[blindkid] Specifying a particular school in the IEP

[Doug Gottschlich]

Hi,

My school district (California) has a "Gifted and Talented" magnet school
for grades 3 through 8.  We are very interested in getting our daughter into
that program when she starts 3rd grade next year, and are wondering if we're
allowed to specify a particular school in the IEP.

Of course, she must have the academic ability to get in, or there is no
benefit in her going there.  However, all her teachers expect her to easily
pass the entrance exam.  The problem is that there are more students that
pass the exam than there are slots at the school.  The slots are filled by a
not-so-random lottery from the pool of eligible students that have passed
the exam.  (Its not so random because first priority goes to eligible
students whose home school is a"program improvement school" under No Child
Left Behind, second priority goes to eligible siblings of current students
at the school, and the remaining eligible students get lowest priority.)
Since we are not in a program improvement school, and because our daughter
has no siblings, her chances of  getting in through the lottery are 50% at
best.

This Gifted and Talented school focuses on "Differentiated Instruction: a
change from the traditional pace of the curriculum that eliminates
repetition, relieves students of boredom from work in less challenging
curricular areas, and allows students to use the time that they have saved
to to pursue enriching activities".  We firmly believe that this program
would significantly benefit a VI child's education: repetition is very time
consuming and unnecessary as she picks things up quickly, and the time could
be better spent on the additional VI skills needed.  We'd prefer not to
gamble with odds from the lottery, and want to write this school into her
IEP.

I'd love to hear any experiences/insights anyone may have.

Thanks,
Doug Gottschlich