Pols call for more details on the city’s plan for special ed

Tens of thousands of city students with disabilities missed out on legally mandated services last school year during the pandemic, and advocates and lawmakers say the city’s plan to make up for the lost support is still hazy on key details.

Students with disabilities are entitled to makeup, or “compensatory,” services when they don’t receive their assigned accommodations in school.

Nearly 50,000 kids, roughly a fourth of the city’s special education population, missed out on at least some of their mandated services between September and January of the last school year — a significant jump from previous totals, according to Education Department data.

City officials announced a plan in the spring to spend $200 million in federal stimulus funds to provide weekend and afternoon classes for students with disabilities this school year.

But lawmakers and advocates say that without a guarantee the extracurricular sessions will include the specialized teachers, therapists, curriculum and transportation to meet students’ specific needs, the plan falls short.

“I certainly welcome the news about Saturday services,” said City Council Education Committee Chairman Mark Treyger (D-Brooklyn), who wrote a letter to city officials about the issue last week.

“The concern that many families and I share is that ‘IEP’ stands for Individualized Education Plan. We’re still missing the individualized plan.”

“The city may not bypass the process of working with parents to determine the individualized services each student needs and ensuring each student receives those services,” Treyger wrote in his note, co-signed by Councilwomen Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn) and Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan, Bronx).

Education Department spokeswoman Sarah Casasnovas said the weekend and after-school programs will “tailor services based on the needs of each child” and will be available at all schools.

Education officials said they’ll work with parents to create an “individualized plan” for the special education makeup services and will work to find alternative arrangements for kids who can’t make the after-school or weekend classes. The city is hiring new therapists and will contract with outside agencies if needed, the agency said.

Families also have the right to mount a legal challenge to secure services through the city’s overburdened special education courts — but those cases can take years to resolve and often require substantial investments of time and money.

The education nonprofit Advocates for Children has pushed the city to proactively reach out to families who need individual plans to make up services.