Part of a lawsuit alleging the District mishandles its special education students was dismissed when the plaintiffs agreed that the school system had improved its intake process of identified students. The more substantive portion remains on the docket, though, charging the District with not providing adequate services to students with special needs.
The 13-year-old lawsuit, referred to as the Blackman-Jones case, dove into the District’s failure to evaluate students for special education needs within 60 days of a request and provide services to students within 45 days of the evaluation as federal law mandates. But after the plaintiffs conducted an independent review this fall, all parties agreed that students were getting screened and placed quickly.
“A couple years ago, the city was absolutely nowhere,” D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said, adding that he had expected the Blackman portion of the case to be dropped several months ago. “I’m just satisfied that before we leave — which is very soon — I’m glad we got the plaintiffs to exit the case.”
Nickles is an appointee of Mayor Adrian Fenty, who will be replaced by Mayor-elect Vincent Gray within weeks. When Fenty first took office in 2007, there were 731 students in a special-ed backlog waiting for help. In three months’ time, that number grew to 935.
Officials blamed the mayoral transition for the slip.
But the recent review found that conditions have improved. According to court documents, the plaintiffs found that during the preceding year, 90 percent of hearing requests were settled, and no requests remained that were more than 90 days overdue.
Nickles hopes to close the Jones portion, which concerns the delivery of adequate special education services in response to complaints, without court supervision in two to three months.
“The plaintiffs need to see that our hearing officers are proceeding promptly, that we have good-quality services, that we have good training,” said Nickles, noting that at their last conference before the judge, all parties said they wanted to resolve Jones following Blackman.
D.C. Public Schools declined to comment Monday, and plaintiffs lawyer Ira Burnim was on vacation. But the Jones charges might be difficult to untangle, Burnim told
The Washington Examiner earlier this year. “They were taking some shortcuts that didn’t ensure that the kids got services that they were supposed to get,” he said.
