District of Columbia education officials unveiled a nearly $10 million agreement that they hope will help them claw their way out of the city’s special education crisis.
The deal, reached with plaintiff lawyers in a class-action suit and announced in a federal court hearing Tuesday, requires the District to set aside some $3.5 million for new mental health services for children, another $3 million to overhaul special education case management and another $3.5 million to recruit new staff to carry out the reform.
City officials hailed the deal as the first step forward for the District’s troubled special education system after decades of mismanagement, waste and abuse.
“I’m confident that this [is] going to result in improved services,” State Superintendent Deborah A. Gist told The Examiner after the hearing.
Tuesday’s optimism came despite new revelations that things have continued to decline in the special education system. Federal law sets deadlines for schools to evaluate and serve children with disabilities. D.C. met the deadlines less than 19 percent of the time in November, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman was told Tuesday.
Friedman told the city he was glad that things were finally moving in the right direction after more than a decade of litigation, but he warned them not “to take your eyes off the ball.”
The Examiner has reported extensively on D.C.’s crumbling special education system. Critics say that thousands of disabled children aren’t getting services they need and thousands more are being shipped off to schools and clinics around the country with little regard to their well-being. It’s a system that will cost the public at least $210 million in fiscal 2008.
Tuesday’s agreement brought stern warnings from Steven Ney, lead counsel in a related class-action suit, who told Friedman that he was worried that he wouldn’t be properly consulted on reform efforts that effected his clients.
Friedman acknowledged Ney’s concerns, but told Ney that he could file separate litigation if he thought the city wasn’t including his clients in the discussion.
Among those attending Tuesday’s hearing was Theresa Bollech, the parent of special education students and long-time activist. She said she had heard official promises to fix the system for too long to be encouraged by Tuesday’s agreement.
“I know they have good intentions,” she said of education officials. “But, as a parent, I haven’t seen any improvements.”
