Lawsuit Against the NYC Department of Education For Insufficient Support For Special Education in the Bronx is in Settlement Discussions

 

A 2017 class-action lawsuit challenged New York City’s voucher system for “related services.” Above, the New York City Department of Education.

David Handschuh for Chalkbeat

The Department of Education put a school population - students, staff, parents - in jeopardy by giving principals sole power to allocate resources in 2005. Secrecy without accountability is pervasive within the NYC DOE, and we all should speak with our Congressional representatives and get a Deputy Chancellor for Business and Transparency to be hired who has, by Law and by fiat in our City Charter, the right to look at the books, submit subpoenas, and issue last chance warnings followed by removal from office of anyone who is investigated by the District Attorney and found guilty.

The case posted below was delayed four years:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK M.G., a minor, by and through his parent and natural guardian R.G.; G.J., a minor, by and through his parent and natural guardian; C.J., on behalf of themselves and a class of those similarly situated, and BRONX ORDER INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICES, a nonprofit organization, 17 Civ. 5692 (PGG) Plaintiffs, - against - THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; THE CITY OF NEW YORK, CARMEN FARIÑA, in her official capacity as Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Defendants. PAUL G. GARDEPHE, U.S.D.J.: Plaintiffs M.G. and G.J., on behalf of themselves and a class of those similarly situated – children diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, Down syndrome, autism, and asthma – and the Bronx Independent Living Services – an independent living center serving those with disabilities – assert claims against the City of New York, the New York City Department of Education, and Carmen Fariña (Chancellor of the New York City School District) for violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the New York City Human Rights Law. (Cmplt. (Dkt. No. 1) ¶¶ 12, 15-30) The Complaint in this putative class action was filed on July 27, 2017. (Id.) From the very first conference, which took place on November 21, 2017, the parties and the Court agreed that the case should be settled. Nearly three years have passed since that first conference, and the case has still not been resolved. The Court has conducted nine conferences with the parties in an effort to encourage their efforts at settlement and has entered countless orders staying the litigation to accommodate ongoing settlement negotiations. (See Dkt. Nos. 50, 55, 60, 63, 67, 75) While seven months of delay can be attributed to the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic, there was years of delay before the pandemic struck. At today's conference, Defendants suggested that the matter might be resolved by April 2021. Given the history outlined above, this Court has no confidence as to when this case will be resolved. This Court cannot permit this matter to languish further. Accordingly, absent the submission of a detailed plan setting forth a concrete schedule as to when and how this case will be resolved, the Court will conduct weekly, in-person conferences to discuss what progress has been made in bringing this matter to resolution. The conferences will be attended not just by the lawyers representing the parties, but also by whatever decision-makers are responsible for the delay. The parties will submit a joint status letter by November 12, 2020, setting forth how they propose to bring this matter to resolution on a reasonable schedule – a schedule that takes account of the more than three years that have passed since this lawsuit was filed. Based on that letter, the Court will determine whether the weekly status conferences referenced above are necessary. Dated: New York, New York November 5, 2020

July 14, 2021 ORDER:

M.G.v.New York City Department of Education

United States District Court, Southern District of New YorkJul 14, 2021Full title
13-cv-4639 (SHS) (RWL) (S.D.N.Y. Jul. 14, 2021)

13-cv-4639 (SHS) (RWL)

07-14-2021

M.G., et al., Plaintiffs, v. NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants.

ROBERT W. LEHRBURGER, United States Magistrate Judge.

ORDER

As discussed during the conference held on July 14, 2021, the parties shall continue to meet to advance settlement discussions as set forth in Dkt. 339 subject to the following modifications.

1. The City Defendants will provide a substantive offer in response to Plaintiffs' Autism Phase 1 demand by August 9, 2021. By August 23, 2021, Plaintiffs and the City Defendants will meet to continue discussions.

2. From that point on, Plaintiffs and the City Defendants will meet every two weeks. Plaintiffs and the State Defendants will meet every two weeks. Each set of Defendants may participate in the meetings with the other Defendants, but doing so is not required unless the parties agree that substantive contribution from all Defendants would be productive for that particular meeting.

3. The State Defendants will continue their research, analysis, and discussions regarding resolution of the ABA licensing issue. The State Defendants shall keep Plaintiffs apprised of progress in that regard and engage in substantive discussions with Plaintiffs prior to the next bi-weekly meeting between the State Defendants and Plaintiffs.

4. The City Defendants and State Defendants will make good faith efforts to have their client stakeholders and persons with knowledge whose participation will materially contribute to productive discussions participate directly in the settlement discussion meetings. At each meeting, the parties should discuss whether such stakeholder participation would be productive at the next meeting (or some particular time thereafter), and if so whom those persons should be.

5. Before the conclusion of each meeting, the parties will discuss and agree upon an agenda for the next meeting. Within 48 hours after the conclusion of each meeting, each substantively participating party (i.e, Plaintiffs and the City Defendants, or Plaintiffs and the State Defendants) shall separately email to the Court's chambers email address on an ex parte basis a one-paragraph summary status report. At their option, both the City Defendants and State Defendants may submit such a report for the meetings for which they do not have substantive responsibility.

This particular procedure was not discussed during the conference, but the Court believes it will be the most efficient and clearest way to proceed with respect to agenda-setting.

6. The Court will participate in a settlement conference (of no more than three hours) with the parties approximately once every six weeks. The parties shall cooperate with my Courtroom Deputy in scheduling the conference dates. No later than three days before each such conference, (a) the parties shall jointly file a status report, including but not limited to identifying the issue(s) the parties would like to discuss during the conference, and (b) the parties may each submit an ex parte a letter of no more than five pages providing any additional information they think will be helpful in resolving the case.

7. The parties shall cooperate in providing specific documents or information requested by another party in aid of settlement.

8. The temporary stay currently in place will be continued until December 2, 2021.

SO ORDERED.

The only way the NYC DOE gives sufficient support and resources is by order of a Judge. Sad.

Ever heard of SESIS? Former NYC Comptroller John Liu did an Audit in 2013:

Audit Report on the Department of Education’s Special Education Student Information System

see also:

NY State Commissioner Betty Rosa Suggests Remote Schooling For Children and Their Relatives With Health Issues

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NYC to increase special education services for Bronx students following settlement

By Pooja Salhotra  Aug 4, 2021, 11:49am EDT

A federal district judge has approved a settlement agreement between the education department and disability rights advocates in the Bronx, resolving a four-year-old lawsuit that challenged the city’s process for allocating certain special education services.

The settlement, in effect for three years, requires the education department to make a series of changes to the way it provides what are called “related services,” which include occupational therapy and mental health counseling, among other supports for students with disabilities.

Many schools do not have enough on-site staff to provide these services to all the students who are entitled to them. When that happens, schools can give parents a voucher to cover the cost of the service. But a number of barriers prevent parents from using vouchers. Families sometimes struggle to find providers willing to travel to their neighborhoods, for example, and many providers are simply unresponsive or not taking on more clients.

As a result, vouchers are often left unused. About half of the 9,154 vouchers issued went unused in the 2015-16 school year, according to a report from the public advocate’s office. The voucher system disadvantages poor neighborhoods the most, particularly those in far-reaching corners of the city that are more difficult for providers to access.

A 2017 class-action lawsuit brought by nonprofit Bronx Independent Living Services and two students with disabilities in the Bronx challenged the voucher system. The lawsuit argued that the education department was failing to provide appropriate related services and violated the law.

Last month — four years after the initial lawsuit — a judge authorized a settlement that applies to students in the Bronx who have Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs. The agreement does not remove the voucher program altogether, but it does include policies meant to reduce the city’s reliance on that system.

The education department must increase the number of occupational therapy supervisor positions in the Bronx from three to five, for example. It will also increase funding by 25% for a loan forgiveness program to attract university students studying to become related services providers to the education department. Hiring decisions must also be made earlier, ahead of the fall semester.

“The focus is on moving the hiring up earlier in the summer with the hope that this can allow the DOE to better plan their needs for the upcoming school year,” said Rebecca Serbin, staff attorney for Disability Rights Advocates, which served as the plaintiffs’ counsel in the lawsuit.

Other policies in the agreement are meant to make the voucher system work more efficiently for families in the Bronx. In some cases, students wait weeks to receive their vouchers, which in turn delays the start of their services. The settlement outlines detailed timelines for issuing vouchers. (In most cases, they are to be delivered within 16 days of when school starts.)

Schools are also required to appoint a non-school-based “related service authorization liaison” whose job is to support parents in using their vouchers or getting make-up services. The education department must also ensure the provider list is accurate and updated.

“It’s vitally important to our community that they are able to access the services they need when they need them,” said Brett Eisenberg, executive director of Bronx Independent Living Services, a nonprofit that served as a plaintiff in the case and works with students with disabilities. “This agreement really makes sure that happens.”

The settlement comes at a time when the education department has been struggling to provide adequate services to students with disabilities across the five boroughs. During the pandemic, staffing shortages and virtual learning meant thousands of students missed out on crucial services, such as physical and occupational therapy, that were difficult to administer virtually.

In an acknowledgment of those disruptions, city officials announced an intensive effort to help students with IEPs. All of those students, roughly 200,000, are eligible for special programming after school and on Saturdays.

A Saturday programming option is also laid out in the settlement agreement. Bronx students who are eligible for make-up related services can make use of “Saturday Sites,” which will offer occupational therapy and speech therapy. For all other make-up related services, the education department will make alternative arrangements.

In a statement, the education department recognized the settlement as progress for students with disabilities.

“It is critical that the needs of all students with disabilities are met, and we’re pleased to have reached this settlement through which we will invest in new programs, processes, and resources that will make it easier for families to get support,” education department spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon wrote in an email. “We look forward to the progress and real results students will experience as a result of the settlement.”

Still, some question whether the agreement goes far enough in addressing the problems with the voucher system.

Lori Podvesker, a policy expert at INCLUDEnyc, an advocacy group that focuses on special education, noted that to receive make-up services, families must request the education department, a process that puts the burden of accessing services back on parents.

“It’s outrageous that they are putting the onus back on families,” said Podvesker. She added that she’d like to see the obligations in the settlement document expanded beyond the Bronx to the other four boroughs.

“These issues are not just limited to the Bronx,” she said. “This is pervasive.”

Public Advocate Letitia James announced a report earlier this month criticizing the city's special education voucher program.

 Alex Zimmerman

Lawsuit targets New York City program that strands poor students without required special ed services

By Alex Zimmerman  Jul 27, 2017, 4:12pm EDT

A program that makes New York City parents responsible for finding their own special education services — but that often leaves them with no services at all — is under legal attack.

The class-action lawsuit, filed Thursday in a federal district court, aims to reform the city’s process for ensuring that students with disabilities receive “related services” — which include physical therapy, certain medical services and counseling, among other therapies.

When the city’s education department is unable to offer those services itself, or through a contractor, parents are given a voucher that can be used to pay an outside provider. But that system puts the onus on families to find providers, and about half of the 9,164 vouchers issued during the 2015-16 school year went unused, according to a report issued earlier this month by the public advocate’s office.

The lawsuit centers on the Bronx, where the problem is particularly acute. In District 8, which includes Hunts Point, Throgs Neck and Soundview, 91 percent of the 129 vouchers issued last school year went unused — the highest rate anywhere in the city.

The city’s public advocate found that families face a number of barriers to using the vouchers: They often struggle to find providers in their neighborhoods, have difficulty arranging for transportation and getting reimbursed to send their children elsewhere, or simply can’t find providers who are responsive.

In part because of those challenges, an attorney who helped bring the lawsuit said the city can’t simply offer a voucher to fulfil its obligation to provide special education services.

“The DOE has to ensure that students actually get [services]” said Seth Packrone, a lawyer at Disability Rights Advocates, which contributed to the public advocate’s report. “They can’t just issue a voucher and then step away.”

The goal of the litigation is to force the education department to come up with a plan to ensure that students in the Bronx receive the services they have been guaranteed, Packrone said. It is not yet clear what that plan could entail or how it could affect other neighborhoods, which also have large numbers of unused vouchers.

The complaint says the city’s voucher program violates multiple federal laws that guarantee students with disabilities a free and appropriate public education. The plaintiffs in the case are two Bronx students and Bronx Independent Living Services, a nonprofit that works with students who have disabilities.

Education department spokeswoman Toya Holness wrote in a statement: “We are dedicated to meeting the needs of students with disabilities and in the small percentage of cases when we issue a related service authorization, we work with families to connect them with an appropriate provider in their area.”

She referred questions about the lawsuit to a law department spokesman, who said the city is reviewing the complaint.

Chancellor Porter Appoints Marisol Rosales To A New NYC Position as Senior Deputy Chancellor.

 

Marisol Rosales

As if we needed a new administrator.

Let's face it, the appointment of Superintendent Marisol Rosales as the new Senior Deputy Chancellor (a new administrative post) is political, and Ms. Rosales is getting a hefty salary, $241,000.00 to perform her duties, whatever they are.

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Chancellor Porter appoints Manhattan Executive Superintendent Marisol Rosales as first-ever Senior Deputy Chancellor of DOE

By Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech, AMNY, August 3, 2021

Manhattan Executive Superintendent Marisol Rosales has been appointed the Department of Education’s first senior deputy chancellor, DOE officials announced Tuesday.

Once Rosales steps into the new role on Aug. 16, she will work with First Deputy Chancellor Donald Conyers who oversees executive superintendents and borough offices and will help with “academics, early childhood education, enrollment, school climate and wellness,” according to a DOE spokesperson.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter created the new post in order to help better connect the first deputy chancellor and his office to school communities ahead of this fall’s full school reopening. Rosales’ appointment is Porter’s first department shakeup since she took over as chancellor after her predecessor Richard Carranza abruptly resigned in March. According to a DOE spokesperson, Porter does not have plans to create any more new executive offices.

“I am thrilled to elevate a leader who has extensive experience at every level within the DOE and deeply understands what our schools need to be successful and thrive,” said Porter. “Manhattan has been lucky to have Marisol Rosales as executive superintendent for the past three years, and now the rest of our schools, and all of our students, will benefit from her leadership.”

Rosales has worked within the DOE for the past 28 years and had various stints as a teacher and athletic director early in her career before becoming an assistant principal and eventually principal superintendent. For the last three years, she has overseen 273 3-K through 12th-grade schools, with a combined 125,000 students, as executive superintendent of Manhattan. A native of Chile, Rosales is also the only Latina and Spanish speaker on the DOE executive board.

“It has been an honor to serve Manhattan over the last ten years as superintendent and executive superintendent, and I thank the Manhattan school community for their partnership and collaboration,” Rosales said. “Nothing is more important than connecting what is happening at the school level to our leaders at Central to ensure our students are getting what they need to succeed. I look forward to leveraging my extensive experience within the DOE and working hand in hand with our talented Deputy Chancellors during the critical school year ahead.”

Department officials touted Rosales for her role in improving the graduation rate among Black and Latino students in Manhattan during her time as superintendent and executive superintendent between 2013 and last year. During those seven years, the graduation rate for Black and Latino students increased respectively from 61.7% to 74.8% and 62.3% to 75.1%, according to the DOE.

Porter, in part, appointed Rosales senior deputy chancellor due to her experience supporting schools during crises citing her work with school leadership after Hurricane Sandy and work to help embattled former Puerto Rico Education Secretary Julia Keleher reopen schools during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Rosales spent 10 days on the island in 2017 offering guidance to principals and superintendents working to reopen their districts and schools.

Danika Rux, superintendent of Manhattan’s District 5, will take over as interim acting Manhattan executive superintendent as the DOE searches for a permanent replacement.

Critics question need for new DOE bureaucratic post, with $241K salary

Selim Algar, NYPOST, August 4, 2021

The Department of Education has created yet another high-priced bureaucratic position, tapping an agency veteran as a senior deputy chancellor.

The DOE appointed Manhattan Executive Superintendent Marisol Rosales to serve in the post at a salary of $241,000 a year, officials said.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross-Porter will have Rosales focus on “academics, early childhood education, enrollment, school climate and wellness,” according to a DOE spokesperson.

The former physical education teacher and 28-year department veteran has served as an athletic director, assistant principal, and principal before assuming more senior administrative roles, the DOE said.

“As a lifelong educator, Marisol Rosales will be an invaluable advocate for New York City students and bring the school experience into our decision-making during this critical time,” said DOE spokesperson Danielle Filson.

But some critics questioned the latest enlargement of the DOE’s administrative ranks.

                                                          David Bloomfield
“Every chancellor has the right to make changes as they see fit,” said David Bloomfield, education professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. “But this new level of bureaucracy seems to lack strong justification.”

The DOE said that Rosales will help “strengthen the connection” between First Deputy Chancellor Donald Conyers “and the field,” according to a statement.

But Bloomfield questioned how an additional administrative layer will shorten the bridge between Conyers and other DOE executives.

“The idea that another level of bureaucracy better connects him to the field is a paradox,” he said.

The DOE credited Rosales with recent improved graduation rates for African-American and Hispanic students in Manhattan under her leadership.

“Nothing is more important than connecting what is happening at the school level to our leaders at Central to ensure our students are getting what they need to succeed,” Rosales said in a statement.

“I look forward to leveraging my extensive experience within the DOE and working hand in hand with our talented Deputy Chancellors during the critical school year ahead.”

NY State Commissioner Betty Rosa Suggests Remote Schooling For Children and Their Relatives With Health Issues

Education Commissioner Betty Rosa wrote in a Thursday memo that districts
 “may work with students and families to offer remote options if it is deemed to be
 in the best educational interest of the student.”

Children with special needs have accommodations on their Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) which are funded by the state and federal governments. Having been a parent advocate for 22 years and a parent to four children all of whom graduated from the NYCDOE (one with an IEP), and after winning almost $1 million for parents to attend private schools or programs at Impartial Hearings, I can give an informed opinion on the Department's latest false statement that these students possibly will be staying home and doing remote schooling.

The fact is, the Department wants/needs/spends the federal and state funds, and must monitor these funds closely, for audits and accountability purposes.

I and many other advocates for parents of children with disabilities know very well the fraud going on in NYC public schools in the area of giving the proper services to the kids who need them. Take ICT classes, for instance. ICT classes are supposed to have two teachers in the core subjects: one certified in special education and the other certified to teach general education students. Many principals give the ICT classes only one teacher, or one teacher and a substitute/paraprofessional. It's cheaper to do this. Also, when a parent gets let's say OT (Occupational Therapy) on their child's IEP and their child is supposed to get 3X30 (three sessions/week for 30 minutes) I tell the parent to have the therapist jot down a note of how their child did after each session, or ask the child every day what happened in school. Parents can keep track of missing dates of therapy.

But most parents don't do this, so principals, always mindful of keeping the school budget in the black (not over-spending available funds), may take away one or two days/week of the therapy and give the child one OT session/week, while telling the therapist not let the parents know. This is a business model of special education where the child comes last.

Children don't matter.

We posted this in 2008: DOE Violates Special Ed Law

What happens if the parent finds out? The principal is "horrified", and disciplines the OT person with a letter-to-file, discontinuance, or 3020-a charges. Then it is up to the OT person to defend his/her work, his/her schedule, career, character and life.

There are many, many stories that are the same, with the common denominator being "how much can I get away with"?

In the NYC DOE you can get away with a lot, considering there is no accountability nor investigators to uncover the truth. I have written about this many times before:
NYC Public Advocate Letitia James Sues The NYC Department of Education for Denying Special Education Children Their Services and Accommodations

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara Scolds the NYC Department of Education For Not Making Schools Accessible To Disabled Children

The only way this might work is to give each parent of a child with an IEP the money for remote schooling, so the parent can use it as they see fit, with proper monitoring.

NYC fights family of disabled Bronx student over pandemic school ‘age-out’ policy by Michael Elsen-Rooney, NY Daily News, July 31, 2021

Ivelisse Ramirez (left) and her daughter, Maria Torres. (Wes Parnell/for New York Daily News)

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DOE mulling remote schooling options for kids in special circumstances

Julia Marsh and Selim Algar, NY POST, July 31, 2021

City officials are considering a remote schooling option for kids with immunocompromised relatives, a source told The Post Friday.

The Department of Education previously said that students who themselves are vulnerable could learn from home — but the city may now extend that offer to kids with family members at elevated risk, the City Hall source said.

News of the proposal drew skepticism from some educators. A Bed-Stuy middle school teacher warned that expanding remote learning eligibility could complicate the resumption of classes in September.

“It’s going to be difficult to know where to draw the line,” she said. “I can see that becoming a headache for principals if it’s not handled properly or clearly.”

Meanwhile, state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa wrote in a Thursday memo that districts “may work with students and families to offer remote options if it is deemed to be in the best educational interest of the student.”

She also urged administrators to “consider the value of online capacity developed in response to the pandemic” in crafting their curriculums this year.

Rosa stressed, however, that state officials “will not require schools that are open for full-time, in-person instruction to provide online or remote instruction” to students.

Some families and teachers union factions have called for the retention of a remote learning option for the upcoming school year.

Asserting that screen learning is inferior to in-person instruction and isolates kids, others have demanded an unrestrained return to classrooms.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been adamant in proclaiming the end of widespread remote classes — but the emergence of the Delta variant has induced fresh parental jitters about the upcoming year.

“While the nature and extent of COVID-19 and its variants are still dynamic, it is essential that schools receive whatever guidance the Governor and the DOH intend to offer about the 2021-2022 school year as soon as possible …,” Rosa wrote in her letter to superintendents.

Parents and staffers have also been at odds over City Hall’s requirement of masks inside DOE schools in the fall.

Citing ongoing coronavirus concerns, some have backed the mandate and argued that the pandemic remains a threat inside classrooms.

Others have resisted the push, countering that COVID-19 cases in city schools were minimal last year and that masks hinder learning and socialization.

The DOE insisted Friday that the remote format introduced last year was completely defunct.

“As we announced in May, we will welcome back all students in September and there will not be a remote option,” said spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon. “Our home instruction program, which benefits a small number of children who are medically unable to attend school, will continue as it did pre-pandemic and as always, we will work with families to tailor the instruction based on the medical needs of each child.”

Backers include City Council education chair Mark Treyger, who said the “DOE should offer a fall remote option for kids not of vaccination age” earlier this month.

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer Finds NYC Education Department Errors Cost City + State $180 Million

 

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

$180 million could have helped many children with special needs. Is there no one in New York City who knows accounting and wants to work for the NYC Department of Education? Please, find someone who knows what to do with $37 Billion before all of that goes missing as well.

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NYC Education Department officials cost city, state $180M by not seeking federal aid for special services: comptroller audit

By MICHAEL ELSEN-ROONEY, NY DAILY NEWS, July 18, 2021

Poor management by city government deprived programs for New York schoolchildren hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid, an audit by city Comptroller Scott Stringer found.

The shortfall came because Department of Education officials didn’t submit all the paperwork to secure more than $155 million in reimbursement for some speech, occupational and physical therapy sessions, Stringer’s auditors found.

The Education Department missed out on at least another $25 million by never requesting reimbursement for other services, the auditors say.

Half of the roughly $180 million city Education Department officials left on the table would have gone to the state under federal rules, with the remaining $90 million flowing to the city coffers, auditors said.

“This is money that could be in our classrooms supporting our children when they need it most,” said Stringer in a statement. “This mismanagement is unacceptable, and the DOE must improve its process to capture every last dollar eligible for reimbursement.”

DOE officials vigorously disputed Stringer’s findings.

The officials say Stringer overstated the amount of federal money the city would have obtained by including the 50% that would have gone to state government. Department of Education Chief Administrative Officer Lauren Siciliano said Stringer is holding the department to a standard that is “neither fair nor reasonable.”

Stringer’s office argued that since DOE is responsible for submitting all the reimbursement claims, it was appropriate to note the total amount the agency missed out on recouping, even if half of it would have gone to the state.

To claim money for special education services from Medicaid — the federal insurance program that covers medical costs for low-income people — school districts must compile reams of paperwork, including doctor referrals, evidence that therapists are licensed, consent from families to apply for reimbursement, and notes documenting therapy sessions.

Auditors said the DOE conducted roughly 6.8 million individual therapy sessions during the 2018-19 school year for which it could’ve claimed reimbursement.

But the Education Department was missing at least one element of the necessary paperwork for about 1.6 million of those therapy sessions, depriving the agency of up to $155 million in potential reimbursements, auditors said.
The most common piece of missing documentation was a referral from a doctor, auditors found.

The DOE has a team of in-house doctors that writes referrals for occupational and physical therapy, and agency officials said they try to deploy those doctors based on need. Stringer’s auditors advised the DOE to hire more doctors.

Stringer’s auditors found other holes in the DOE’s procedures.

In roughly one-fourth of the cases the auditors analyzed, the DOE failed to submit evidence that the provider had an appropriate license to claim federal reimbursement. The comptroller’s office recommended a “comprehensive review” to determine which therapists need to obtain or update their credentials.

Scores of disabled students in private schools also receive DOE-funded therapy that is eligible for federal reimbursement — but the city does not always make sure the private schools provide the paperwork needed for the city to get federal reimbursement, the auditors found.

Stringer’s auditors said city education officials need to strictly enforce the expectation that private schools create their own referrals from doctors.
Another problem, Stringer’s auditors found, was a shortfall in the consent forms collected from students’ families.

A DOE spokeswoman countered that claim, saying the agency collects consent from 85% of families, “one of the best collection rates in the country on a form that is voluntary for families to complete and return.”

In one pointed back-and-forth, auditors dinged DOE officials for failing to take advantage of a Medicaid program that reimburses districts for psychological counseling.

The DOE frequently provides students therapy that meets the Medicaid definition for “psychological counseling” — but fails to classify the sessions as such on students’ Individual Education Plans, auditors said.

The department says many of those counseling sessions are not eligible for federal reimbursement, and that changing recommendations on students’ IEPs would amount to “focus[ing] on revenue rather than the student’s needs.”.

But Stringer’s report says that’s “patently untrue,” and that the oversight cost the city up to $2.4 million in federal money during the 2018-19 school year.

The DOE has long struggled with Medicaid reimbursement. Stringer’s office found in 2014 the DOE lost out on $356 million in unclaimed funds over the course of three years.

The agency ramped up its efforts in 2013, and Medicaid reimbursement revenues shot up from roughly $18 million in 2016 to $97 million in 2019, before falling some during the pandemic, the report found.

The Education Department now has an office dedicated to overseeing Medicaid reimbursement requests, though it employs only five people, according to the audit.

DOE officials argued that recouping every possible dollar of Medicaid reimbursement likely would require big spending outlays on new systems and staff.

“We reject this audit’s suggestions that prioritize bureaucratic procedures over New York City families,” said Education Department spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon. “We have already implemented many of this report’s recommendations and will continue to work towards maximizing all reimbursements as appropriate, but not ahead of the needs of students.”

Paula Lev, Principal of the High School for Law and Public Service, Tries To Divide Her School By Race

 

White spite: NYC principal ‘conspired to oust Caucasian teachers’

by Susan Edelman, NY POST, July 10, 2021

The faculty of a Washington Heights high school is rebelling against their principal, charging in a vote of no confidence that she has “flagrantly but unsuccessfully attempted to divide our school by race.”

Paula Lev, principal of the High School for Law and Public Service, is now under investigation by the city Department of Education for allegedly telling a faculty member she “was going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren’t doing anything for the kids of our community,” a complaint states.

Lev, a Dominican, also asked the faculty member to “conspire with her” to try to oust a white colleague, according to the complaint filed last week with the DOE’s Office of Equal Opportunity.

“She definitely has something against white people,” says the complaint, obtained by The Post.

On the last day of school, Lev gave the faculty member a notice that he was “placed in excess” — meaning no longer needed at the school — and should look for a job elsewhere in the DOE. 

“He blew the whistle on her and a week later he was excessed,” a colleague said. It’s unclear whether Lev knew about the complaint.

The complaint came amid simmering unrest at the school, which staffers blamed on what they said was Lev twisting the current concepts of equity and anti-racism, which the DOE promotes and teachers overwhelmingly support.

Dissatisfaction with Lev, 39, boiled up in February, when teacher Nick Bacon, the union chapter leader, filed a routine grievance about a scheduling issue that could have affected most of the faculty, staffers said.

In front of a half-dozen other staffers, Lev questioned Bacon’s motives.

“I wasn’t sure what your problem with me was, maybe it’s because I am a woman of color and you’re a white man?” Lev asked Bacon, according to a March 2 letter to District 6 Superintendent Manny Ramirez and signed by most of the school’s tenured members.

Staffers were outraged that Lev had seemingly accused Bacon, who was raising their labor concerns, of being racist. The school has a diverse staff — about half white, some Jewish and Greek. A mix of black, Hispanic and Asian make up the rest. 

The grievance raised by Bacon was resolved in the union’s favor. In an effort to quell the furor over Lev’s remark, Ramirez agreed in a meeting that what she said was “inappropriate,” but added that the comment expressed Lev’s feelings, and urged Bacon to work with her, staffers said.

In a later meeting with Bacon, Lev apologized for making the remark openly at a staff conference — but not for the substance of her comment, saying it reflected her true feelings and should have been expressed to him alone, said people informed of the discussion.

At the same time, they said, Lev suggested that Bacon read the 2018 book by Robin DiAngelo “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism,” which argues that whites get defensive when questioned about racial inequality. 

She said Bacon could join her and other staffers in studying the book and have “courageous conversations,” using a term coined by a consultant hired by the DOE to give implicit-bias workshops for employees.

Four months after the conflict involving Bacon, another faculty member filed the discrimination complaint alleging that Lev had pressured him to help her engineer the ouster of a colleague, an unidentified white female staffer.

Lev wanted the faculty member to get a state education certification, the complaint states, so he would not have the same title as the targeted colleague, clearing the way for Lev to “excess” the more senior staffer.

“Ms. Lev has asked me to conspire with her on a couple of occasions in getting rid of my colleague,” the faculty member alleges in the OEO filing.

“She also stated to me in Spanish that she was ‘going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren’t doing anything for the kids of our community,’” the complaint states.

It concludes, “I believe Ms. Lev is not suited for the position of principal because of the comments she has made to me about white people and the malicious ways in which she thinks and speaks. She is not fit to be a leader of a school.

“As a school staff, we have lost confidence, creditability, trust, and most importantly we have lost hope in Ms. Lev as a principal at the High School for Law & Public Service.” 

Frustrated staffers said Bacon reached out to Chancellor Meisha Porter in early July, begging her to intervene after Ramirez failed to resolve the conflict.

On June 24, most of the school’s nearly 50 faculty members met to consider four possible reasons to vote no confidence in Lev, including that she had 1) “flagrantly but unsuccessfully attempted to divide our school community by race,” and 2) “disrespected, slandered, and/or arbitrarily gone after respected educators, to the detriment of our entire school community.”

The ballot also gave as reasons that Lev “constantly violated our contract” and failed to collaborate with the staff on important school decisions.

“With almost the entire 40+ membership voting, including both tenured and untenured teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service professionals, 83.3% voted that they no longer have confidence in our principal to lead our school,” said an email to staffers.

Votes of no confidence against DOE school leaders are unusual. The faculty of Forest Hills High School in Queens voted no confidence in then-principal Ben Sherman in 2019 after complaints, among others, that he let marijuana smoking by students run rampant. The DOE eventually removed Sherman from the school, but gave him a bureaucratic post at the same salary.

Lev was named interim acting principal of Law and Public Service, one of five schools in the George Washington Educational campus, in February 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 shutdown. She was awarded the post late last year after filling in for beloved founding principal Nicholas Politis, who retired.

Previously, she served three years as an instructional specialist for the DOE’s special-ed data system. Before that, she was a special-ed assistant principal for three years, and a special-ed teacher for three years.

Lev, whose salary was $165,542 last year, is married to another DOE principal, Benjamin Lev.

She did not return messages. DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer would not comment on the faculty’s vote of no confidence.  “The superintendent and executive superintendent are working closely with the principal, students and community to address concerns,” he said.