From the Washington Post:

D.C. public schools continue to fall woefully short in meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities and physical or behavioral challenges, according to the report of a federal court monitor.

About 20 percent of the District’s 10,977 special education students, including those in public charter schools, are enrolled in private schools because the District can’t meet their needs, at a cost to taxpayers of about $200 million a year in tuition and transportation. Since 2006, D.C. schools have been under court order to wipe out a backlog of more than 1,000 decisions by hearing officers that was seriously delaying placement of students in special education programs.

But parents seeking help for children with special needs face lengthy delays and a labyrinthine school bureaucracy where records are often missing, communication is poor and officials are distracted by numerous other reform efforts … , according to the court monitor, Amy Totenberg.

Totenberg’s report also said interviews with parents suggested that some charter schools may be discouraging children with disabilities from enrolling, or may be denying admission to such students.

(Washington Post photo)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, education, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.