I have a child with an IEP, which school district would be best?

Submitted by Thursigar t3_11z3sem in rva

I don't put weight into standardized testing, not many of the typical rating systems. My family is moving to Richmond and I'm looking for the school district with a solid SPED team. I understand Richmond, Henrico, and chesterfield are the three main districts. Richmond recently unionized, and Chesterfield leans conservative. I'm not interested in conservative schools/teachers/parents. I am interested in my child getting a well-rounded education (life skills, critical thinking, basic academics, sports, etc).

Any recommendations on these districts, schools or neighborhoods?

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Soloemilia t1_jdavh6l wrote

West end of Henrico with ZERO QUESTION. And people here can vouch that the fact I am saying that is kind of….. big proof that that is the right answer.

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szeis4cookie t1_jdb0i3t wrote

My older kid had an IEP for speech issues for few years in elementary school, and continues to have a 504. Her teachers, principal, and the speech therapist at Echo Lake have been amazing to work with. 10/10 experience, western Henrico is where it's at

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eziam t1_jdb0do7 wrote

Yep. Western Henrico does a great job of starting and following I.E.P.s. I know from first hand experience.

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Soloemilia t1_jdb0t4h wrote

I know you know it hurt me to give western Henrico as the best and ONLY option. But it’s the truth right now.

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eziam t1_jdb19yq wrote

Keep fighting to good fight over at RPS! I mean western Henrico isn't perfect, hell no school system is. We have bullying, dumbasses bring weapons, and entitlement.

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Soloemilia t1_jdb1l7n wrote

Thanks friend! That really means a lot. These kids deserve good things too, and if people could remove their heads from their rear ends we could get there sooner!!

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szeis4cookie t1_jdcpr0w wrote

Agreed - I want for the kids at RPS and the rest of Henrico County be supported at the same level that mine have been.

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brimpol t1_jdcnlm9 wrote

Gotta add to this as my son is also SPED and we are west end.

I find that because the west side is quote un quote "richer" (just know I hate saying that) they get better funding for schools over this way which means better trained staff, better staff retention and more staff to handle kids.

BUT I must say that I'm not as happy with the school this year. For context, last year, the original SPED teacher taught for a few months before going on maternity leave. Decided not to come back but the sub they had was great and I felt like did a good job. This year, they hired a new SPED teacher who literally only made it like a month total before quitting and the long term replacement sub they got has been dropping the ball. For example, we had an IEP meeting on a Thursday early this January to renew his goals and said she would make the adjustments to it and get it back to me to sign by like Monday or Tuesday of the next week. It wasn't until 2 weeks later she got it back to me. Not to mention, she didn't seem to consult the speech teacher on his speech goals because we get to the meeting and the speech teacher is like, I updated his goals and sent them to you where are they? So that didn't really instill the most confidence in me about this sub.

SPED is hard work and not easy to do. Teachers out here are still underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated for what it takes to teach the kids. So yes, while the west end is better, it still has its problems.

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Soloemilia t1_jdcovpy wrote

I don’t think ANY public school is doing wonderfully right now. It’s a question of who is doing best in your area

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Sailinger t1_jdavrqf wrote

Sucks that I'm gonna agree with you, but I do.

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Thursigar OP t1_jdb5jq5 wrote

How far west are we talking? Strictly zip codes 23233/23238 or would 23060/23294/23290 work as well?

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dalhectar t1_jdczzuv wrote

West End school is anything west of Brookland Middle.

That said I am very pleased with the SPED resources my child gets at Longdale Elementary, a school people wouldn't call a West End school because it's East of Woodman Rd. But in my zip code (23060) there's both Greenwood Elementary & Longdale Elementary, and they are 2 very different schools that are just 2 miles apart.

I feel there's some misinformation about East End schools, engaging families that value education do find engaging teachers in the East, but I won't deny the socio economic difference between what feeds Brookland vs what feeds Hungary Creek or even my kid's elementary school and the neighboring school Greenwood.

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szeis4cookie t1_jdda8kq wrote

I should do a better job of not perpetuating the stereotypes - thank you for pointing that out.

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Option_Perfect t1_jdxsxh3 wrote

I have taught with two SPED teachers and the principal at Longdale. They are all wonderful people and I will pass on the compliment when I see them!

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brimpol t1_jdcsaz1 wrote

I'm in 23229 which isn't that far outside city limits so it doesn't have to be far west end.

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szeis4cookie t1_jdd9h3j wrote

I'm in 23060, and 23294 should work as well. 23090 appears to resolve to Lightfoot? You may have meant 23059, which should also work well

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Fun-Alternative4797 t1_jdawepi wrote

I don't know that it's fair to broadly say Chesterfield is conservative. Parts of it, sure. I grew up there and didn't have a conservative upbringing or education in the slightest and know plenty of other schools that weren't either. The Chesterfield high schools have fun specialty programs that my brothers and I both went through. I was in the Humanities program at Monacan, and they were in the Math/Sci program at Clover Hill. My mom has also been an occupational therapist for the school system my entire life. She and all of her OT/PT/speech friends are all great

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goosey65 t1_jdaxlzy wrote

Agree. I’ve subbed in Chesterfield and it’s a very diverse school district. Have not run into anything curriculum wise or staff wise that leaned conservative and I was on the lookout for it.

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VonPaulus69 t1_jdbfkkn wrote

Richmond is terrible, don’t even consider. Chesterfield and Henrico are good in the wealthier suburban parts of those respective counties, if you aren’t in those areas, the schools aren’t great. Focus on western Henrico or the Midlothian area of Chesterfield. Like most public schools in the US, the wealthiest districts get the best resources and staff.

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STREAMOFCONSCIOUSN3S t1_jddjpcn wrote

> Like most public schools in the US, the wealthiest districts get the best resources and staff.

RPS spends more per student than Henrico 🤷

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ridneieneb t1_jdd7nfr wrote

As a product of RPS I can say with absolutely certainty you don’t want to put your kids thru that.

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geneb0322 t1_jdcdes1 wrote

My son has an IEP here in Chesterfield and it has been fine. There were some missed services during the pandemic and when his school provided speech therapist suddenly retired with no notice, but otherwise we haven't had any issues. He has been progressing very well too.

That said, he seems to get bullied a lot at school and it often gets brushed off when we report it, but I am not sure how much bullying is "normal" and how much is because he is being targeted. The worst of it happened very early in the school year and the school jumped right on it and solved it. Otherwise, it has been on the bus home (he only rides it home). The first time it happened on the bus we had to keep pushing but they eventually resolved it and the second time was yesterday so we will see how that goes. They did brush it off initially, but that was expected.

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kcyachuw t1_jdb85zs wrote

Another point for chesterfield. The specialty center high schools are fantastic, I was in Bird’s engineering program. It all really just depends on what area of chesterfield you’ll be in. But my experience going to the schools was anything but conservative. It’s very diverse.

My mom just went back to school for special education and did some work at an elementary school and high school in the area and she was very impressed and had nothing but good things to say about their programs and teachers.

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Charlesinrichmond t1_jdclsds wrote

normally people like me don't have much good to say about Short Pump.

But no one has ever denied that moving to Short Pump for the schools makes sense.

Another vote for western Henrico in this situation

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Option_Perfect t1_jdxtl4p wrote

I would say aim for the "middle" of Henrico county. Maude Travett, Logan, Skipwith, Tuckahoe, Three Chopt, Lakeside.

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Bagel_czar t1_jdatwp4 wrote

Sounds like the best place for your kid is for you not to move here.

Richmond schools are a nightmare.

You wrote off chesterfield.

Henrico is also probably not for you.

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MKrushelnisky t1_jdb47sk wrote

West end henrico is your best option. And they’re not even that great to be honest

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