A federal judge Monday warned D.C.’s top education officials that hundreds of special education children need immediate help and can’t wait for ambitious reform plans to take root.
At least 440 children have been waiting for months beyond federal deadlines to be tested, or receive services, for their disabilities, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman was told Monday.
“I’ve been saying for seven, eight years that the system is broken. But behind these numbers are people,” Friedman said.
“Let’s not lose sight of the trees for the forest.”
Friedman said he was glad to hear that D.C. was finally taking its responsibilities seriously, but he said he wasn’t sure that children can wait for the “systemic” changes the city was promising.
Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, State Superintendent Deborah Gist, Deputy Mayor Victor Reinoso and D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer crowded into Friedman’s federal courtroom Monday for a progress report in a decades-long class-action lawsuit over its special education system.
Students in the suit, known as “Blackman-Jones,” said that D.C. was routinely violating their due-process rights by ignoring federal deadlines on testing and serving special education students.
Mayor Adrian Fenty took control of the city’s troubled school system in June, promising to bring accountability and professionalism to the bloated bureaucracy.
But the backlog of students wallowing in the system has grown under his watch.
The Fenty team had an unusual defender Monday in plaintiff’s lawyer Ira Burnim, who told Friedman that despite “the grim situation” in the schools, he was encouraged by Gist and Rhee’s willingness to listen to his suggestions for overhauling the faltering system.
“The new leadership is reason for hope,” he told Friedman.
That drew an admonition from Friedman, who said that the children and families couldn’t wait for D.C.’s system to right itself.
“We still have children waiting for a hearing … they really need,” Friedman said, his face flush and his hand slapping the bench. “One would think that it could be done.”
D.C. is under consent decrees from two class-action lawsuits filed over its special education system:
» Petties, et al. v. D.C., et al. (“Petties”): Requires the city to pay special education vendors on time; also puts the special education transportation system under a court administrator.
» Blackman, et al. v D.C., et al. (“Blackman”): Requires the city to evaluate and serve special education children within federal deadlines.
Got a tip on the D.C. schools? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail [email protected].
