Legal Clips, [April 2008]D.C. officials say the city's public school system will be unable to comply with terms of a federal court order to improve services to special needs students by June. In the 2006 consent decree, the school system agreed to reduce by 65% a huge backlog of decisions from hearing officers regarding the timely placement of students in special education programs. But a data analyst appointed to monitor the city's efforts told a federal judge that the system is implementing only 29% of the decisions and won't meet the goal by June.
Source: Washington DC Examiner, 4/8/08, By Associated Press
[Editor’s Note: In February the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) announced the launching of a Special Education Data System (SEDS) as required by the consent decree and a December 2007 agreement between the parties, as well as a pilot case management program. The consent decree and the agreement also are below. This Wednesday the NSBA Council of School Attorneys (COSA) and the Education Law Association (ELA) present an audio conference on “Special Education: What’s On the Horizon?” featuring a panel of nationally known experts. For details, see the last link.]
OSSE press release
Blackman/Jones consent decree
Agreement of parties to Blackman/Jones case
COSA/ELA audio conference information