DOE facing district audit

State eyes special-ed schools

The state comptroller will audit conditions at the city’s special-education schools after a series of Post articles exposed the harrowing situation at a Queens facility for disabled kids.

State officials sent Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza a letter on Tuesday asking for compliance with the probe, slated to launch at the end of August.

“The Office of the State Comptroller has scheduled an audit of health, safety and accessibility conditions in the New York City Department of Education’s District 75,” the letter reads. “We will appreciate your cooperation and that of your staff during the course of our work.”

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office said the probe of the district, which provides schooling and services to students with severe disabilities, had been spurred by “published reports’’ and independent analysis.

Councilman Robert Holden (DQueens) — who first sounded the alarm about conditions at PS 9, a District 75 school in Maspeth — welcomed the audit on Friday.

“This is encouraging news, as the students with special needs in New York City have been overlooked for far too long,” he said.

In a May 2018 letter, Holden had alerted Carranza that PS 9 is plagued by peeling paint, dilapidated bathrooms and grimy walls.

Carranza didn’t directly respond until The Post exposed the school’s decrepit state last month.

Holden said Carranza agreed to discuss the situation but refused to tour the school with him.

The DOE said the building was “safe, clean and comfortable” and noted it had spent $14 million on exterior renovations, which are still in progress after two years.

But the department later acknowledged that at least one classroom for the K-8 school’s youngest kids had peeling lead paint.

Although Holden has called for funds to build a new facility, the DOE announced that it would pour an additional $16 million into PS 9 for improvements.

“It is clear that Chancellor Carranza cares little about the most vulnerable children in our school system,” Holden said. “This shows you the mentality of this administrator, the schools chancellor trying to fix up something that can’t be fixed.”

The DOE has said its plan, which will extend for five years, fully addresses Holden’s primary concerns.

“I treat the safety and comfort of all of our students with the utmost seriousness,” Carranza told Holden in a letter outlining the DOE’s initiative.