Albany Unified School District
Community SubscriberThe public school district of Albany, CA, AUSD comprises a preschool, three elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one continuation high school. Albany schools boast smaller class sizes than most public schools, rigorous academic courses, rich elective offerings, robust extracurricular programs, and tight-knit school communities with strong parent and community support.
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.You can email me. My soon to be K student has been through the assessment and has an IeP with the district. I second some of the things said below already.
Just calibrating expectations - it's a very small district with limited resources. I am not saying they aren't prepared to meet the law and don't care about children, but there is not like a special ed division or a lot of specialists on staff. (My experience is based on having a child with a 504 in upper grades at AUSD; we didn't go to elementary there. )
I highly recommend contacting DREDF or reviewing materials on their website as a starting point (https://dredf.org/special-education/). Obtaining special education resources can be a battle. I utilized some of the sample letters from the DREDF website, and they were very helpful. I believe that AUSD is more responsive than some other districts in the area, but I had to be very persistent and at times go into, for lack of a better term, "bitch mode" to get appropriate accommodations. The current special ed director for the district is very good. We did ultimately get what was needed.
If you find yourself in need of a special ed attorney, I cannot say enough good things about Deborah Jacobson. I retained her for just a couple of hours to advice me through the process and it was money very well spent. She is both an expert and extremely pleasant.
It sounds like you've taken the right initial steps in getting an assessment. Best of luck with everything else!
Just calibrating expectations - it's a very small district with limited resources. I am not saying they aren't prepared to meet the law and don't care about children, but there is not like a special ed division or a lot of specialists on staff. (My experience is based on having a child with a 504 in upper grades at AUSD; we didn't go to elementary there. )
You might want to check out https://dredf.org/calendar/ for Disability Rights Education and resources. Best of luck!
You can email me. My soon to be K student has been through the assessment and has an IeP with the district. I second some of the things said below already.