I just want to clarify a few things as someone whose child has used these services. I am not surprised that Brightlift is expensive. They also had major staffing issues and didn't have enough drivers for a while. My guess is pay is low as well, so the drivers are not always that great and the vehicles are not exactly top of the line (my kid was in a car with several others when the driver announced she couldn't stop and kept going until she got to the next exit on the Edens and I heard from my kid well before I heard from the company). The "taxis" in some cases are minivans that pick up multiple kids from Evanston who are going to the same outplacement school. Sometimes the car doesn't show up. Sometimes it's super early. Sometimes it's late. There is another company called Citicare that ETHS uses. Having experienced both, Brightlift is the better option.
I know that the special education schools are technically "private" but I think it would be helpful for you to spell out that they are specifically *special ed or therapeutic day* schools. We're not sending our kids to North Shore Country Day or Baker or something. D65 does not have a public therapeutic day school. (D202 does though). Also, none of the private therapeutic day schools are close to Evanston. My kid went to one in Highland Park (which has since closed). Along with the carpooling time, it was 40-50 minutes one way. And yes, some kids need an aide to keep them safe in the vehicle. Other schools are equally far or further (The O School is on the south side of Chicago, New Hope is in Arlington Heights). These schools have special ed teachers, therapeutic support onsite, group therapy, individual checkins, etc. to keep the kids safe, learning and healing.
How do you get an outplacement? Not without a fight basically. You have to get an IEP for your kid (months long process at minimum) and then advocate like crazy and get all sorts of assessments done to prove your kid's needs and sometimes resort to hiring at attorney ... and that's for those of us who have those privileges. Plus, the outplacement school has to have room to accept your kid and the appropriate resources. Trust me, you don't really have a lot of options of where to go.
With the assistance of groups like CASE, parents are learning more about their children's rights and how to get a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as *required by law*. Believe me, all of us would love to have our kids in their neighborhood close to home. But as you illustrate above, D65 has failed in maintaining those programs that could have benefitted these kids. Families of kids with IEPs are not the problem. It doesn't matter why the number has gone up so much. We are *not the problem*. The system is.
Just updated my story to remove private and add therapeutic - thank you!! Also going to pin this comment so it shows up first. My intent here was never to lionize special ed kids or parents and in fact, I tried super hard to not do that - writing is hard. So thank you for commenting!!
I find that sometimes I just have to get something out there and let the world do with it what it will, or else I spin my wheels forever. Nice thing about the Internet is you can edit
Question RE: Special Ed. D65 seems to have discovered the most sub-optimal situation possible - an extremely expensive program, which requires parents to have to fight, drives kids far away, and historically has some really inequitable outcomes. What does a better program look like? Like the public co-op model in Skokie? What's the ideal?
I had a student who outplaced to Rice from Haven. So d65 does have a school they place to. From there we went to Challenger. They closed and the principal then worked for 202 and we were at the ETHS Day School then. Biggest mistake of my life, and I’ve made a few doozies, was to allow d65 to outplace my student. A huge reason my youngest is private and will never set foot again in a d65 school is because I don’t want anyone affiliated with that district to touch them. I don’t trust them with my children. I would never let them around my student because I have seen what they have done to sped kids firsthand. And it is not good. Don’t trust them with your black sped students- stay aware, leave the district for better public options, home school, private school. Move if you need to. This is not hyperbole. Why are so many d65 kids classified as sped? Could it be that they are so poor at educating that the kids’ test scores show they are grades behind? And certainly that can only mean the student must have issues? I guess I’m not an expert. But neither is d65. At anything. Clearly.
I just want to clarify a few things as someone whose child has used these services. I am not surprised that Brightlift is expensive. They also had major staffing issues and didn't have enough drivers for a while. My guess is pay is low as well, so the drivers are not always that great and the vehicles are not exactly top of the line (my kid was in a car with several others when the driver announced she couldn't stop and kept going until she got to the next exit on the Edens and I heard from my kid well before I heard from the company). The "taxis" in some cases are minivans that pick up multiple kids from Evanston who are going to the same outplacement school. Sometimes the car doesn't show up. Sometimes it's super early. Sometimes it's late. There is another company called Citicare that ETHS uses. Having experienced both, Brightlift is the better option.
I know that the special education schools are technically "private" but I think it would be helpful for you to spell out that they are specifically *special ed or therapeutic day* schools. We're not sending our kids to North Shore Country Day or Baker or something. D65 does not have a public therapeutic day school. (D202 does though). Also, none of the private therapeutic day schools are close to Evanston. My kid went to one in Highland Park (which has since closed). Along with the carpooling time, it was 40-50 minutes one way. And yes, some kids need an aide to keep them safe in the vehicle. Other schools are equally far or further (The O School is on the south side of Chicago, New Hope is in Arlington Heights). These schools have special ed teachers, therapeutic support onsite, group therapy, individual checkins, etc. to keep the kids safe, learning and healing.
How do you get an outplacement? Not without a fight basically. You have to get an IEP for your kid (months long process at minimum) and then advocate like crazy and get all sorts of assessments done to prove your kid's needs and sometimes resort to hiring at attorney ... and that's for those of us who have those privileges. Plus, the outplacement school has to have room to accept your kid and the appropriate resources. Trust me, you don't really have a lot of options of where to go.
With the assistance of groups like CASE, parents are learning more about their children's rights and how to get a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as *required by law*. Believe me, all of us would love to have our kids in their neighborhood close to home. But as you illustrate above, D65 has failed in maintaining those programs that could have benefitted these kids. Families of kids with IEPs are not the problem. It doesn't matter why the number has gone up so much. We are *not the problem*. The system is.
Just updated my story to remove private and add therapeutic - thank you!! Also going to pin this comment so it shows up first. My intent here was never to lionize special ed kids or parents and in fact, I tried super hard to not do that - writing is hard. So thank you for commenting!!
As a writer, I agree that this is a hard craft. LOL :)
I find that sometimes I just have to get something out there and let the world do with it what it will, or else I spin my wheels forever. Nice thing about the Internet is you can edit
100%
Question RE: Special Ed. D65 seems to have discovered the most sub-optimal situation possible - an extremely expensive program, which requires parents to have to fight, drives kids far away, and historically has some really inequitable outcomes. What does a better program look like? Like the public co-op model in Skokie? What's the ideal?
I had a student who outplaced to Rice from Haven. So d65 does have a school they place to. From there we went to Challenger. They closed and the principal then worked for 202 and we were at the ETHS Day School then. Biggest mistake of my life, and I’ve made a few doozies, was to allow d65 to outplace my student. A huge reason my youngest is private and will never set foot again in a d65 school is because I don’t want anyone affiliated with that district to touch them. I don’t trust them with my children. I would never let them around my student because I have seen what they have done to sped kids firsthand. And it is not good. Don’t trust them with your black sped students- stay aware, leave the district for better public options, home school, private school. Move if you need to. This is not hyperbole. Why are so many d65 kids classified as sped? Could it be that they are so poor at educating that the kids’ test scores show they are grades behind? And certainly that can only mean the student must have issues? I guess I’m not an expert. But neither is d65. At anything. Clearly.