Oakwood schools?

[MilMom6]

Originally Posted by OHKID

MilMom6, the most recent school report cards from the State of Ohio were just published. I will start by saying offhand that I do not support these report cards in any, shape, or form whatsoever. But I also assume you and I probably subscribe to a far different mentality than myself when it comes to education (I don't believe in ranking schools because I believe it is our government's responsibility to provide an excellent education to all students and that education is not a competition, but I digress). Politics aside, here's what I found.


Centerville appears to do a better job than Oakwood for IEP students:
Pages - District-Report

Bellbrook appears to do an even better job with IEP, but gifted performance is somewhat worse:
Pages - District-Report

Overall, Kettering still wins. A's for both gifted students and students with disabilities:
Pages - District-Report

OHKID, I tend to believe we aren't as far apart on the issue as you think.

And I appreciate the links--it's just I don't really know what to make of them. I mean, it's pretty clear that when we talk about "top districts" for typical kids we are talking about metrics like SATs, exit exams and APs. But I don't really know what a C for special education or "closing the gap" means.

I'm not even sure I care how he does on standardized tests in isolation. Some things it's not really right to hold the school responsible for--I've been a special needs parent long enough to know there is no magic. There is no "if only I can get this one service/therapy then my son will be fixed."

On the other hand, there are things I would want to know about that are not going to show up in those ratings. Those things you usually find out about only from other parents. It just sounded like the prior poster might have some first hand experience, which would be valuable information.

I am very appreciative of all the information that has been shared.

[SWOH]

^hahaha we might not be!

I just always put that disclaimer because in general I think at least 50 out of the roughly 70 districts in the metro do what I at least would consider to be an "excellent" job of educating their students. But then I often get "No ____________ district is crap" or "_____ district is ranked #__, which makes it way better than district #__" and stuff like that. I was also one of those people who, back in the day, was very much suckered in to the US-News fueled college rankings mentality, which really made me think at the time that a college X, ranked 10 spots ahead of another college Y, was a whole lot better, when in reality that could not be further from the truth. So thus the warning haha.


Anyways, I agree with you on the school report cards - they are hella confusing. I personally don't understand them, but I guess I haven't had time to dive in and see what's going on. I personally wish schools only measured about 5-6 simple metrics that were life-or-death determinants of whether or not a student would learn in school, and then assign a pass-fail rating to those only. And failure would result in action from the State of Ohio. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. So in the meantime, we are stuck with these report cards from the state. I will say they are better than a resource like greatschools.com, where a disgruntled third-grader who just received a detention could just as easily write in and rate the school as any knowledgeable alum or adult. But they are far from perfect, or in many cases useful.

As for the schools, I'd just call them up and talk to them. See if you like the vibe and the answers you get. That's probably the best way to go, and in general people are willing to talk and help out. You should have a decent list of districts to start with, so Oakwood, Kettering, Centerville, and Bellbrook. If you don't like those, try Beavercreek, Yellow Springs, Vandalia, Tipp City, and Northmont, among others. And we're always here too.

Best of luck and please let us know how everything is going if it's not too much to ask! It will help us give better advice in the future haha.

[G Not]

Hi Milmom (& others)

I have just read your thread because I am moving to the Dayton area for my husband's job (medicine rather than military). I have a nine-year-old with high functioning autism who is presently in a public school in Chicago. I was wondering about your experiences this past year. Which district did you end up going with and has it been good for you child with an IEP? (He is our only child). It is always nerve-racking to move a child with special needs, so any help/information any of you might have would be greatly appreciated.

We have been looking at Beavercreek and (after reading this thread and looking at the Ohio School Report Card) are now considering Kettering as well. Thanks so much!

[flyerfanatic93]

Hi all,

I went through the Oakwood school districts k-12. I am not extensively knowledgeable about the special ed. program when compared to other school districts, but from what I saw the administration did a pretty good job with the whole program.

In addition to this, the community support is pretty great as well with the Buddy Walk every year and a few other community events.

If you have any specific questions I will do my best to answer helpfully.

[MilMom6]

Hi G Not,
I will PM you; check your mailbox.

We are in the moving process. I'm just a planning nut and started early. We are in the process of buying in Bellbrook. However, that's because I'm trying to balance various needs; I have multiple non-special needs kids and some other factors.

If I only had the one special needs kiddo, I would have chosen Kettering. My son is not high functioning enough to do a private school placement (even if I paid out of pocket for an aide, which we have done before). But I have other, nonspecial needs kids, one of whom is nearing high school and I just felt that Kettering's high school (IB) was not a good match for her. So a very tailored choice.

[RDriesenUD]

Originally Posted by G Not

Hi Milmom (& others)

I have just read your thread because I am moving to the Dayton area for my husband's job (medicine rather than military). I have a nine-year-old with high functioning autism who is presently in a public school in Chicago. I was wondering about your experiences this past year. Which district did you end up going with and has it been good for you child with an IEP? (He is our only child). It is always nerve-racking to move a child with special needs, so any help/information any of you might have would be greatly appreciated.

We have been looking at Beavercreek and (after reading this thread and looking at the Ohio School Report Card) are now considering Kettering as well. Thanks so much!

I am sure other schools are good, but I would go with Kettering if I were you. I am a little biased because that is where I went, but they do a great job.

[G Not]

Thank you all very much for the information. I have not yet traveled to the Dayton area, so all of my information has come from the Internet. Therefore, this thread has been very helpful. We will only be in the Dayton area for a year and we were only here in Chicago for a year. The year here was successful overall, but it was a difficult transition initially.

I have now been looking more thoroughly at Kettering and (using the school report cards) have found that some of the elementary schools rank higher than others in regards to meeting the needs of students with disabilities. Just wondering....does anyone know how they actually determine the rankings of students with disabilities? Is it primarily based on funding?

Also, if anyone has any information regarding any great therapy services for kids with autism in the area, I would be extremely grateful for that information as well! Presently, we see a private behavior, speech, and occupational therapist. He also received some hippo therapy at our previous location in Colorado.

Thanks so much!

[luv my dayton]

Originally Posted by dxdtdemon

disclaimer: This information is almost ten years old.

I have friends with adhd who went to oakwood, and they felt like the teachers and administration didn't want to deal with their iep's, and were trying to force them to drop out or transfer. I'm sure that has somewhat changed because it is way more prominent now, and more people would make a big deal if that happened today. Assuming that they are more adhd-friendly than they used to be, i think that the smaller class sizes, abundance of ap exams, and quality of their gifted program would make a great fit. Outside of oakwood, i know people who have been in school more recently that say that centerville is even more hostile to students on the autism spectrum, but the rest of the districts in the area at least try to be friendly to people on the spectrum.

oakwood shools have always been college prep and know people in the past who just strugg led and failed.have no idea what they offer now and to whom.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by G Not

Just wondering....does anyone know how they actually determine the rankings of students with disabilities? Is it primarily based on funding?

Also, if anyone has any information regarding any great therapy services for kids with autism in the area, I would be extremely grateful for that information as well! Presently, we see a private behavior, speech, and occupational therapist. He also received some hippo therapy at our previous location in Colorado.

Thanks so much!

I'm not sure, to be honest. Although this article may help out:
How Useful Are The Ohio School Report Cards? | StateImpact Ohio

As for your second question, I don't know if any of us could privde good advice... best route may be to ask at Dayton Children's.

Good luck!

[dxdtdemon]

There is an organization called DARN (Dayton Asperger's Resource Network) that knows a lot about which local schools are really the friendliest and who are the better therapists in the area. They have both a website and Facebook page.