Need help in NYC

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
Need help in NYC
8
Fri, 03-24-2006 - 11:17am
My son currently attends NYC public school with an IEP and placement in a special ed classroom. We moved to NYC in October and I immediately started working on getting him in school ASAP. The board of ed was slow as molasses and to make a long story very short they didn't place him until January on the very last day they had by NY state law to place him. Well I have given the public schools a chance and now my son is on the verge of failing 6th grade, I blame this wholly on the board of ed and the school they placed him in. He has never failed a grade. My son has not been officially diagnosed as PDD/NOS or Aspergers however I have felt for years that he has PDD/NOS and just haven't been able to get anyone to listen to me because he was diagnosed as ADHD when he was 6. In having two meetings with his teachers within 5 days I definately have one teacher out of three and the school counselor willing to support him getting tested for PDD/NOS and Aspergers plus helping me getting him placed in a private school and getting the board of ed to pay for it. I know that we need a nickerson letter but no matter how much research I do I cannot find a list of approved nickerson letter private schools within NYC despite a bunch of people telling me that it is available. Is there anyone in the NYC area that can help me get more info.
 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Fri, 03-24-2006 - 1:18pm

Dear Momoftwo625,

Yup, welcome to NYC's failing special ed in public schools! There may be a child here doing well in special ed in NYC public schools, but sad to say I have never heard of them nor met them. I didn't know anyone was around these boards who was going to try our notorious mess of a special ed/public schools system. We have had our son in private school paid for by BOE since day one. But he is only in 3rd, and we are not yet in middle school mode, soon though. My son is at Gillen Brewer currently, funded yes, but only an elementary school, no 6th grade.

Sadly, the approved middle school list is short. You can place your son in non-approved private school and get partial-reimbursement for many more schools, we know plenty of parents that are doing that!

BTW, you should be able to call your CSE district office and ask for the list of approved schools. The schools wouldn't be listed as Nickerson letter approved, the list would be state-approved funded private schools.

But ANYWAYS, I do know that Gateway, The Child School, Churchill (which officially doesn't take spectrum kids, only learning disabilities, EXCEPT I know a few kids there who ARE spectrum shhh), Summit and Lowell in Queens, Forum in NJ --- are all funded with middle schools. I heard a rumor that The Rees School in Manhattan is expanding through middle school, also funded. These schools are listed in phone book, you can call their admissions offices. The people in their admissions affices are GREAT people to ask questions of, including which other schools are funded (therefore Nickerson-approved), etc.

Ask away if there is anything else I can help with. Are you going to look into private evaluation? BOE evals are also very hit-miss...

yours,

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-2003
Fri, 03-24-2006 - 5:48pm

Sarah,

Where can I find a list of all approved State approved k-6 in, NYC,BKLYN.?
We are doing our turning fives next month and I am already in hell!
Thank you in advance.

Jackie~

 


Jackie~  Jacob , Dylan-James, &

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 11:15am
One of his teachers recommended Churchill and I have called them and left messages but no one returned my call. I have been trying to get a copy of list of schools which supposedly is on their website and NY states site but have not found it. I talked with the school counselor and the teacher who is helping me and they both said that they would get me copy but I still haven't seen it. Where can I get a copy of this list? The teacher did send home some very useful info home yesterday. Right now she is the only person I trust.
I need to get an advocate but don't know how. I moved here from PA where there was an excellent special ed system in public schools and never had to fight for what my son needed. In doing some research this week I came across advocates for children. Do you know anything about them?
Right now I feel like there is no light at the end.
Any advice you can offer me on how to tackle this would be greatly appreciated.
 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 11:40am

I forgot to mention that he has an appointment next week with the primary doctor to get a referral for testing. I was told that the BOE had to test him and I had no choice in the matter because is was state law. I have since then been told that that is not true. Anyway, I am going to have him tested privately. I never trust BOE evalutations. When he was diagnosed with ADHD I took him for a private evaluation.

Plus since I believe that he doesn't have adhd I won't give him Ritalin or any other adhd medication that doesn't make the school very happy. We eat a very healthly diet. Very few sugars, I cook just about everything homemade.

I live in Manhattan and would prefer his school to be in Manhattan.

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 2:02pm

OK, both of you,

THE LIST is at the NYS (vesid) website, google "vesid", scroll down the homepage to Special Education, then scroll down to Approved Schools. The list covers EVERY funded school of all sorts, autism, mixed, learning disabilities, etc. also middle and high schools. They are all listed by county, you will note some of them are actually IN New Jersey but approved for NYC. If you have any questions about any of the schools on the list, ask away. I know lots of kids who attend the different schools, although some of my ideas about certain schools are very third-hand...

The best way to explore these schools is to call the schools directly and ask to get brochures, be put on the next available tour of school. Most of them even require that you tour before they will give you an application.

Advocates for Children, and Resources for Children with Special Needs are both organizations you may want to contact. They are listed in phone book, you can call them and ask for help, I would. If you come to wanting the names of big-gun lawyers who always get their man when dealing with BOE, let me know. I have that list here at home, ready and waiting!

This is definitely the time you want to be applying to these schools for the Fall, even maybe get in on a sudden more immediate opening like we just did. It seems to me that you will need to let the BOE do an eval because your son is on IEP which needs altering and the testing is part and parcil of that process, --- but you can ALSO have a private eval done and the BOE must consider the results of that eval as well in determining placement. Do consider getting a private eval no matter what -- they take longer, cost mucho bucks, but they give a complete picture of your child's needs. This makes getting into one of the good private schools easier, helps his teachers design his education and makes a much better argument for getting the funding and private placement. BOE evals, not so much. If you need recommendation on private evaluators, I know some good ones, getting it done can take awhile but if you push you can get them done quickly.

The recommmendation by the BOE will NEVER be that you find a private school and then they will pay for it. You need to do that on your own, get an acceptance letter from one of the funded private school, and then bring this letter back to IEP meeting and get the funding. (This is where you MIGHT want a lawyer...)

Let me know what else I can help with,

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 4:18pm


Here is the link to the VESID approved schools list.

http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/privateschools/853reg.htm#nyc

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Sat, 03-25-2006 - 8:33pm

I also live in Manhattan. So far we have been lucky to have Malcolm in schools in Manhattan, but he is bussed because of course the schools are never close by. And I have to say, after all the kids are picked up and bussed, the ride is often the same amount of time it will take if your child ends up being bussed to a school in another borough. AND some of the really good funded schools are not in Manhattan. There are several schools out of borough and even in NJ that we will apply to next.

The difficulty here lies in how small the class sizes are, how few schools there are and how great the need is in NYC, but do not let that deter you. We have seen most all the kids we know get into appropriate schools, even at the last second when things looked grim..

Also, as I mentioned before, there are other private special needs schools that are not funded, but parents go after the BOE to get reimbursed for most of the tuition -- and win -- because of the lack of appropriate programming in public schools. This does mean having extra money available and also energy, for the added fights, but these schools are some of the better schools.

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
Sun, 03-26-2006 - 11:30am

thank you to everyone who posted with help.

It makes me feel a lot better knowing that there are other people out there who have or are going through the same thing as I am.

the teacher that is helping me has already started getting the paperwork together for new IEP eval. and so far has been keeping excellent communication going. She seems to really care that my son get what needs. We had a really good meeting last week and she brought the school guidance counselor into the meeting to find out exactly what needs to be done on her end to make sure he gets the correct placement for next year. She took notes, I really like this teacher.

I think my sister found that site yesterday and gave me the info., but I will double check.

I am starting to write everything down and making a to do list for everyday.

thanks again for your help. I will be posting with updates.