10.16.2019 | The City | Seven public interest organizations sent a letter Tuesday to top education officials charging that the department for years “has woefully failed to meet its obligations” to address special education complaints.

The city education department’s inability to meet legal deadlines for resolving complaints filed by families of special education students is causing “material, demonstrable harm” — and requires an immediate fix, advocates say. The group is demanding a meeting with state and city education officials to spur  “immediate action” to resolve the crisis.

“These delays disproportionately affect low-income children whose families do not have the means to pay for the services they require on their own while waiting for their claims to be processed,” the advocates wrote in a letter to the state education commissioner and New York City schools chancellor that was obtained by Chalkbeat and THE CITY. Read article