The Episcopal Center for Children, a nonpublic day school serving students from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, will be closing its doors at the end of the 2018-2019 school year. The Episcopal Center for Children has informed the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and all Local Education Agencies (LEA) who they work with about the closure. Parents will need to work with their student’s IEP team, including their home school/LEA, on finding a new school.

AJE encourages parents to be proactive and engaged in this process. Parents may want to review OSSE’s change of placement/locations of services process, and list of OSSE approved nonpublic schools now so that they are prepared for any meetings.  Families may also want to look at this Special Education Thursday about selecting a nonpublic school and review this document with Good Questions to Ask when selecting a school. DCASE is also willing to provide information to parents about other potentially appropriate nonpublic schools.  AJE is happy to answer any questions parents might have about this process.  New and returning families should call 202-678-8060 ext. 112 to schedule an intake.

For more information, please see this letter from Philip L. Collyer, Chair of the Board of Directors at The Episcopal Center for Children about the school’s closure.

May 17, 2019

Dear ECC Partners & Stakeholders,

We are sad to announce that the Board of Directors of The Episcopal Center for Children, voted to cease operations as a therapeutic school effective on Friday, June 14, 2019. Regrettably, the Center will not reopen for the 2019-2020 school year.

We realize that this news comes as a shock. Unfortunately, the funding available for our programs does not meet our costs. We have supplemented our budget out of reserves for years. We have reached a point where we can no longer continue this practice.

We realize you would have preferred to be notified earlier. This decision was made recently, and we are letting you know as quickly as we can about our plans. Continuing under our current financial circumstances would have resulted in closure during the 2019-2020 school year. Our decision has been made to avoid this from occurring and upending the stability of the students and families during the school year.

We want to best support our students and their families through this transition. Next week, our staff will reach out to you to discuss next steps and determine transition plans, so our students can transfer to schools for the 2019-2020 school year that will best meet their education and treatment needs. To support a smooth transition for our students, a small team of staff members will continue to work through July 26, 2019, but most will have their last day of work on June 14, 2019.

Additionally, we will not be offering our summer enrichment program June 17-July 26, 2019. A staff member will be reaching out to parents, to see if we can assist with summer activities planning and support.

This is truly an unfortunate circumstance. For 125 years, The Episcopal Center for Children has assisted children and their families. We intend to continue to assist families and children into the future. We will be taking some time to determine our next steps as an organization. This is not the desired outcome, and we realize this is unexpected. We appreciate your help and support for our students and their families as they make this transition.

For more about 2019-2020 school placements, Dodd White, President & CEO at (202) 363-1333 or dwhite@eccofdc.org or Stefanie Nash, Chief Program Officer at (202) 363-1333 or snash@eccofdc.org.

 

Sincerely,

Philip L. Collyer

Chair, Board of Directors

The Episcopal Center for Children