no room a local public school for my son? Has anyone else ever been told that your local public school's AS classroom is full, and that if your IEP requires that placement or other support services, your child will have to be transferred to another public school?  I was really surprised to hear about this policy, and the school that the AS teacher mentioned as a possibility for my son is just unacceptable:  rough neighborhood, very low test scores.  I have been in touch with the regional coordinator who will make the placement, and he told me to wait and see, call back in the spring.  I also checked with an advocate, who confirmed the legality of this policy. We actually moved into our neighborhood partly with the hope of sending our chldren to our local public school, which is above average and has an amazing AS teacher.   I am looking into private school options but am not sure if they will accept my son.  Thanks in advance. Lowell, Mass. had that back home--Bilingual had first priority and challenged kids ended up on waiting list to get in. The only alternative was the autism-only school, which was hard to get into--you had to meet certain criteria. I would imagine it will end up the same here since, they care closing so many public elem. schools in our area, and sending the kids that live in those neighborhoods to the open schools. Right now, we are okay but, thankfully, in 2 years, Taylor and Colin will be out. I can see it getting the same way. I don't know if there is an ASD school in your area but, if there is, see if you can have your child evaluated for placement. If not, you might have to transfer or homeschool with services coming in. Laws in each area are different but here, they have a ratio aspect that they adhere to and have to abide by. Taylor's class can never have more than 7 in her class. Colin's classroom can't go past 28, with 2:1 ration for paras. (Taylor is 1:1). There are legal limits to the number of students allowed in certain classes.  A school district can petition the state for a waiver, so you might want to ask, in writing, that they do that.  If not, your option, if you want to stay in your local school, is to ask that he be placed in another classroom that might not be optimal, but that supports be put in place so that that placement can work for him.  Part of "Least Restrictive Environment" includes being in the school closest to home. So a placement in another school in your own district but one that is further from home is actually a more restrictive placement.  Push to keep him in your school if that's what you want.  They cannot force a transfer elsewhere.
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