Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

odr

Office of Disability Rights
 

DC Agency Top Menu

-A +A
Bookmark and Share

FY 2012 Performance Measures: District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)

FY 2012 Community Integration (Olmstead) Performance Measure:

As of October 2011, DCPS monitored 23 students with disabilities placed in residential schools by DCPS, and DCPS will return 8 of these students to school settings in their home communities with appropriate support services.

FY 2012 Community Integration (Olmstead) Plan Outline:

Agency Mission:

The mission of DCPS is to educate students with disabilities to become successful adults who live independently, have meaningful careers, and are fully engaged in the community.

Agency Future Planning:

To reduce residential school placements, DCPS will proactively engage community services and exhaust school-based interventions to ensure that all possible special education and community resources are explored before residential school placements are utilized for DCPS students with disabilities. DCPS will also reduce the need of extended residential placements by creating discharge plans for DCPS-placed students with disabilities prior to their entry into residential facilities to ensure an appropriate and timely return to the District of Columbia. Services and supports provided to students with disabilities may include wraparound case management services, transition to adulthood services, and other services and supports that are specified within each student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Agency’s Identified Population and the Definition of this Population:

DCPS has identified special education students who are currently placed in residential school settings. OSSE is the sole source of funding for the student’s placement in these residential settings. The average length of stay for students in these placements is approximately 24 months. Residential school placements represent the most restrictive environment for a student with disabilities. The decision to place a student in a residential setting is made based on what is considered to be the most appropriate placement for the individual student as agreed during the IEP process, or as determined by an independent hearing officer as the result of a due process complaint.

Agency’s Identified Barriers Unique to the Population the Agency Serves:

  1. Students placed for educational reasons have exhausted all of their other, less restrictive school options. Therefore, educational placements into residential facilities tend to be longer in duration than placements made by other District agencies.
  2. Lack of school and community ability to offer the services and supports necessary to accommodate the most severe needs of students within the community.
  3. Lack of education for families about students’ disabilities and how to accommodate students within the home environment. Moving forward, DCPS will make efforts to link families to core service agencies that can provide family counseling.

Service Needs that Challenged the Agency to Comply with the Olmstead Initiative:

  1. Lack of wraparound case management and behavioral supports to be able to serve these students within neighborhood schools.
  2. Services for medically fragile students are not coordinated among schools, District government agencies (DMH, CFSA, etc.), medical providers, and community support agencies to support these students within local schools. Moving forward, DCPS will make efforts to include the student’s receiving school in the discharge planning process to ensure relevant stakeholders are aware of the student’s needs.

Barriers to Providing Self-Determination and Transitioning and Diverting the Agency’s Population Away from Institutions:

  1. Students with disabilities are often placed without coordinated educational and treatment plans that comprehensively consider the goals of the placement from date of admission to the discharge planning process. DCPS is working to ensure students placed into residential facilities by DCPS enter with discharge plans clearly articulating the goals of the residential treatment to ensure an appropriate and timely return to the District.
  2. Educational attorneys representing students and families and independent hearing officers may advocate for residential placements.
  3. Lack of education for families about students’ disabilities and how to accommodate students within the home environment. Moving forward, DCPS will make efforts to link families to core service agencies that can provide family counseling.

Service Needs that Challenged the Agency to Comply with the Olmstead Initiative:

  1. Lack of wraparound case management and behavioral supports to be able to serve these students within neighborhood schools.
  2. Services for medically fragile students are not coordinated among schools, District government agencies (DMH, CFSA, etc.), medical providers, and community support agencies to support these students within local schools. Moving forward, DCPS will make efforts to include the student’s receiving school in the discharge planning process to ensure relevant stakeholders are aware of the student’s needs.

Barriers to Providing Self-Determination and Transitioning and Diverting the Agency’s Population Away from Institutions:

  1. Students with disabilities are often placed without coordinated educational and treatment plans that comprehensively consider the goals of the placement from date of admission to the discharge planning process. DCPS is working to ensure students placed into residential facilities by DCPS enter with discharge plans clearly articulating the goals of the residential treatment to ensure an appropriate and timely return to the District.
  2. Educational attorneys representing students and families and independent hearing officers may advocate for residential placements.