New York’s Staten Island. Staten Island elected officials are urging the school chancellor to accelerate the return of special education resources after numerous non-public school children in New York City were denied them for failing to meet a June deadline.
According to a number of Staten Island parents whose children attend private or Catholic schools, the city Department of Education (DOE) notified them that their child would not be eligible for special education support for the 2024–2025 academic year because a written request was not filed by the deadline of June 1.
For children attending non-public schools, such as Catholic, private, or home-school settings, parents are required by state law to submit a letter of intent by June 1 for special education assistance, known as the Individualized Education assistance Program (IESP). It guarantees that students receive medical accommodations, occupational, speech, or physical therapy, as well as other academic concessions like extra time for tests.
The Staten Island Advance/SILive.com reported that many Staten Island parents stated that the city had not enforced the deadline until this year. Others said that the city or another source had not informed them of a deadline.
Thursday, September 5th, was the first day of public school.
In a letter to Schools Chancellor David Banks, Staten Island elected officials, including Borough President Vito Fossella, Representative Nicole Malliotakis, Councilmembers Joseph Borelli, Kamillah Hanks, and David Carr, Assemblymembers Charles Fall, Michael Tannousis, Sam Pirozzolo, and Michael Reilly, Senator Andrew Lanza, and Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, urged him to correct the error, which is thought to have affected at least 1,000 Staten Island students.
In order to avoid any more delays, they are asking that the current IESP files be used to hasten the reintroduction of these services to students.
We are asking that current IEP/IESP files be used to promptly restore these youngsters to their services rather than further delaying them by requiring reevaluations, even though we recognize that the Department of Education will be mailing letters to parents who missed the deadline to correct the problem. The elected officials said in the letter that this would also enable the Department of Education to start the placement process for these pupils earlier. If assessments are required, what should ideally be resolved in a few weeks could take months.
Prior to this, DOE told Advance/SILive.com that it is monitoring requests from families who failed to submit their requests by the June 1 deadline. After serving all families who filed by the deadline, the organization stated that it will begin working to provide resources.
DOE spokeswoman Nathaniel Styer made reference to an earlier statement sent to Advance/SILive.com.
Families attending private or religious schools and not pursuing an education in public schools have filed for special education services at an exponential rate over the last ten years, according to Styer. The June 1st deadline is a long-standing requirement outlined in state laws and regulations. It is one of several constraints NYCPS [New York City Public Schools] must adhere to in order to help guarantee that public funds are being used to support students who actually need services. We will always engage families, even those who missed the deadline, and work to serve them as quickly and effectively as possible, even though we are legally obligated to prioritize serving families who make requests by the deadline.
In order to prevent a problem in subsequent school years, the elected leaders also asked the city to inform families about the deadline.
According to the letter, parents and guardians must be given sufficient notice in accordance with the New York State IESP statute if this long-standing deadline is to be implemented moving forward.
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