General News
UFT assails special ed reorganization
Feb 19, 2009 11:24 AM
UFT Vice President for Special Education Carmen Alvarez.
Testifying before a City Council Education Committee hearing on special education throughout New York City public schools, Carmen Alvarez, UFT vice president for special education, assailed the recent “principal empowerment” trend which has “fostered an atmosphere of intimidation and lawlessness.”
Alvarez gave many examples to back up that charge during her Jan. 29 testimony, ranging from a failure to provide copies of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to the teachers and service providers who must implement them, to teachers being required to sign IEPs attesting to their participation in meetings they did not attend, and being told that they cannot request students be evaluated for special education or speak to students’ parents about their concerns.
There has also been a failure to properly staff collaborative team teaching classes, and a routine under-servicing of students who should receive occupational and physical therapy, Alvarez said.
The sheer volume of complaints that her office receives “demonstrates that there are significant systemic issues,” she said. By all measures, including the poor graduation rate for special education students (20 percent in four years with Regents or local diplomas and a fraction of a percent with IEP diplomas, which do not qualify graduates for higher education, civil or military service, or paraprofessional work), New York City is lagging behind other cities throughout the state.
These and other abuses stem from a 2003 reorganization of special education, which eliminated expertise at the school level, gave “flexibility” to principals regarding use of special education funds and resulted in the failure to hold schools accountable for implementing IEPs, she told the committee.
With yet another reorganization of special education recently announced — this time under the leadership of lawyer Garth Harries, who Alvarez said “admits that he has little knowledge of special education” — she said that she was skeptical about the outcome.
“We are in the midst of a severe budget crisis and special education is one of the most high-ticket items in our public schools. ... the chancellor’s spokesperson ... told [the] Gotham Schools reporter that the reorganization is laying the groundwork for the department to eliminate positions,” Alvarez testified.
Despite the serious charges, Alvarez ended her testimony on an upbeat note, calling on the Department of Education to “salvage the reorganization and work in a new way with stakeholders. There is a vast amount of knowledge, experience and talent in this room,” she said.
“We say to the chancellor, take the leap: share leadership,” she said. “Build ownership, share responsibility. Use conflict to build trust and grow. Let’s make sure this reorganization works not just to cut costs, but to build community and improve outcomes for children with disabilities.”
