The NYC Department of Education Has No Policy For Service or Therapy Dogs Working in Public Schools

When my youngest daughter was attending PS 6 on Manhattan's upper east side, I asked the Principal, Carmen Farina, if I could start a lunch club for 4th and 5th graders to focus on ways children could help other people, any age. Carmen loved the idea, so I ran the lunch club every Monday during lunchtime for the 12 4th and fifth graders who signed up. We met in the cafeteria, or the library when we had guest speakers.

Carmen Farina

I loved this group of kids - they showed me an eagerness to help anyone in need that gave me great faith in the positive contributions they would make as adults.

I brought in people who spoke about the Mayor's Voluntary Action Center, the Foundling Hospital, Red Cross, police station, and many other organizations. However, when I asked Carmen whether we could bring in service dogs, she told me absolutely not, no way, no, no, no. So I did not pursue the matter, but I did research on the policy of the Department of Education on the presence of service dogs in public schools, and there was nothing that I could find.

I wonder what children who needed their service animals did? Stayed home?

Betsy Combier, Editor
President, ADVOCATZ

Service dogs in the classroom pose
a challenge for city's public schools
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By Diane C. Lore | lore@siadvance.com 
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on August 27, 2015 at 6:00 AM, updated August 27, 2015 at 1:36 PM

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- From one-on-one para-professionals to help students with disabilities to extra time for testing, accommodations of all sorts are made for special-needs students in the city's public schools.

But there is one that -- although rare -- poses a significant challenge for principals: Service dogs in the classroom.

That dilemma came to light just recently for the head of a South Shore elementary school who had to go to some fairly extreme measures to prepare the school for the arrival of a student with a service dog in September, including the need to shift a teacher with canine allergies and juggling classes.

Administrators are hoping that further issues won't arise once classes begin.

DOE LACKS POLICY

The city's Department of Education (DOE) says it must follow the law and make accommodations for a child with special needs whose IEP (individual education plan) requires the child have a service dog in class.

The DOE, however, has no policy for how teachers and administrators should handle the animal during the school day.

Under the DOE "home-zoning" of special education students through the "Shared Plan for Success" reforms, children with an IEP must be accommodated at their zoned district school, which often leaves administrators to scramble.

According to the DOE there are fewer than 10 students in Staten Island's District 31 schools with an IEP that requires a service dog. And in most of those cases, parents have had to go to court to force compliance.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS CITED

Who cares for the dog during the school day?

Who is responsible for feeding and walking the dog?

What happens if another child is allergic to the dog?

What happens if the dog becomes aggressive toward another child or teacher?

These questions are a gray area for administrators, according to the New York State School Boards Association, (NYSSBA), which recently issued a brief on the issue.

"Service animals can help people with a variety of disabilities, such as hearing impairments, physical handicaps and sight impairments. Service animals often develop strong bonds with their owners, and a student with a disability may request the companionship of his or her service animal in school.

"However. . . the presence of the animal could trigger allergic reactions or anxiety among other students, some of whom may also have a disability and rights under law.

"Therefore, a student who requests the presence of a service animal in school presents a complicated issue that requires legal counsel," the NYSSBA concluded.

HOME ZONING CHALLENGE

Special education advocate Andrea Lella said service dogs are more likely to be found in classrooms at schools that serve students with a specific disability, including those who may be visually or hearing impaired, or non-ambulatory. These schools are more likely to have a policy and staff trained to handle the dogs, she noted.

"With DOE cases involving a child in a zoned school who requires a dog on his or her IEP, they almost always involve a lawsuit," Lella said. She said the DOE provides no policy, training or guidelines for principals and teachers, and most zoned schools are not equipped to handle a dog during the school day.

A DOE spokesman said the school system follows federal guidelines governing service dogs, under the Americans With Disability Act (ADA).

ADA SPELLS IT OUT

According to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Disability Rights section, service animals are defined as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person's disability."

The ADA guidelines also say that "allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals."

"When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility."

Under the guidelines, service dogs must also be "leashed, harnessed or tethered," and "staff is not required to provide care and food for the animal."

A SPECIAL CLASS OF ANIMAL

While the DEO is required to comply with the determined need for a service dog, "therapy" or "comfort" animals are not covered by the same federal regulations.

Therapy or comfort dogs are not covered by the same guidelines as service animals. (File photo) 

A therapy dog is trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, disaster areas, and to people with learning difficulties.

While they sometimes can be both, therapy dogs are usually not assistance or service animals.

Indiana State Teachers' Association President Teresa Meredith Speaks Out About The Teacher Shortage

Mike has one of the best blogs on the internet.

Betsy Combier, Editor
President, ADVOCATZ

Union President on “Teacher Shortage”: “Who Cares What the Data Says?”
WRITTEN BY: MIKE ANTONUCCI - AUG• 28•15
LINK

Stop what you’re doing and follow this link to Shaina Cavazos’ story in today’sChalkbeat Indiana about the latest teacher shortage frenzy.

The takeaway? “…the problem isn’t the number of certified teachers but a mismatch between them and available jobs. And the situation isn’t as bad or out of the ordinary as recent media coverage has suggested.”

The story even quotes University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Ingersoll. “Almost every president since Eisenhower has given a speech on teacher shortage … we’ve spent umpteen dollars trying to fix this over the last half-century,” Ingersoll said. “But this is the wrong diagnosis and the wrong prescription … It’s not an under-supply, it’s too much turnover.”

That’s a wonderful admission, except there isn’t too much turnover, either.

But the prize goes to Indiana State Teachers Association president Teresa Meredith. “There really is a climate that’s been created, and we have to look at the climate and figure out how to fix it,” she said. “Who cares what the data says because when you have administrators who don’t have applicants before the first day of school, there’s a shortage, end of story.”

Teresa Meredith

“Who cares what the data says?” Spoken like the president of an organization that ran a “Ponzi-like scheme” with taxpayer funds for teachers’ long-term disability benefits.

UFT, NYSUT Fight to Keep Tenure in New York State Supreme Court

How I wish the UFT and NYSUT meant what they said today:

“For the past 10 years, teachers have been demonized across the country,” he said. “You can’t demonize people and expect them to say, ‘hit me again.’ We’ve got to end this reign of terror.”

- Attorney Charles Moerdler

When I worked for the UFT 2007-2010, I was told not to question the investigations of any agency, OSI, SCI, OEO. I asked: "How can we defend members' rights if we do not question the tactics and conclusions of investigators who either do not know what they are doing, or deliberately choose to make false claims into facts?"

I was told to be quiet. Me? Quiet? Not when someone's rights are at stake.

Ergo, I do not work for the UFT anymore.

Betsy Combier, Editor
President, ADVOCATZ

Michael Rebell: The Anti-Tenure Lawsuit In NYC Will Fail, and Why

 Mona Davids' Attorneys Withdraw From The Anti-Tenure Lawsuit

The Frivolous Case of NYC Parent Mona Davids v Tenure

 A Select Few Make A Profit Off of the California Vergara Lawsuit on the End of Tenure Rights For Teachers

NYC DOE Press Office Issues A Press Release on ATRs

Unions call for dismissal of anti-tenure lawsuit

BY LINDA OCASIO | PUBLISHED AUGUST 25, 2015

LINK

Lawyers for the city, the state, the UFT and its state affiliate NYSUT asked a Staten Island judge on Aug. 25 to dismiss the lawsuit to abolish tenure brought by TV personality Campbell Brown and others on the grounds that the state Legislature has dealt with many of the issues in play.

The union lawyers argued that Brown and her group were bent on destroying teachers’ due process rights under the guise of education reform. “Creating a climate that demonizes teachers does not help children and it does not improve education,” said Charles Moerdler, a partner at the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, which is representing the UFT, after the hearing.

Charles Moerdler

The lawsuit, filed in 2014 after plaintiffs in California won a similar lawsuit at the lower court level, charges that teacher tenure deprives New York children of a sound, basic education, as guaranteed in the state constitution. 

“It would be unprecedented to say public employees can have no job protection,” said Richard Casagrande, the NYSUT general counsel, in his oral argument in court. “This is a political attack that says if we just take away teacher rights, we’ll improve education.”

General Counsel Richard E. Casagrande

 

The UFT and NYSUT joined city and state attorneys in arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the state Legislature this spring significantly altered the statute governing tenure and the teacher evaluation and discipline process. For new hires, the standard probationary period is now four years and teachers will usually need three years of Effective or Highly Effective ratings to earn tenure; and teacher disciplinary proceedings have been further expedited. 

Their remarks were made during oral arguments before Justice Philip G. Minardo in a packed courtroom of the Richmond County Supreme Court on Staten Island. Minardo reserved his decision for a later date after hearing passionate arguments from — and asking pointed questions to — both sides.

Minardo grilled the union representatives on the details of the legislative changes, but saved some of his toughest questions for Jay Lefkowitz, the lawyer for the plaintiffs.

State Supreme Court Justice Philip G. Minardo and Dr. Marianne LaBarbera, sitting and John Minardo and
Kathryn Krause Rooney at the couple's wedding reception in the Richmond County Country Club, Dongan Hills. (Courtesy/Joey G. Making Memories) February 2015

Lefkowitz argued that the lawsuit should proceed because changes in the law merely “tweaked” existing laws. He also insisted that the teacher evaluation process was based on “soft factors” or subjective observations instead of “hard metrics.”

The judge reminded him that evaluations are based in part on student performance on tests as well as observations, which may indeed be subjective. “Subjectivity has a place in all professions, does it not?” he asked.

During the hearing and afterwards in remarks to the press, Moerdler drew a direct connection between attacks on teachers and the news of a nationwide teacher shortage.

“For the past 10 years, teachers have been demonized across the country,” he said. “You can’t demonize people and expect them to say, ‘hit me again.’ We’ve got to end this reign of terror.”

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Streamlines Teacher Misconduct Investigations

Here in NYC, the Department of Education took care of speedy investigations many years ago - really, how long does it take to make up false accusations and get a few employees to say they are true (or lose their jobs) in order to terminate someone else?

Not long. And NYC is a mess - the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Special Commissioner For Investigations (SCI) and the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) are as corrupt as any agency can get, running rampant without anyone controlling or overseeing their actions (and I mean the Department of Investigations). Do NOT call any of the organizations if you or any family members work for the Department of Education. Report wrong-doing to someone outside the system, to me, or to the police.

But wait! Didn't I post a story on this blog in 2013 about this same matter?
Yep, sure did:

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Los Angeles Reviews The Investigations of Teachers

L.A. school board to consider faster investigation of teachers

Betsy Combier, Editor
President, ADVOCATZ

Secret Emails About Office of Special Investigations Being in Chaos

 
AUGUST 25, 2015

Marking a big turnaround managing teacher misconduct

by Tom Chorneau

LINK

(Calif.) Three years after a critical audit found the average teacher misconduct case could take 22 months to resolve, state officials reported last week that timeline has been cut almost in half.

In 2011, the state auditor reported that a typical educator discipline case could take 683 days to mature from the initial investigatory stage to action by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

During the 2014-15 school year, the agency reported that the average case took only 392 days to travel through the system.

The new efficiency is the result of streamlining procedures and delegating some decisions either to CTC’s executive director or to a secondary misconduct panel, the Committee of Credentials.

The commission, which serves as the state's standards board for educator training and professional conduct, came under fire after auditors found more than 12,000 misconduct cases unprocessed during the summer of 2009.

Part of that backlog were less serious complaints that had been set intentionally aside, but officials also acknowledged inefficiencies in the manner that agency staff undertook investigations – especially on cases where violations were not likely to result in any disciplinary action.

Nanette Rufo, director of the CTC’s division of professional practices, noted in a report to the board that the year-end caseload had gone from 4,133 in 2010-11 to 2,357 in 2014-15.

Reports of arrests and prosecutions – known as RAP sheets – accounted for a total of 1,757 cases last year, down from 1,971 recorded last year and 2,200 in 2012-13.

The largest category of misconduct was alcohol-related, accounting for 2,290 cases – down from 2,409 in 2013-14 and 2,408 reported in 2012-13.

 

Joshua Speaks, spokesman for the CTC, (pictured at left) said the agency had to engage in a comprehensive reevaluation of how misconduct cases were processed in order to drive the new efficiencies.

“This evaluation identified delays in our process, outdated policies and procedures, and insufficient internal workload tracking,” he said. “In response, the Division of Professional Practices added key new management and staff positions, expanding by about 20 percent; updated their processes and the policies governing them; and trained existing and new staff on these changes. They also created new internal reports to give staff and management better tools for tracking cases and create greater accountability within the division.”

A key chokepoint in the process is the appeal that a credential-holder can make. Under state law, after the CTC has made its determination and issued a sanction, that decision can have the case heard by an Administrative Law judge.

The credentialing commission is represented in the appeal trial by the state Attorney General, which has been challenged to keep up with the recent growth in caseload. The number of appeals requested has jumped from 60 in 2011-12 to 199 in 2014-15.

To help reduce the burden, CTC’s legal office has made a special effort to negotiate settlements before a case goes to trial.

The governor also agreed to augment the CTC’s budget with another $3.9 million to help cover the cost of appealed cases.

Its A Fact: Attaching High Stakes To Standardized Tests Decreases Whatever Validity The Tests Might Have

An Update On High Stakes Test Cheating Stories

POSTED BY DAVID SAFIER ON FRI, AUG 21, 2015 AT 5:00 PM

LINK

Arizona is getting ready to go all in on last year's AzMERIT scores. We already know the overall passing rates for the state. Scores are down from the AIMS test. And we know why: because the bar was intentionally set higher. But we have yet to learn the individual school scores. Before we see the scores, though, we have a pretty good idea which schools will be the high fliers—schools that draw students from high income families—and which will be criticized for failing their children—schools that draw students from lower income families. But which schools will beat the odds? We won't know that for awhile, nor should we feel confident those "Why can't other schools be that successful?" results actually reflect student achievement.

Here's something that, as Donald Rumsfeld might say, is a known known: Attaching high stakes to standardized tests decreases whatever validity the tests might otherwise have. If the test results are important enough, schools and teachers will find all kinds of legitimate ways to help students get higher scores than if they weren't coached. Take, for an example, oh, say, me. When I was teaching in Oregon during the first few years of our high stakes state tests, I'm reasonably sure I helped a number of students just make it over the passing line on their 10th grade writing tets by teaching them the best way to approach the writing sample. I tried to make them better writers in the process, but if I hadn't given them approaches focused on boosting their scores, some passing students wouldn't have made the cut.

And then there are the illegal ways of raising student scores that involve cheating, not by students but by teachers and/or administrators. How often does it happen? The probable answer is, it happens far more often than we know about.

Here are some cases of proven and possible cheating which have made the news:

Atlanta, Georgia. The biggest cheating scandal in the country was in the Atlanta schools, where eleven educators were found guilty of cheating and eight of them went to prison. That should have been enough to scare every other Atlanta teacher straight, but it doesn't looks like it did.

When a jury convicted 11 former Atlanta educators in a test-cheating conspiracy in the spring, some education experts thought it may signal the end of high-profile academic misconduct cases for the 49,000-student school system.

But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported on multiple cases of possible improper grading practices in recent months, "including cases of principals pressured to alter grades; retaliation against those who balked; and supervisors allegedly ignoring or implicitly approving the signs of cheating," the Associated Press writes.Why would the latest group of cheaters be so stupid after seeing what happened to some of their colleagues? Well, if they had cheated before and didn't do it this time, the significantly lower test scores would be a smoking gun pointing to earlier test fixing, and maybe they were under so much pressure to get those scores up and keep them up, they felt they had to continue regardless of the risk.

Before the scandal broke, I should add, Atlanta schools were considered some of the most successful in the country because of their high test scores. They got an award from Ed Sec Arne Duncan.

New York City. Teachers College Community School in Harlem, connected with the prestigious teachers college, was getting raves for the work it was doing with poor kids, until it was accused of cheating.
The principal of a popular elementary school in Harlem acknowledged that she forged answers on students’ state English exams in April because the students had not finished the tests, according to a memorandum released Monday by the New York City Education Department.The tragic aftermath of the principal's admission is, she took her own life.

In response to problems across the district, the New York City Department of Education iscreating a task force to focus on test-related problems. New York state keeps a database of allegations of test fraud in public schools, district and charter, and parochial schools. It lists 670 allegations between the 2002-3 school year and the 2010-11 school year, though there's no information about how many of those were followed up or proven.

Whitehall, NY. The scores of seventh and eighth grade students have been invalidated at a district school because of problems with test security. It's not clear if there was any test tampering, but two tenured teachers were put on leave and the district wants to fire them.

Philadelphia, PA. A multi-year investigation of cheating recently added two more educators to the list of those who have been disciplined. A total of 53 district schools are being looked at because of suspicious erasure patterns on tests and large gains on the schools' test scores.

Arizona. In Nogales, Wade Carpenter Middle School was accused of cheating on the AIMS test. An independent investigation concluded that, yes, cheating by adults took place. Who did it? The investigation wasn't able to find out for sure, but evidence points away from teachers and district officials and toward a library media specialist and a guidance counselor. Before the cheating was discovered, the school bragged that it was the top Title 1 school in the country, and other Arizona schools with students from low income families were asked, "If Nogales can do it, why can't you?"

How many other Arizona schools have used illegal methods—as opposed to the legal and encouraged methods of teaching to the test—to boost student scores? No one knows, but seven schools were cited by the Department of Education as having suspicious patterns of erasures on their AIMS tests. I haven't seen any follow up about investigations, but it's unlikely these allegations were cooked up. More likely, they're a sampling of what's happening at other schools in Arizona — and schools around the country.

My two conclusions from the cheating stories I've read are: (1) High stakes tests can  lead educators to unscrupulous behavior they would have thought themselves incapable of, simply because the stakes are so high for them as individuals as well as for their schools and school districts; and (2) Standout success stories of schools defying the odds and getting higher-than-expected test scores should be viewed with an appropriate level of skepticism. They may mean a school is doing a fantastic job with its students, or they may mean the school is doing a good job of creating scores that give an inflated picture of student achievement.

Former NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott Is Appointed a Monitor For the East Ramapo School District

Dennis Walcott

DOE Appoints Dennis Walcott to Lead Monitor Team in East Ramapo
Baruch Horowitz

The new monitor for the East Ramapo School district, Dennis Walcott, discussed his new position today on the Brian Lehrer radio program.

MaryEllen Elia

Walcott, a former chancellor of New York City schools, was joined by New York State education commissioner MaryEllen Elia who recently appointed him to the job of overseeing the long-contentious East Ramapo school district. They both spoke about their hopes to accomplish their mission and how they plan to go about it.

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Walcott said his goal is to analyze the district and to assure the improvement of education for all students. He also acknowledged that part of this task will involve “separating fact from fiction,” and to parse through the different opinions in East Ramapo.

A former teacher who grew up in Queens, Mr. Walcott will be part of a three-person panel to oversee an expert team of three experts to study the district’s operations for four months and offer recommendations to the school board and the Board of Regents.

In his role as Monitor, Walcott is supported by Dr. Monica George-Fields, an expert in teaching and learning and school turnaround, and Dr. John W. Sipple of Cornell University, who has a background in education policy and finance and will be supported by experts in state education finance. Walcott’s team will report directly to Commissioner Elia and will be a regular presence in the district with the authority to monitor district operations, including fiscal and operational management and educational programming.

Walcott’s team will provide guidance, make recommendations and propose actions for improvement to the school district and to the State Education Department, to ensure that students have access to appropriate programs and services and that the district is on a path to fiscal and programmatic stability, as well as review the allocation of State resources to the district and make findings or recommendations as to any necessary modifications.

Mr. Walcott and his team will also maintain a regular presence in the district, including meetings with the Board, district staff, and members of the community, and will provide regular feedback, progress reports and updates to the State Education Department and the district.

—

You can listen to the entire radio show program here:http://www.wnyc.org/story/east-ramapo-gets-monitor/

"Persistently Dangerous" is a Label no Principal Wants, and All Hide

What Principals and the Office of Special Investigations do when there is a violent incident involving students, is file a report that makes the teacher the perpetrator, so that the school does NOT get reported to New York State and put into the VADIR list.

The teacher is then put onto suspension for causing harm to a child, and then brought to 3020-a to be removed from the school.

If this makes sense to you, then...

Betsy Combier, Editor
President, ADVOCATZ

DOE Kept Info on 'Dangerous' UWS School Secret, Officials Say

By Emily Frost | August 20, 2015 7:19pm

LINK

UPPER WEST SIDE — After the state department of education labeled a neighborhood school  "persistently dangerous," local leaders claimed the city mismanaged the entire process — from hiding the data and advising the principal not to appeal the designation to not informing parents.

P.S. 191, a K-8 school on West 61st Street, was deemed "persistently dangerous" this summer by the state Education Department, which took into account incidents reported by the school over the last two years, officials said. 

At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, the number of incidents reported at P.S. 191 and their severity forced state officials to warn the city Department of Education that it could be designated a "persistently dangerous school" (PDS) if the pattern repeated itself the following year.