Oak Park

one of the best schools of Alexandria my kids learned very fast the teacher very respectful and responsible

Our experience with this school, particularly navigating special education services, has been incredibly frustrating and disappointing.As the parent of a child with an IEP, I expected collaboration, transparency, accurate documentation, and consistent implementation of agreed-upon supports. Instead, we have spent an extraordinary amount of time advocating for things that should not require this level of persistence.Our experience has included significant errors in evaluation documents, including another child’s name appearing in our child’s paperwork; difficulty obtaining meaningful service logs and underlying data despite repeated requests; concerns regarding evaluations and services; agreed-upon boundaries and supports not consistently being followed; and ongoing issues involving communication, accommodations, progress monitoring, and accountability.We have had to involve outside professionals and an advocate simply to navigate matters that should be manageable through straightforward communication between a school and a family. There have been countless emails, meetings, follow-up meetings, requests for documentation, and requests for clarification.What is particularly disappointing is that we have genuinely tried to approach this as a partnership. We are highly involved parents, provide extensive private support for our child, and have repeatedly made ourselves available to collaborate. Advocacy should not be treated as hostility, and parents should not have to become experts in special education procedure simply to ensure their child’s agreed-upon supports are implemented.There are individual educators and staff members who have been wonderful, kind, and clearly care about children, and they deserve recognition. My criticism is of the broader experience and systems surrounding special education, communication, transparency, and accountability.An IEP cannot simply be paperwork containing the right words. Supports have to actually occur, progress must be meaningfully monitored, and families deserve accurate information about what is happening during the school day.I sincerely hope our experience improves. No family should have to devote this much time to escalation, documentation, and persistence simply to feel confident that their child’s educational needs are being appropriately supported.