The number of students with disabilities in an Integrated Co-Teaching class may not exceed 40 percent of the total class register with a maximum of 12 students with disabilities. Integrated Co-Teaching classes must adhere to general education class size limits (https://www.uft.org/faqs/what-are-class-size-limits-my-grade).
Under Integrated Co-Teaching, classes that normally have a class size limit of 20 students will increase to 25 students, with a maximum of 10 students having disabilities. ICT classes may not open in September in violation of these requirements.
Later in the school year, in limited circumstances, schools may apply for variances (https://www.uft.org/sites/default/files/attachments/doing-the-math-on-ict-variances.pdf) to exceed these limits if new students with ICT recommendations are assigned to the school or students in the school are newly recommended for the service.
If an ICT class opens in September in violation of these limits, the member should first ask if there are any students in the class with IEPs that do not require ICT. These students can and should be moved into the appropriate general education classes while ensuring that the percentage of students with disabilities in these general education classes does not exceed 50% and that contractual class size guidelines are followed. If this is not a possibility, and if an action plan to resolve the issue moving forward is not concretely established, special education complaints should be filed on behalf of the adversely affected students.
For more information, see the UFT's Q&A on the Issues column about ICT/Co-Teaching classes.