Touring Potential Placements

[akafred]

I am totally not an expert in this area, but it does not seem to be the sort of decision a teacher makes. In my district any parent or prospective parent can tour any school available to them. There may be restrictions (one school only does tours on Thursdays), but they allow it for anyone. I believe I would call the schools and ask, or someone at the district.

[akafred]

Still I would think there is someone at the district level or school level to help with that vs her teacher. It sounds like a cop out or speaking out of turn.

[mrsbuttinski]

What options do you actually have and does touring trigger the whole confidentiality issue around the IEPs of other students?

[freezorburn]

Are the PTAs in your school district pretty active? They might be a good source of information.

Our school district held information sessions for parents of special needs kids who will be entering K next year. Those sessions happened back in Oct/Nov. For various reasons, the placement process and the IEP process aren't very well coordinated, and for this reason the sessions were helpful in providing an understanding of what we can expect. Initial placement is done just as with non-SN kids -- really it's about getting them registered and in the system and just doing an initial placement based on geography. Later on there is a process for applying to option schools, or for the child to be re-assigned to a different location, if that location would better serve that child (based on IEP, which happens in May/June). They also provided a matrix of which schools have different types/levels of services, so we can narrow down the possibilities of where the student might be moved to, if another school happens to be a better fit for our child.

Touring the schools is the same as with non-SN kids/families. The schools/PTAs held a couple of evening open houses in Jan/Feb. So, classes were not going on but it was helpful to see the classrooms and meet with parents and teachers. DS got an initial look at the place where he will most likely go to school.

The process is not completely smooth, but I gathered from the information sessions that they've been trying to make some adjustments in response to feedback that they've gotten over the years.

The schools in our district also have a "Jump Start" week at the end of summer. It's sort of a half-day, week long orientation program for Kindergarteners. Sounds like the focus is on getting comfortable with the new teachers and new environment and learning what is expected. I think that is also when DS would get to meet any SpEd teachers or aides that will be working with him.

[mrsbuttinski]

Mar 10, 2017 23:31:26 GMT -5 @kitchen said:

Mar 10, 2017 23:18:33 GMT -5 mrsbuttinski said:

I don't know the options. That's the problem.


I would expect an advocate with sped experience would have a good sense of what other kids with similar issues are getting in different districts. When I was first dealing with public school, DS's psychologist was able to outline what was out there. If there's a local support group, some BTDT parents probably have ideas about where kids they know have been placed. A SEPTA is another resource for information of this kind. 


The district literally said we will give you an offer for placemenr and then you can tour it. I'm fine with a scenario where options are outlined but I can't tour because of confidentiality. It's the "we will make you one offer and then you can see it" that seems so incredibly problematic (especially since I won't see it during the school year).

A problem, to be sure. But I can see how administrators get to this place. Even if you take the confidentiality out of it, touring takes time away from and is potentially disruptive for the students in the current class.  In some situations, the cohort this year may not be truly representative of the kids who will occupy the class next year when your kiddo is there. Plus, it can be hard to see your own child in the context of other kids with significant challenges; most parents want a placement where their child is the kid with the most needs in a classroom so they have peer models to learn from even if that isn't the appropriate setting for their child at the moment. 

But I agree, this is a problem when a parent isn't part of the process. I mean, how can you be an effective member of the CSE/IEP team if you don't have access to the information you need to write the IEP.

[akafred]

Mar 10, 2017 22:40:27 GMT -5 @kitchen said:

Mar 10, 2017 22:04:57 GMT -5 akafred said:

Still I would think there is someone at the district level or school level to help with that vs her teacher. It sounds like a cop out or speaking out of turn.

The person who told me that the district would give me an option and I could tour it was the director of elementary sped programs. Her underling is dds case manager. The teacher is awesome and helpful. The district is the problem.

Sorry, I missed that part. I wish I could be more helpful. I wish you had more access to information.

[freezorburn]

Does your advocate work for the district? Or are hey independent? Just curious