "playing the game" though. They went to a bunch of schools the district suggested, none of which would be a good fit for my nephew. It was a very, very stressful time for my sister.