Education officials have denied appropriate services to 300 severely handicapped students who’ve waited up to a year or more for placement in privately run programs – in violation of state law, parents and advocates charged yesterday.
And they’re threatening to haul the Board of Education and the state Education Department into court for leaving the kids in the lurch.
Under a state court judgment, special-education kids with special needs are supposed to be placed in private settings within 90 days if the board lacks the necessary services.
The parents and the group Advocates for Children want a state judge to enforce the order if no settlement can be reached with education officials.
“These are kids in desperate need and we don’t think the state and city are doing enough,” said Michael Rebell, one of the lawyers representing the parents.
“The parents are up in arms.”
The kids have severe learning disabilities, including hearing impairments and speech impediments, emotional problems and autism.
“We’re getting more and more calls from parents who can’t get placement for their kids,” said Elisa Hyman, deputy director of Advocates for Children.
Suzanne O’Rahilly complained she’s been waiting for a year-and-a-half to get her 14-year-old daughter, Christina, who has dyslexia, into an appropriate private school. She currently attends MS 141 in The Bronx.
“My daughter is getting lost in the system. The Board of Education is just wasting time. It’s one excuse after another,” O’Rahilly said.
“It’s extremely frustrating. I’m between a rock and hard place. The schools that can help her are not approved by the state. And the schools that are approved have no space available or don’t have the services for her.”
Catie Marshall, a spokeswoman for Schools Chancellor Harold Levy, said the board is working with the state and the plaintiffs to solve the delays in placements. She noted the board has cut the backlogs of kids awaiting placement from a high of 600 to 233.
“We’re working diligently to get this solved,” Marshall said.