Impossible Caseloads Lead to Intolerable Delays
A statistic from an article in The City jumped out at me recently:
In June of this year, there were only nine Independent Hearing Officers to handle 9,695 complaints related to special education for the NYC Department of Education (DOE).
Shocking as it is, this helps explain some of the symptoms that we've seen emerging over the past school year. There were slowdowns in the settlement process and slowdowns in scheduling hearings — in large part because the caseloads were so high and there weren't enough people at the right levels of the DOE. According to reporting by The City, this was partially due to Independent Hearing Officers not being paid in a timely manner by the DOE.
Compounding this issue is the number of filings this year. In contrast to this year’s 9,695 complaints, the number for the 2014/2015 school year was 4,734.
This puts real pressure on parents. If they are seeking tuition reimbursement after having been forced to send their child to a private, special education school (out-of-pocket) — and then seek reimbursement from the city — the delays they face can be ruinous. Sometimes that money is borrowed, sometimes they've taken out a second mortgage on their house to be able to meet their kids’ needs.
On the ground there are some things that can be done, and that we have been doing as a firm — but at the same time, we need a better, bigger concerted effort among all the stakeholders in the system (parents, attorneys, schools). There needs to be a charge to make sure enough resources are being devoted to special education. Simply paying people for the work they performed, on time, could result in more Impartial Hearing Officers getting hired, trained, and kept on the job.
Families really suffer from slow downs at the DOE. As a law firm, our response is to be aggressive where necessary — and collaborative with the DOE when possible. We keep low caseloads so that we have the time and ability to give each family the attention they deserve. If you find yourself stuck somewhere along the way in the process, contact us.
Jonathan Gottlieb
Partner
195 Montague Street
14th Floor
Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
Jonathan@GottliebFirm.com
(646) 820-8506