According to an article in the Boston Globe this morning, MA is in violation of the revised Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) by denying special education services to students attending all types of private schools – both secular and religious.
Consequently, the federal education department has ordered the state’s 400 school districts to cull through five years of records to accurately count the number of students with disabilities enrolled in private schools, determine the extent of services provided, and figure out how much federal aid, if any, was spent.
Even then, an accurate count may not be possible because private school representatives say districts were disputing disabilities of private school students, questioning the need for services, or refusing to meet with families to discuss program options. Currently about 7 percent of the state’s approximately 74,000 private-school students have documented disabilities, while representatives for Catholic and Jewish schools say they suspect the percentage is likely closer to the state average for public schools. Eighteen percent of the state’s 925,000 public-school students have a disability.
The most recent advisory provided by the Mass Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on July 27, 2017 — Revised July 2018 to include reference to Grant Fund Code 262 which DESE will administer starting in FY19 –
guides Massachusetts public school districts in meeting their federal obligations regarding students with disabilities enrolled by their parents in private schools, including secular, non-secular, and independent schools, or home schooled within the district.
Districts have an obligation to locate and evaluate such students and to calculate and spend a proportionate share of federal special education (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA) grant funds on equitable services for these students.
The NPS website site map makes finding any information on Newton Special Education harder than necessary to locate as it is not listed as such along with just about anything else an interested person might want. Scrolling down to and clicking on “Student Services,” an overview of all student services pops up including a short, vague description of Newton’s Special Education Services.
There are links to documents about special education and one to the Newton Parent Advisory Council on Special Ed, the Students Rights and Responsibilities Handbook including one that says Child Find Notice which says in part
It is the responsibility of the Newton Public Schools to identify any child who is a resident of Newton, or who attends a private school in Newton who may have a disability.This includes students who are residents of Newton who are home- schooled.
It is also the responsibility of the Newton Public Schools to evaluate those students to determine if they are eligible for special education or related services under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) or 603 CMR 28 (Massachusetts Special Education Regulations), or who may be eligible under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
On the left side of the Student Services Page, there is a link (for educators) to DESE Special Education which goes to the MA Special Education Website where there is a wealth of knowledge including a link to a E-learning Resource dated July 27, 2019, Explore DESE’s E- Learning Module for Massachusetts Educators called: IDEA Equitable Services for Children with Disabilities Enrolled by their Parents in Private Schools.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has created this online learning resource for educators and personnel in Massachusetts Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) about IDEA Equitable Services for Children With Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools (34 CFR §§ 300.130 – 300.144).
The National Council on Disability has a paper from February, 2018 Examining the Federal Role In Education and monitoring compliance. It is long and detailed but several of its conclusions are interesting
IDEA provides federal funds to assist states and local educational agencies with the additional costs of special education and related services. IDEA is both a grants statute and a civil rights statute. IDEA includes monitoring activities and procedural safeguards as mechanisms for ensuring compliance with the statute’s extensive requirements.
The monitoring activities are overseen by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education. IDEA also requires states to provide an administrative complaint process that must be carried out by each state educational agency (SEA). IDEA is also closely interwoven with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA),7 the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Results Driven Accountability (RDA), OSEP now includes educational results and outcomes for students with disabilities in making each state’s annual determination under IDEA. Annual determinations are based on data from the prior two years. For example, the 2016 determinations were based on data for fiscal year 2014.
It should be noted that no state has ever been designated as “needing substantial intervention,” despite the fact that the Bureau of Indian Education has received a needs intervention determination for five consecutive years and the District of Columbia has received a needs intervention determination for 10 consecutive years.
In other words, there appears to be no amount of ongoing noncompliance that rises to the level of this determination.
OSEP does not provide a formal process through which to file a complaint regarding alleged violations of IDEA. This lack of a formal complaint process should be further investigated.
Since at least 2002, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights identified a lack adequate resources for state and federal monitoring and enforcement programs. Upcoming budget proposals should assure adequate resources to carry out rigorous monitoring and enforcement activities.
From experience, Newton’s special education program and budget is designed to reduce the amount of permitted services to as low as possible. And the different elementary schools are not at all equal. Multiple advocates have said that to me, and one recommended we move to get better services. That’s shocking, no?
Everything is a battle. I’ve generally thought NPS is ok to good if your kid was a high achiever, or had a clearly diagnosed disability needing an aide. Everyone else with a learning disability gets shuffled along. Close to benchmark results that don’t match outside independent evaluations. Convenient bumps in reading levels and math fluency at the end of the year. Push back in 504 and IEPs until absolutely necessary. And stall stall stall, because in a year or two it will be the middle schools problem. Or hey, private school is a better fit right?
Lots of good teachers and support staff. But it can take years of testing to get full help, and the school experts push back on every outside test.
So this result is no surprise. If I had the funds I would send my kids to private school. It is my biggest Newton disappointment.
And it is not just me or my family. NPS has a funding gap for special needs and fills it by denying services to kids who need it. FACT. LIVED IT.
@Fig – that’s sadly true in most places (not just Newton, not just MA). And private school isn’t always better – a lot of them don’t want to deal with special needs.
As to homeschoolers and SpEd services – a lot of homeschoolers are scared to get testing done through the schools or ask for services because they are afraid to them being denied homeschooling approval. Which is especially a problem because many people end up homeschooling precisely because their kids are suffering in the schools (speaking from my own experience and that of many other homeschoolers I’ve known).
Meredith:
It comes down to a matter of resources. I get that. But we choose to underfund as a community. How do I know? I have family in other school districts in other states. Similar learning disabilities in our kids…and the difference between Newton and his school district is amazing. His school district identified the learning disability and pushed for outside testing to confirm. They respect the outside experts views, and assigned additional help since 1st grade. Had multiple resources for afterschool and summer help. And quickly granted an IEP, and worked with them to figure out how to help my nephew grow to his full potential.
Newton? “we are required to educate to a baseline standard, no more, no less.” “it is all a question of resources” “we feel the services your child required as best delivered by the classroom teacher because we need to balance the needs of all children”
I’m not bitter. I’m just realistic about our schools, our system, and how it fails many of our kids. So no shock that NPS and other school systems haven’t been following federal law. Because they do the absolute minimum.
And that’s in Newton. I hate to think how bad it gets in other districts in MA.
As a former Co-chair decades ago of the Newton Special Education Parents Advisory Committee and a special education advocate trained by the law firm of Larry Kotin and Bob Crabtree through the Federation of Children with Special Needs, I have for many years both represented parents in their battles with public school systems for special education services and also disseminated sped information throughout Newton.
So I completely commiserate with all the sentiments expressed above by Fignewtonville and regret to say that public schools routinely employ such ideologies as inclusion of many special education students with regular education students in large classrooms with teachers only superficially trained in special ed techniques and supposedly assisted by underpaid and overworked aides, or highly segmented group services disruptive to regular classroom lessons and supplying only minutes of individual attention to each student…these techniques cost the school systems the least monies..and are consequently fostered on very often on inexperienced parents
What is a parent to do? Know the law…inside and out..especially the timelines…learn how to prove the lack of adequate “progress”..TALK TO TEACHERS & SPECIALISTS OUTSIDE THE CONFERENCE ROOM WHERE THEY CAN TELL YOU THE TRUTH WITHOUT JEOPARDIZING THEIR JOBS…if necessary pay for independent evaluations….and most of all HIRE AN ADVOCATE…CALL THE FEDERATION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS FOR THEM AND ALSO FOR TRAINING IN THE LAW…
One last note…often just the fact that an advocate walks into the conference room with the parents is more than half the battle..school systems are very wary of mediation and, heaven forbid, a subsequent legally expensive special education hearing. Hope this helps….
I had to fight tooth and nail to get my child evaluated. Once I did and they saw that he needed extra support, the services have been pretty amazing and I feel pretty lucky. But I never should have been put through the ringer to get those assessments done. If I were a more passive person, I may have just given up and not followed through with getting an IEP.
Also the pay for the aides at NPS is an abomination and the district should be ashamed.
My experience has been similar to Fig’s and I have heard the same from many parents in the district – it’s a fight every single time, even when the need is there and is clearly visible. I noticed that it has gotten worse over the years that my son has been in the system, with some services getting cut for no good reason. The teachers and aides mostly want to do the right thing, and are put in a position by the district to tell parents that their child’s services will be cut for no good reason. It is a shame. It’s also an abomination how little the sped aides and BTs get paid. I am sure, with litigation costs, Newton is not actually saving much money by cutting services. It would cost less to actually provide the services required – and the right thing to do. Also, too many times, the district wants to fit the kids into existing programs, not work with families to find the best solution. My guess is the latter would also cost less in the long run.
I have two kids in NPS: one in 6th grade with ADD and 504 plan and one in 1st grade with severe autism.
The big one got his 504 in 1st grade because his teacher could not deal with him. It was suggested by the school, and between that and identifying that 1. her preferred teaching style did not mesh with his learning style/need to move and 2. He and his “best friend” are a nightmare duo who should never be in class together we’ve had MUCH, MUCH smoother sailing in grades 3-5.
The little one was diagnosed with autism (severe) when he regressed and stopped talking altogether at 2 and 1/2. At 3 he transitioned from early intervention to NPS (with an IEP) and at 3 1/2 started at the early ed center. We have a 1:1 behavioral therapist, 1/6 of a special ed teacher, his overseeing BCBA, and time with speech and occupational therapy. We also have home services from NPS for parent training, and 6 weeks of summer school.
The big one, with the support of his 504, is thriving. We got a call from the ??? Coordinator at his school a week or so back to check in on how he was doing, and when we told her that he was having trouble in math (his best subject!) because the teacher wanted everyone to “sit up straight and still and pay attention” she followed up on it and now he’s back to enjoying that class.
The little one? I think NPS is doing all it can. (The services and hours are in-line with with the private special education day programs) but he’s not doing well. NPS assessed him – at age 6 – as having a verbal level of 18-30 months. We just paid for independent neuropsych testing that came up with the same answer (verbal level of approximately 2 years, most skills at 3 years). I don’t know if a day program is elsewhere would help him, or if we need to look into residential placements… and if that comes to pass is it the right thing to help him or is it just giving up?
I was gifted. My husband was gifted. By the time I was in 1st great I’d read novels usually aimed at middle-schoolers. We expected our kids to be above-average or gifted, and we hoped that NPS would be a good environment for that (overall NPS is ahead of the state average, and there was good odds they’d have equally intelligent peers). That didn’t happen, but I’ve been pretty content with the special education services we have.
In comparison, 30 years ago in a different state, I had a sibling with epilepsy. Multiple grand meal seizures a day, and near constant absence seizures. Experimental medicines with severe physical and mental side effects. Their IEP put them in a special-ed classroom, but at the first seizure or “acting out” they’d get sent to sit in a chair in the hallway outside the principals office. And cry. It took months and month of lawyers to get a private placement at a hospital school that could deal wi5h his medical and learning needs.
We’ve come a long way.
@Fig – I wasn’t at all disbelieving what you said in terms of Newton and didn’t say anything about resources. It’s sadly true that your family member’s experience is not the norm. I used to run an email list for families with twice-exceptional kids and heard the same stories from all over the country and all over MA. And frequently the people who got the best identification and services for their kids were in mixed SES districts and not in what were considered the “best” schools, since they were more used to meeting the needs of kids at a variety of levels and more flexible.
As to the amount Newton spend in legal costs, it’s appalling how many places spend so much more on attorney fees fighting parents than it would cost to provided the needed accommodations or specialized instruction.
I fought from the moment my kid entered Kindergarten (I was told to delay the initial review), but I wrote a certified letter and got the evaluations going (and the school SPED teacher hated me for not listening to me). It was a battle from day one to get the appropriate services for my kid EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Often, the specialists went on short team leave and there WAS NO WRITTEN NOTICE unless I pushed it, and then I was told make up services could be delivered during the summer at 11 AM (while I worked full time).
Many years we had wonderful and supportive SPED TEACHERS and regular classroom teachers.
Often years we had classroom teachers that were NOT well supported by aides or specialists and those years were the toughest all around.
And every year, we brought an advocate to the annual evaluation to add the professionalism that was sometimes needed. The staff thought I was taking resources from them, while I advocated that those resources were needed for my child to access the curriculum.
Once, we brought an outside evaluation in and circulated it prior to the three year re-evaluation, and my advocate asked the school psychologist to summarize the 17 page paper into the three most critical needs and the psychologist, who had not read it, said during the meeting, I think everyone should read the document and distill it down for their distinct area. Our advocate was prepared and said thanks, but here are the three critical things needed for this kid from this report.
I lost all confidence in that person as he had not read it nor did he care that the child in question needed services.
The system is broken.
AND the private schools around the area would NEVER have accepted him due to his weaknesses, nor could we have afforded it.
My kid is thriving. But there are too many people in the system who have given up on the kids.
Special Education teacher’s of all kinds, including aides, are overworked and underpaid.
And it’s definitely up to parents to fight, more often than not with parent paid outside testing and trained advocates, for the services their children need. I did exactly that for my child and my daughter has had to do the same for hers. I agree with you all.
This post though is about school districts being mandated to find and provide services to students who live in the district but attend private schools or are homeschooled – and the fact that MA has been found to have violated that mandate.
As a result of that finding, all MA school districts are required to
Which will be expensive and time consuming.
In addition the post includes a negative critique of
by the National Council on Disability.
Although I realize the original intent of this section was to discuss the funding (or non-funding) of special education students in private schools by public schools, it has elicited sad commentaries by the underbelly of parents still desperate to obtain appropriate services for their children currently IN the public schools…a much wider and more urgent need…so as a parent of a now young adult who was diagnosed years ago with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) a form of autism, my instinct, later fortified by legal advocacy training,was to completely reject Newton’s proposed program and enroll her in the Krebs /Cotting School in Lexington and after that in Riverview School in Sandwich for post-graduate training in life and vocational skills…all of which was paid for by the Newton
Public Schools. She went on to study at Cape Cod Community College for computers and now trains her parents in their usage. Why did Newton agree to pay? I believe it was because they knew I knew the law and wouldn’t back down…and because they also knew it was the most appropriate setting
no matter what they presented to the contrary in conferences. I tell you this to give hope to the many parents still struggling
for their children’s appropriate placement: to recommend these particular private schools (along with Landmark in Beverly among others); and most of all, to urge that parents totally immerse themselves in knowledge of disability law. To that end I highly recommend the following book:
The Complete IEP Guide
How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child
Foreword INDIES 2017 Book of the Year Award, Bronze Winner!
Lawrence Siegel
July 2017, 9th Edition
In full disclosure I have no personal or professional connection to any of my recommendations…only the memory of how difficult a struggle it is for parents up against a recalcitrant school system.
A little over fifteen years ago, I was involved in a lawsuit representing a young woman whose disability was the result of childhood leukemia and the side effects of her medical treatments. Because she was attending a parochial school (the school district would or could not provide the services she needed in the public schools), the school district refused to pay for in-hospital tutoring services, as required by state and federal law. Ultimately, the school district settled on the eve of trial. However, the school district refused to pay her attorneys fees, and the issue ultimately ended up in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Based on a US Supreme Court decision by Justice Scalia (who else), the appeals court held that the plaintiff was not a “prevailing party” entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees because her case had settled.
Fortunately for her family, she was represented pro bono by Massachusetts Advocates for Children and by me and my firm. Nevertheless, many parents of special needs children are forced to pay attorneys’ fees out of pocket–if they can afford it. Many other parents, of course, cannot afford it, and the fact that a school district can force them to litigate right up until the eve of trial usually means they must choose between paying lawyers to appeal unlawful special education decisions or paying household and personal expenses, including necessary special education services for their child or children.
I have had many frustrations with NPS over special education services, and also with the school district’s strong arm tactics against parents who must keep the terms of their child’s settlement confidential as a condition of the settlement agreement. It is more or less the same tactic that the Catholic Church used (or still use) for many years with the victims of pedophile priests. This adds insult to injury, and hardens the deep resentment of parents who year after year have to fight for every service provide to their special needs children. It is hard for me to understand how school districts, which are supposed to educate children, can be so cavalier in the ways they deal with special needs students and their parents.
End of sermon.
Ted, thank you for your “sermon.” The horror story you tell is despicable and included info I did not know — confidentiality agreements and unpaid attorney’s fees.
Are these scenarios true of parents who send their children to NPS or just to private schools?
I know first hand about parents having to fight to have your child tested much less receive services. I fought for one of my children in the 1980’s – including attending post graduate courses in the legal issues surrounding public schools and educating children with special needs (not what it was called back then). Fortunately I was able to pay to go back to school, hire both advocates and lawyers and was pushy enough to get the schools to listen to me.
Excellent sermon Ted! I too am a survivor of SPED wars and I’m so glad that my kids are done with NPS. I had to bring in neuropsychologists, physicians and had outside legal counsel referenced in an earlier post here on my team. And with each battle I thought of all the kids whose parents didn’t have the resources I could marshall. And in the end – of course – the price for getting our child those essential services was the silencing because – as one staffer told me “it’s no one else’s business what services your child receives “. Yeah – like I need a confidentiality agreement to protect MY child’s privacy.
That said, with only one exception I found the SPED staff to be extraordinary, hard working, committed and devoted to my kid’s success. I am genuinely grateful for the services that were delivered but I’m still a bit battle scarred!