Alternate Placement

[special mom]

What is the name of your state? MD


After a long fought battle and many IEP meetings, Dr. Recommendations, and evaluations, I got my daughter alternate placement in a private special education facility. The person in charge of sending out the applications to the schools was very confrontational during the meetings and actually brought up residential placement options before even mentioning some very good schools within driving distance. Her LRE is day placement. This is in the IEP. She is only in 2nd grade. I sent this man a letter requesting notification of all schools contacted, copies of all contact information for the schools and copies of all correspondence with these facilities. Right off the bat he doesn’t contact me with the information, I am contacted by one of the schools for an interview after which I called him to find out where else the application was sent. He is a former employee of our school of choice and really has an issue with them. My question is who makes the final determination about where she will go if accepted into more than one school? Do I have a legal right to have input on that?

Thanks,

Special MomWhat is the name of your state?

 

[notsmartmark]

You have the right of input into placement, but the school is responsible for final decision. You have the right appeal through mediation/due process.

 

[special mom]

Thank you very much.

 

[special mom]

Problem with placement

The public school sent my child's application out to several special education schools in our state. I recieved word today that EVERY school has rejected her application. When I requested a copy of the application I was told that it contained her IEP and copies of the medical records that I provided therefore I already had a copy. However, at our only interview I saw her application and it was over 6" thick with a copy of an e-mail from me to the person who sent the packets out right on top so I asked if I could look over my child's application but was told it was confidential.

I have contacted the director of special education and am hitting a wall. I called the superintendent of education and am awaiting a call back.

I also called my child's doctor, who is affiliated with one of the schools who rejected her for medical reasons. He is going to speak with the admissions people to see if the reasons for rejection line up with her actual condition.

My advocates and her doctors have stated that they feel that this individual has a vendetta against me for fighting for alternate placement and winning, so he is getting retribution on me by putting things in the application that are not entirely true, however, since i have no copy of this i have no proof.

Their next move is to send applications to out of state residential placements. Please take into consideration this is a 7yo child who is developmentally only about 3yo. She is just a child and wouldn't understand if she were shipped off away from her family and the only home she has ever known.

What recourse do I have? If i recieve no assistance from the superintendent would i be out of line by contacting the media? I'm just so frustrated by all this I really could use a word of advice.

thank you

Special Mom

 

[quincy]

You mentioned contacting the media to assist you.

Generally a newspaper, even a small local one, will not be interested in doing a story on one individual having problems dealing with a governmental or educational facility unless there is a broader context that applies or some sort of litigation involved - if special ed placement, for instance, is a common problem that people in your area have been wrestling with, or if there was a suit against the schools for denying equal access to educational facilities for special needs children, say, then perhaps you could get media attention to your particular problem. Otherwise it is unlikely.

However, here is one idea. I don't know if Maryland has television news "investigative news teams" or not, but if they do, that could be a possible media avenue for you to look at. Michigan, for instance, has groups of investigative "teams", or "call for action" reporters, who will actually seek out stories from viewers who are having problems getting complaints resolved any other way. These teams insert themselves into a story by "dogging" various businesses or individuals until the problem is settled to everyone's satisfaction (businesses, for instance, usually settle just to get rid of the annoying reporters ). Usually these reporters look for unscrupulous business people who have scammed consumers in some way, but they might be enticed into doing a story on special education children and school placement problems.

An attorney can probably be more helpful to you than the media can in your case, however. I would certainly think an attorney could get the release of your child's records for your review.

 

[lealea1005]

The public school sent my child's application out to several special education schools in our state. I recieved word today that EVERY school has rejected her application. When I requested a copy of the application I was told that it contained her IEP and copies of the medical records that I provided therefore I already had a copy. However, at our only interview I saw her application and it was over 6" thick with a copy of an e-mail from me to the person who sent the packets out right on top so I asked if I could look over my child's application but was told it was confidential.

I have contacted the director of special education and am hitting a wall. I called the superintendent of education and am awaiting a call back.

I also called my child's doctor, who is affiliated with one of the schools who rejected her for medical reasons. He is going to speak with the admissions people to see if the reasons for rejection line up with her actual condition.

My advocates and her doctors have stated that they feel that this individual has a vendetta against me for fighting for alternate placement and winning, so he is getting retribution on me by putting things in the application that are not entirely true, however, since i have no copy of this i have no proof.

Their next move is to send applications to out of state residential placements. Please take into consideration this is a 7yo child who is developmentally only about 3yo. She is just a child and wouldn't understand if she were shipped off away from her family and the only home she has ever known.

What recourse do I have? If i recieve no assistance from the superintendent would i be out of line by contacting the media? I'm just so frustrated by all this I really could use a word of advice.

thank you

Special Mom

No, no no!!!! You have every right to view and/or get copies of your daughter's IEP records!! You may have copies of her medical records and the actual accommodations sheet, but her IEP records also include testing results and teacher assessments. Those records should be shared with you at each IEP meeting and copies should have been offered at each meeting!!

Hopefully, her Doctor will have some answers for you after speaking with admissions at the school. If not, I agree with quincy. It's time to have an attorney help you.

As for the local investigative news teams, depending upon where in Maryland you're located, you'd have several to choose from (iether Baltimore or DC stations). I'm pretty sure the school officials would decline commenting on the specific case citing confidentiality issues.

Best of luck!

 

[special mom]

I have copies of all her IEP records dating back to Child Find. I have kept every single thing that has ever come home with her. I have all of it in a binder (actually 3 binders) but that isn't what I think recipitated her rejections.

I got a call from the school official who has been giving me such a hard time. He now suddenly wants to be cooperative and has assured me that there is nothing in the application I need to see. So I told him that I am certain there are things in the application packet that shouldn't be there such as an email sent from me to him and the director of special education reiterating my concern that we not apply to residential placements. I saw this at an interview at one of the schools. When i asked to review the rest of the 6" thick folder I was told it was confidential. The email just happened to be on the top page. I told him I thought that was highly innapropriate, didn't he agree? He says he will mail the packet to me but i seriously doubt it is what the schools actually recieved. Is there any way to ensure what I recieve is the same as what the schools recieved?

The e-mail is the only thing i saw that was out of place but it was really the only thing I actually saw and that made very suspicious.

I'm still waiting on the call back from the superintendent. I am really interested in what our physician finds out at our school of choice. I plan on asking the superintendent to have someone else handle my child's placement. Would this be out of line? I just get so angry when I deal wtih this man it is all I can do to remain civil.

I plan on holding off contacting anyone other than an attorney,(the media) the only problem with that is financially I'm barely making ends meet and looking headlong at another possible brain surgery in the new year. Our daycare expenses just rose another $40.00 a week making my daycare expenses more than 1/2 of my net income. Staying home is not an option because i provide insurance. Besides the fact that someone has to pay for medication and medical bills since her dad refuses to pay support. I could probably find an attorney who doesn't specialize in education but I wonder how effective that would be. We live in a rural area and I've been unable to locate anyone who specializes in education. Would that really be neccessary or could a general attorney handle this?

I know I wrote a lot, sorry...

Special Mom

 

[Humusluvr]

This may be an old thread, but I wanted to offer some suggestions to you...

under FERPA, you are legally entitled to every single correspondence from ANYONE regarding your daughter. Even a post-it note. And you could just walk in and demand it. If they denied you, you could sue and demand that they pay your legal fees. As long as you are the mother and have legal custody, you are entitled to all school records.

If you are having trouble paying for day care and the schooling issues, you could apply for Federal Assistance (welfare). Mental retardation is a disability and would make you eligible.

Good Luck!

 

[special mom]

Thank you for the information about FERPA, i was unaware of this law. I googled it and think it will be extremely helpful. I have contacted the county superintendant of education regarding the inapropriate behavior of the program facilitator. If that is unsatisfactory I will be pursuing other avenues.

As far as welfare, we don't qualify for anything because I work full timeish, what with appointments at the doctors, my husband works full time and they consider the household income even though he is stepdad. Shame her father won't pay his obligation... I wonder though, if there are any programs to assist families with children with disabilities to pay for the higher cost of daycare? I've been looking into it but have had no success so far. Do you know of anything like that?

Thanks,

Special Mom

 

[Indiana Filer]

It's possible that your child might qualify for SSI, even though your income is too high for welfare. SSI is administered by the Social Security Admin, even though it's a form of welfare.

Call your local Social Security office for more info, or go to www.ssa.gov

 

[special mom]

Thanks,

We tried that route last year before she had the multiple brain surgeries. We were turned down. Doesn't hurt to try, when you have a million dollar baby. I'm sure we'll get by, and who knows, maybe NCP will pay the purge amount and get out of jail before Christmas. That would be merry for all involved!