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On June 8 the Department of Education made known that Garth Harries, the Senior Coordinator for Special Education, will also be leaving at the end of the month to become an Assistant Superintendent of Public Schools in New Haven Connecticut.

Linda Wernikoff, the Executive Director for Teaching & Learning Special Education Initiatives at the New York City Department of Education, has announced that she is stepping down at the end of the school year. For more information see the Gotham Schools article, “City’s top special ed official will leave at school year’s end.” In addition, Dr. Marcia Lyles, the Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, under whose auspices the Office of Special Education Initiatives operates. Dr. Lyles will be leaving to serve as Superintendent of the Delaware Christina School District. See "City’s top educator has been offered Delaware superintendency", and the DOE's press release for more detail.

A report released by the Public Advocates office on April 30, 2009 analyzing NYC’s high school graduation and discharge trends from 2000-2007 found that the NYC high school discharge system may be artificially increasing the city’s gradation rate by excluding at-risk students, including those with disabilities, who leave school without diplomas.    The report contains several disturbing findings regarding the discharge of students receiving special education services highlighting the fact that the special education discharge rate for students in self-contained and District 75 classes has increased over the years. The report can be downloaded here.

The New York City Department of Education has announced another full-scale review of the special education system. Stay tuned for more information on this topic as the DOE plans develop and the advocacy community weighs in.

See Philissa Cramer's series of entries on this issue.

See The New York Teacher for a description of Garth Harries’ appearance before the Citywide Council on Special Education.

Read testimony regarding this issue submitted to the City Council by ARISE Coalition members.

Over the past few months the ARISE Coalition and Parents for Inclusive Education (PIE) have sponsored a series of speak outs for parents and caregivers of students with special needs in each of the New York City boroughs. Parents, caregivers, grandparents, concerned educators, and community activists came in large numbers to the forums. Despite a few positive stories about concerned and dedicated teachers and principals they had met along the way, they also told stories about their children being left out of school-wide activities and programs, and a lack of progress in general. They painted pictures of being treated as 2nd class citizens, experiencing a lack of sensitivity at the school and district levels regarding their children, low expectations for their children, and segregation of youth with special needs from their general education peers. The speakers were convinced that their children were being left behind while the general education population made strides. Thanks to all of you who came and spoke as well as all who came to support others from the communities who we support. We'll be in touch soon about steps in response to the speak-outs. Click here , here and here to read more about these efforts The New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief has issued a report to the Governor that includes some recommendations we find troublesome as they pertain to special education. Governor Patterson has not acted yet on the report. No new legislation has been introduced. Please check back on the website for further developments with regard to the report and any advocacy efforts around the recommendations. Click here to read the report New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. calls on the Schools Chancellor to immediately review its transportation policies to end the "confusion and mismanagement." Click here to read the press release Rachel Monahan of the Daily News reports on a DOE attempt to use a copy of an old evaluation to satisfy a parent's request for a new one. Click here to read the article Rachel Monahan of the Daily News reports on continuing special education issues at Bed-Stuy's Frederick Douglass Academy IV. Click here to read the article Meredith Kolodner of the Daily News follows up with a new article regarding special education bus routes. Click here to read the article Elizabeth Green of the New York Sun writes about the shortage of placements for New York students with disabilities. Click here to read the article New York City Public Advocate investigates special education placement shortage. Click here to read the article Meredith Kolodner of the Daily News and Amisha Padnani of the Staten Island Advance write about cuts in special education bus routes.

Click here to read the Daily News article

Click here to read the Staten Island Advance article

The Coucil on Great City Schools 2008 Report on improving its District 75 programs. Click here to read the report Yoav Gonen of the New York Post writes about the DOE's proposal to cut the number of District Family Advocates. Click here to read the article New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum's Report about the Inadequacy of the 311 system for Parents of Children with Special Needs.

Click here to read the report Results of ELA and Math Testing of Students with Disabilities Released.
Click here to see the results State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli Issues Report Citing DOE Delays. Click here to read the report Chancellor Klein Announces New Special Education Service Delivery Report For All Schools. Full Article... Delays for Special Education Middle Schoolers. Full Article...

NEW REPORT FROM THE ARISE COALITION - APRIL 2009

The past seven years of education reform have not significantly improved outcomes, experiences or services for New York City’s160,000 public school students with disabilities, according to Include!  Educate!  Respect!, a report issued April 23, 2009 by the ARISE Coalition.  The report is a review of the reform initiatives and performance data as well as the experiences of parents under the leadership of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.  It describes how Mayor Bloomberg’s Children First reforms have left students with disabilities out and calls for the Department of Education (DOE) to focus on specific reform priorities. Click here to see the full press release and download the report.

Katie, Age 6

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CURRENT AND ON-GOING EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS The UFT has launched a new campaign, “There is No Excuse.”  Through their campaign they are collecting data, and spotlighting systemic issues with regard to fully implementing IEPs for students with disabilities in every NYC public school.  Teachers, service providers, assessment professionals, paraprofessionals, parents, advocates, elected officials and anyone with information regarding service delivery failures of special education are being urged to call a new hotline or use an up-to-the-minute internet form to log their complaints.  See here for more information and a link to their complaint form.  Please note that making a complaint with the UFT, and submitting your story to our website, are critical steps for adding your voice to the call for education reform.  We suggest that you also register your unresolved complaints with the DOE itself.   The DOE’s Office of Special Education Initiatives runs a Call Center for exactly that purpose.  If you’ve sought assistance at your school and with your District Family Advocate and had no or little success, you can call NYC’s 311 Hotline and ask to speak with the Department of Education’s Special Education Call Center.   The Call Center might be able to help you solve the problem. See our Resource Guide for additional information about who at the DOE has responsibility to address your questions and help to arrange for and resolve concerns about special education services. ******************************************************************* New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and Advocates for Children of New York, both members of the ARISE Coalition, are working to assist immigrant parents of students receiving special education services.   Parents whose primary language is not English have the right to receive translation and interpretation services from the DOE.  Form request letters and fact sheets intended to aid parents who are not fluent in English to participate in planning their children’s special education program can be downloaded here and here.    All documents are available in Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.   ******************************************************************** We are pleased to announce that the New York State Legislature passed the final budget, which eliminated all proposed changes to Early Intervention, including the proposal to charge parents a monthly fee for Early Intervention.  By rejecting the parent fee proposal, the Legislature has ensured that all eligible children can continue to benefit from Early Intervention services regardless of their parents’ ability to pay.   Many of you called or e-mailed your legislators, signed the petition, disseminated the information, and encouraged others to take action!  You helped ensure that elected officials heard the message that Early Intervention parent fees would jeopardize vulnerable children’s access to needed services during the critical early years and cost taxpayers more money in the long run.   Please join us in thanking Governor Paterson, Speaker Silver, Senate Majority Leader Smith, and the members of the New York State Legislature for preserving Early Intervention.