New Orleans students with disabilities face unequal treatment
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010Audit finds wide enrollment disparities, particularly in charter schools
From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Many public schools in New Orleans, particularly charter schools, show significant underrepresentation of students with disabilities, according to a report by state officials. At some charter schools in the Recovery School District, fewer than 4 percent of students are reported to have disabilities, as compared with a district-wide average of about ten percent.
The report has prompted criticism from advocates who charge that some schools are practicing discrimination by advising students with disabilities to go elsewhere. Educators defend the schools, saying the district’s open enrollment policy makes some degree of variation inevitable. An excerpt:
… in some cases it’s easy to sympathize with both the parents and the schools: Families have every right to full services, but schools cannot always get the money and staff they need to provide them.
See related post: Opinion: Open charter doors to students with disabilities


