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More information Interim Report of Evaluation Team (2/07) Content and Executive Summary of Interim Report (2/07) Final Recommendations for Interim Report (2/07) Court Approves Agreement in DC Special Education Case

Expert panel decries DCPS failures

February 13, 2007 — The expert evaluation team appointed by the court to report on the District of Columbia Public Schools’ progress on federal special education requirements has produced its first report early, due to the “gravity” of their findings.

Since 1995, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has represented DC students with complaints about their special education services.

Blackman and Jones v District of Columbia [was filed in 1997. In 1998, the plaintiffs obtained a judgment in their favor. After protracted negotiations, in July 2006, a 71-page consent decree  was entered by US District Judge Paul L. Friedman to end delays for thousands of DC students seeking access to needed special education services. A monitor and evaluation team were appointed to oversee and facilitate compliance. 

A report was due to the court next month. However, the evaluation team decided to issue its report early because of the “urgent need for a more cohesive and integrated managerial approach to the implementation of the… Consent Decree.”  The team issued its interim report on February 8th.  It concludes that:

• DCPS does not have a comprehensive management plan for performing activities and compliance measures required under the consent decree.
  
  
• A total of 18% of hearing officer decisions were timely implemented in March-Oct 2006, or 25.9%, if those without deadlines are considered “timely”.
  
  
• DCPS’s database system is “so riddled with errors that none of its regular users have any confidence in the reliability and accuracy of the reports it produces.”
  
  
• DCPS paid millions to Columbus Educational Resources to perform overdue assessments. Columbus could only carry out 12 assessments because the poor data system meant that it could not identify which children to assess.
  
• There is an “absence of an organized, systematic approach to training compliance staff with respect to a consistent set of standards for management”.

With Superintendent Dr. Clifford Janey and the expert team present, Judge Friedman will conduct a public status conference today. This is the first time Judge Friedman has considered the case since the decree was approved. The hearing will take place at 3PM, US District Court for the District of Columbia, 333 Constitution Ave NW, courtroom 29A.