System wide Special needs neglect in Rochester, New York

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Five years after the start of a five-year special education redesign, the Rochester City School District continues to fail its thousands of students with disabilities even as the rate at which they're classified as disabled accelerates, according to a scathing new report.

Referrals to special education programs have increased 93 percent in three years, with some classifications — "other health impairment" in particular — being stretched well beyond their intended scope.

Black students are most likely to be referred and classified as disabled, and to be suspended. White students are more often classified with autism, while black students are more often categorized as "other health impaired" or emotionally disturbed.

The structure designed to address students' needs before they enter special education is essentially useless; instead, "it could be suggested that RCSD has, de facto, adopted a wait to fail approach to identifying and attempting to remediate at-risk students."

Even after several years of attention to the topic of suspensions, schools continue to put too many students out of class, without allowing them to keep up with their work in the meantime. Programs for those students "appear to warehouse students rather than creating a (viable) educational environment."

Career and technical programs at Edison are "severely lacking." In one culinary class, for instance, students had no access to any cooking equipment, and instead were practicing setting a table and using a nutcracker.
The district spent $31.7 million in 2015-16 on out-of-district placements, even when nominally appropriate programs were available in schools.

Staffing levels in most areas of special education are "generous," ranking high among urban districts.

There is no 'feeder pattern' among schools for students with disabilities, meaning they are often shuffled around heedlessly to get relatively basic services. Schools are "clearly" manipulating the individualized education plans (IEPs) of challenging students in order to get them out of their buildings.

The complaint, filed Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court, says the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has a duty to ensure that all children receive a public education, including those who have behavioral problems related to conditions such as bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or Asperger's syndrome.

Instead, the lawsuit says, districts across the state suspend and expel special-education students at more than twice the rate of their peers — and further, school officials often send the children to "time-out" rooms or have their parents pick them up early, which results in their exclusion from an educational setting.

Special-education students make up 14 percent of the state's students, but nearly 30 percent of suspended and expelled students, the ACLU said.
The complaint, filed Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court, says the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has a duty to ensure that all children receive a public education, including those who have behavioral problems related to conditions such as bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or Asperger's syndrome.

Instead, the lawsuit says, districts across the state suspend and expel special-education students at more than twice the rate of their peers — and further, school officials often send the children to "time-out" rooms or have their parents pick them up early, which results in their exclusion from an educational setting.

Special-education students make up 14 percent of the state's students, but nearly 30 percent of suspended and expelled students, the ACLU said.

The lawsuit cites the cases of five special-needs students in particular, identifying them by their initials. They include a 13-year-old Yakima boy excluded for 52 school days over the past two years due to outbursts related to his bipolar disorder and other conditions.

The complaint alleges that he has been disciplined and even physically restrained for trying to board a school bus with his classmates and refusing to change out of his gym clothes.

Another plaintiff is an 8-year-old Yakima boy with Asperger's syndrome and gastro-intestinal issues. During the 2015-16 school year, he was denied recess for taking too long in the bathroom due to his gastro-intestinal issues, was repeatedly suspended for disrupting class, and was sent home early from school at least three times every week, the lawsuit said.