Does anyone have information about Accotink Alternative School in Springfield for an emotionally disabled 8th-grader. It's been recommended.
Also, Fairfax County will want to keep our son within the cluster and probably send him to Herndon Middle School.
Any advice on how to get the county to pay for a contract school without wasting anymore time in FCPSs.

FCPS pays a ton of money to private schools for students.

FCPS pays more money than it would like for such students in such schools.

Find a good attorney specializing in education issues - Steven David Stone in Alexandria comes to mind although he usually represents school personnel accused wrongly - and make it appear that you are going to sue.

If your kid is as screwed up as it sounds, FCPS will likely make a deal once you have an attorney.

As much as it pains me to say this, GMU Hokie gives good advice. FCPS folds like cheap suit when you 'lawyer up' and will give parents just about anything they ask for. I don't know where it is buried in the budget, but the cost for outplaced special education students is a really large number. Not to say that many (but not all) truly deserve a higher/different level of support than may be available locally, but the cost per student is easily $50K and some programs such as the VA School for the Deaf in Staunton are close to $100K annually.

My wife is a special education teacher with FCPS and has generally positive things to say about Accotink.

OK , maybe I missed something here, and probably did, however, why should Fairfax have to pay for children like that? Is it not up to the parents?

Bonfire Wrote:
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> OK , maybe I missed something here, and probably
> did, however, why should Fairfax have to pay for
> children like that? Is it not up to the parents?


Are you crazy!? That would require personal responsibility with a dash of moral value -- ludicrous! Don't you get it? It's always someone else's problem!

Because the schools will not take a stand and fight a few of these cases, this has become a gathering spot for people who want the taxpayers to foot the bill for everything for their kid. Learn from what other entities in the county have done, fight them and they will quit coming and filing suits. Blood sucking attornies will not bother with these cases because they will learn they are wasting their precious time and can continue soaking DUI and red light offenders to plead them out.

Bonfire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK , maybe I missed something here, and probably
> did, however, why should Fairfax have to pay for
> children like that? Is it not up to the parents?


Like it or not, there are some children with disabilities that FCPS cannot adequately service with available resources, but there is an obligation to provide an education under a number of Federal mandates (see Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as a starting point) as well as simply being the right thing to do - you can't just warehouse children who are different. With regard to a child who is deaf, they have a right to an education just as much as my kids and yours, but a placement at Woodson may not be appropriate.

FCPS does have a number of outstanding facilities (e.g., Kilmer Center), but there are parents who object to this placement even when it is clearly in their child's best interest. From what I hear from my wife many parents object to labels like "MR" and fight for something else. Is this logical? No, but in the grand scheme of things I think that FCPS gets it right most of the time in this area. I do not believe that you can offer programs like IB, AP, and TJHSST for children at the top and simply ignore those at the bottom as if they are losers in life's lottery.

Emotionally Disabled? WTF?

Do Vulcans head up this school?

Ok understood, but emotionally disabled??? Does this leave pure logic? hmmm

Numbers Wrote:
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> Emotionally Disabled? WTF?


There are a lot of reasons and root causes for an ED label, but a common one my wife has seen are with foreign adoptions, often from Russia, when the children were abused and/or neglected. Hard to comprehend if you grew up in a typical American home with parents who generally demonstrated affection and kept you fed and clothed, but not necessarily what all of these children experience.

Yes, emotionally disabled. I drive Special Ed and see it all the time.

Emotionally disabled is also used when the kid is behind his/her peers emotionally. Their reactions are less mature for their age. Actually it's quite common, which begs the question, 'what is normal'?

Of course, on FFXU, there's a lot of ED going around. :-)

There's a private school of some sort at Braddock & Backlick Rds....Phillips something or other.

It must be a special place because I see school buses from DC, Montgomery, PG, and even Charles Counties Maryland rolling in and out of there every day.

tubby Wrote:
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> There's a private school of some sort at Braddock
> & Backlick Rds....Phillips something or other.
>
> It must be a special place because I see school
> buses from DC, Montgomery, PG, and even Charles
> Counties Maryland rolling in and out of there
> every day.

I don't know about it being special.

Parents of students at this school have taken their original school systems to court to get the kids in.

Go to your local courthouse and the federal court house in Alexandria to see the number of cases in which the school system is a defendant.

Special ed parents are like the Mafia. They make offers you can't afford to refuse.

Case in point:

My sister taught special ed at Hayfield Elementary around 20 years ago. One student beat her so badly that my sister had bruises. My brother-in-law is a very successful attorney. He wanted to take FCPS and the kid to court. My sister was advised to let it go. If they pursued any action against the kid, her career was in danger because he was a special ed student and member of a minority group.

The child was removed from her class and put in another program. My sister said that if this boy did not get the help he needed, he would kill someone one day.

The boy is now a man and he is serving a 20 year sentence in federal prison for manslaughter.

I have lots of info on that school.... my neighbor went there.... im going to sleep now but I'll post it later on....

GMU Hokie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tubby Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There's a private school of some sort at
> Braddock
> > & Backlick Rds....Phillips something or other.
> >
> > It must be a special place because I see school
> > buses from DC, Montgomery, PG, and even Charles
> > Counties Maryland rolling in and out of there
> > every day.
>
> I don't know about it being special.
>
> Parents of students at this school have taken
> their original school systems to court to get the
> kids in.
>
> Go to your local courthouse and the federal court
> house in Alexandria to see the number of cases in
> which the school system is a defendant.
>
> Special ed parents are like the Mafia. They make
> offers you can't afford to refuse.
>
> Case in point:
>
> My sister taught special ed at Hayfield Elementary
> around 20 years ago. One student beat her so
> badly that my sister had bruises. My
> brother-in-law is a very successful attorney. He
> wanted to take FCPS and the kid to court. My
> sister was advised to let it go. If they pursued
> any action against the kid, her career was in
> danger because he was a special ed student and
> member of a minority group.
>
> The child was removed from her class and put in
> another program. My sister said that if this boy
> did not get the help he needed, he would kill
> someone one day.
>
> The boy is now a man and he is serving a 20 year
> sentence in federal prison for manslaughter.


Another case of the Federal government "helping" us. The parents are mostly in denial and the county folds like a lawn chair

Also, look at "The GW School" it's similar and I've heard GREAT things about it. AAS is more for "special" kids, so if you are saying your child is a trouble-maker (not trying to be rude) or that he is depressed, then check out GW.

As far as getting the County to pay for it, you will have to get LOTS of testing done and get a good lawyer! Talk to Accotink and see if they can recommend one.

Hope that helps a bit....

703-4-life

I had TONS of trouble with hayfield elem.
If you have time, I would love to hear your stories.

The administration there was beyond evil. I removed my child. I
still am shell shocked by the treatment I was given. Yes, my child
is in the spec ed program.

tubby Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's a private school of some sort at Braddock
> & Backlick Rds....Phillips something or other.
>
>

It used to be called School for Contemporary Education, now called Phillips.