Basic Info
Flora M. Singer ES is located at 2600 Hayden Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20902. The principal is Mr. Kyle Heatwole.
Rating
Please rate your experience at this school with respect to the following aspects on a scale from 0 to 10.- Inclusiveness: Does the school have a culture of inclusion and inclusive practices in place (e.g., co-teaching)? Are these practices effectively and systematically implemented?
- Staffing and resources: Does the school have staff and resources to accommodate a wide range of special needs?
- Cooperation: Does the school staff exhibit a cooperative approach by accepting/requesting the parents' input, listening to concerns, and attempting to resolve disagreements?
- Communication: Does the school implement progress monitoring plans? Does the staff regularly communicate with parents with respect to their child's progress and challenges? Is the staff responsive when contacted?
- Academic expectations: Does the staff systematically set high expectations for students with special needs? Does the staff systematically raise expectations when IEP goals are met ahead of time?
Flora M. Singer ES
Inclusiveness
4
Staffing and resources
3.5
Cooperation
5
Communication
3
Academic expectations
2
Disappointing and often unacceptable on an academic level for special needs kids. The Learning Center delivers a constant soothing pablum of how your child is unique and staff are still learning all about your child’s unique learning style. Meanwhile, your child is essentially warehoused without academic progress, or with academic regression. Children of so many diverse special needs/diagnoses are accepted into the Learning Center that the staff, despite being well meaning and bringing their best game, lack training in essential areas and are overwhelmed. Communication is very poor.
Inclusiveness
6
Staffing and resources
3
Cooperation
10
Communication
10
Academic expectations
2
Academic expectations are not held sufficiently high for children. Child’s situation is painted as a rosy rainbow for first couple of years at school, until ultimately LFI is offered for Middle School Transition. Internet reading and math worksheets are used in Learning Center rather than the school purchasing formal programs. LC classes have had combined grades in the past, so the same teacher is often repeated multiple years. On the positive side, we’ve had excellent communication with the s/n director, who has always been more than gracious, and quite responsive to our requests for dealing with social pragmatic situations. LC children have opportunity for mainstreaming in specials, science & social studies, and are fully included in all school activities and after-school activities. Their “home base”, however, is the self-contained LC, including lunch table, class pictures, etc. Resources for 1-on-1 assistance is extremely limited, and most work is done in LC “groups” (OT, SLP, reading & math, etc. ). I view the limitations of this school as primarily driven by funding and therefore resources, rather than the sincere desire to educate the children [which the teachers overwhelmingly display]. The s/n staff and teachers (both s/n and gen-ed) are very well meaning and provide a warm environment for the children, but they are limited “from MCPS upper management” as to what they provide. Cooperation and communication are lofty traits and should indeed be the aspiration, but somewhat meaningless if a school cannot follow-through and deliver. There is a distinct lack of transparency about the funding/resources issue, and consequently a great deal of “sugar coating” of the child’s realistic progress and academic achievement.