[blindkid] Specifying a particular school in the IEP

Doug Gottschlich doug.gottschlich at gmail.com
Sat Dec 13 15:54:29 UTC 2008


Hi,

Thanks for all the comments, especially Mike and Carrie.  You have good
points -- the issue is "necessary", not just "best".  I should clarify, we
don't want to get her in unless she can pass the academic eligibility test
-- and I agree we don't want to use her blindness to get her considered
eligible.  But I don't mind using it to get her a higher priority in the
pool of kids who are eligible.  After all, I don't hear anyone from the
Program Improvements schools or those with siblings at the school saying,
"Oh, we don't want our kid to get in just because they are in a bad school
or because they have a sibling there already".  In any case, we recently
learned that the entrance information we initially received was incorrect,
and that actually most kids who are eligible do get in.  So hopefully we
don't have to pursue via the IEP.  We'll find out early next year.  Thanks
again for your comments.

Doug


On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:00 PM, Doug Gottschlich <
doug.gottschlich at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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



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