Special Ed Student Rights Not Upheld At NYC Charters, State Finds

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The rights of students with disabilities haven't been upheld in the city's largest charter school network, Success Academy, including at schools in Fort Greene, East Harlem, the Bronx and the Upper West Side, an investigation found this week.

The state's Education Department has sustained a complaint made on behalf of at least a dozen parents who say that Success Academy Charter Schools have failed to provide required services to their special education students, changed the student's placements without parent input or even ignored orders to return students to their original classes when parents tried to fight the changes.

The 36-page complaint, submitted in December, was filed by nonprofit Advocates for the Children of New York and a law firm who took on the case pro-bono. The advocates said Wednesday that the decision proves that charter schools should still be held as accountable as the city's public education system.

“This decision makes clear that students do not give up their civil rights when they enter a charter school, and parents do not give up their voice in their children’s education,” said AFC Executive Director Kim Sweet. “Charter schools have more autonomy than other public schools, but do not get to decide which special education laws to follow.”

The complaint was filed against Success Academy, but also against the city's Department of Education, which it claimed failed to ensure Success Academy was notifying parents or complying with orders.

Both were found at fault in the state's decision and will be required to turn over certain documents and, in a few months, prove that they have changed their practices.

A representative for Success Academy, though, said that the schools do not agree with the decision and argued that it is based on paperwork problems, rather than services to students.

"We have been in active discussions with (the State Education Department) on this," spokesperson Ann Powell said in an email. "Based on our initial discussions, we believe that the primary intent of SED's findings is the need for SA to provide better documentation, not about any failure in providing services to children."

Powell did not answer a request for more information about the paperwork problems.

The decision from the state does reference the failure of Success Academy to provide sufficient documentation in some of its findings, but said visits to the schools and interviews were also used throughout the investigation.

The decision specifically found that certain schools were not providing small classes, teacher consultants or testing accommodations required by the student's "Individualized Education Plan," or IEP. When these IEPs were not followed and a hearing about the student's plan was held, the school did not always let parents know about the meeting and, in some cases, didn't follow orders that came out of the hearings, according to the decision.

The city's Departments of Education did not answer a request for a reaction to the decision, except to say that it is working on strengthening its work with all charter schools, including Success Academy.

The department is working on creating greater accountability for charters and new processes to have the city's Committees on Special Education, who are notified when a special education plan isn't followed, to work more closely on the development with the plan, the department said.

The full decision can be found here and the initial complaint can be found here.