Special Education Services Delivery in New York City Public schools:

In New York city, there are almost no special education services available to any child at any school, in clear violation of the Law.

Not only are there few ,if any, programs for these children, but the Department of Education will try to keep your child in a classroom which is not appropriate to his/her needs with, most probably, a teacher who has no idea what needs your child has. And, you will be harassed and retaliated against if you say anything. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of children with special needs who have been denied their services and whose parents know enough about the Law and the regulations have obtained P3 letters which give them a private school paid for by the BOE, and the taxpayers of this city and state. Therefore, this horrific and unaccountable-to-anyone ( but known by everyone who works at the BOE) process affects everyone, whether you have children or not.

Any parent who has a child with special needs has, if looking for a free and appropriate education within the New York City public school system, a full-time battle ahead.

New York City's Department of Education is supposed to comply with the Least Restrictive Environment, which mandates that each child be placed in a learning environment with the least restrictions possible. What actually ends up happening in New York City is that each child is more often than not dumped into a full-inclusion class with no support at all from the teacher(s). The teachers we spoke to are furious that they are being forced to comply with the whims of Principal and Superintendents, who place anyone in the "Resource Room" so that there is a warm body there, undeterred by this person's lack of knowledge or training in the field. The IEP is often changed without the parents' consent or their knowledge (STUY story).

An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is supposed to be written with the specific education supports your child needs, but this is almost always ignored, and "Resource Room" is exactly the opposite. We have found resource rooms with nothing, no books, no resource materials, and more often than not, a person sitting at the desk who is not qualified to be there and does not want to be there. We have met resource room teachers who not only do not know what to do about educating a child with special needs, but also dont want to know.

Many Principals do not want children with special needs in their schools for two reasons:
1. the overall performance data score will be lowered, thus marking them "School in Need of Improvement" under the No Child Left Behind legislation.

2. they mistakenly think, or say they believe, that if special education children enter their schools or are given their services listed on the IEPs the school budget suffers. [The opposite is true, that special needs BRING IN Federal, City and State money; the expenditures for the children with IEPs do not come out of the school budget].

In New York City Principals city-wide are telling Committee (On Special Education) officials and parents that [we]" dont have the money for special services in my budget, therefore [we are] not giving the kids whatever it says on their IEPs". Education evaluators have told us that they are being told not to refer any children to special education.

Principals have in the past been able to hide their lack of compliance with special education laws, rules, and regulations, by keeping the special needs children off of the roster of the school,(Booker T. Washington MS 54 is one example), by
(1) throwing the child out of the school for "violence", "disruptive behavior", etc., none of which may be true
(2) keeping the resource room teachers or classroom teachers out of contact with the parents of the children. When a parent is not in the classroom to see what is going on, the situation becomes one in which the teacher says one thing and the child/parent says another. The Principal, Department of Legal Affairs and other Department of Education personnel always believe the teacher, school aide, or other school employee over the parent or child. There is nothing a parent can do to undo this "labelling" if a Principal starts to use this to remove the child from the school. The "Pushout" numbers are misleading, and we do not know at this point how many are special education students thrown out of school or blocked from graduating due to their services being taken away from them illegally. ("Pushout" report by Advocates For Children).

While all parents of special needs children have, from the moment their child(ren) are diagnosed, a full-time job ahead, in New York City, if the child is gifted and has learning issues, the problem is even worse. New York City public schools have nothing for these children. If the child has talent in math or science, but cannot read/spell/write at grade level, they will perhaps get accepted into a good school but not be able to compete and the school will not help them for one or both of the reasons listed above (the Principal does not want the school budget lessened by paying for special services, or he/she is afraid that the school performance data will be lowered).

Parents who believe that their child(ren) need some kind of educational support have started the long road to get services by contacting the Committee on Special Education (addresses) for the District within 30 days and asking for an evaluation, or contacting the Principal of the school. Under the new Bloomberg/Klein special education structure, the parent is supposed to go first to the Administration of his/her child 's school and ask for an evaluation. Chancellor Klein and Mayor Bloomberg took away the jobs of all the Educational Evaluators in September 2002, and put them in temporary positions writing IEPs, or other positions but without their pensions. We have received many calls from displaced ed evaluators who have worked for 10-20 years and are now without a pension. They are bitter and angry. They have also told us that every child, no matter what the disability, must spend 16 weeks learning the Voyager reading program before they can be evaluated. What if the learning problem is math? Too bad, we have been told, much to the detriment of the child.

After the child has been evaluated, the parents meet with the evaluators, who describe the results. At this meeting you must sign the IEP attendance page, but you do not have to agree with the findings of the evaluators. The Team may try to intimidate you, but do not give in!!!!
Often the report is not an unbiased/objective assessment of the child, and the committee at the school may not have the best interests of the child at heart. If you, the parent, feel that your child is not getting the services or resources that he/she needs, say so, and do not sign any agreement. You may be told you have to sign the IEP, but this is not true, only the attendence sheet to prove that you were at this meeting. If you have any questions whatsoever, leave the meeting and contact a lawyer/advocate. Often you may receive the IEP discussed at the meeting days afterward, and you MUST read the document carefully. Parents have found items in this IEP which were not only not discussed, but which were objected to. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION. Call the CSE/Principal, record/document your call, and voice your protest. Write to the Impartial Hearing Office and request a Hearing. Bring an Advocate, lawyer, friend with you to document the statements/actions, and ask for a transcript.

More than 5 days before your Hearing, make sure that you have given the Department of Education copies of all of your documents, listed by number 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Bring your witnesses, your child's teacher(s), therapists, anyone who can support your child's cause, to the Hearing, or arrange to talk with them by telephone if they cannot make the Hearing in person. Do not allow anyone to intimidate you or to divert you from getting the services and resources you want for your child. Remember that the Department of Education may not want to give your child anything, so FIGHT, do not give in.
You will receive a copy of the transcript a few days after the hearing, and you MUST comment on it, so read it carefully. Then you will receive the Hearing Officer's order. Again, read this carefully.
If you feel that the Hearing Officer has not acted in good faith, you may file a complaint. You may repeat this process as many times as necessary. You should look at the special education resources / websites listed under RESOURCES, and read the Special Education rules, regulations and laws. Go to the legal sites and make telephone calls to lawyers/advocates.

A good place to start is
Special Education Advocacy - Wrightslaw