A federal judge is likely to end court-ordered monitoring of special education in New Orleans by the end of the year.
Before making a final decision, though, he invited parents to share their concerns this week during two days of informal hearings.
U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey introduced himself as the parent of a son with special needs. “I feel your pain. I promise you,” he told parents during Wednesday’s hearing.
Zainey stressed that the now decade-old consent decree was always meant to be temporary. And while the system “isn’t perfect,” he believes it’s gotten “much improved” and that officials are doing their best.
The case isn’t meant to resolve individual problems, but systemic issues, he added and reminded parents they can pursue legal action on their own.
But the more than a dozen people, mostly parents, who spoke on Wednesday disagreed.
They argued their experiences and their children’s are due to system-level problems the consent decree was supposed to address, but hasn’t.
While the specific allegations varied, the larger issues spanning more than a dozen schools were consistent. Parents described a lack of communication and documentation, safety concerns, and schools regularly violating the civil rights of children with special needs.
“My kids are in therapy because of things that have happened to them at school,” said Grace Thompson.
Thompson has two sons on the autism spectrum, one of whom attends a charter school she said she does not feel safe sending him to.
“It does not feel like the system cares about our kids,” she said.
The lawsuit
Special education services are centralized in most school systems. But in New Orleans’ charter system, it’s up to families to decide where to send their kids — even those with complex needs.
Schools across the country — traditional and charter — have been accused of failing to provide children with disabilities the full support they are entitled to due to inadequate funding, staffing and other reasons.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal special education law that guarantees students a “free and appropriate education,” requires schools to identify children with disabilities and develop a plan, formalized in a legal document, to make sure they receive the resources they need to learn.
Under IDEA, the federal government promised to cover 40% of the additional funding needed to educate students with disabilities. But Congress has never provided the full funding.
The issues schools face are exacerbated in New Orleans’ decentralized school system, where children with special needs make up about 15% of students in grades K-8 but aren’t distributed evenly, placing a greater burden on some schools.
Coordination is also difficult across schools that aren’t under the same charter, which silos resources and increases costs.
“For 20 years, it’s been this experiment on how do we first run a school district like this, but also how, within that school system, do you do special education, and we haven’t figured it out,” said Lauren Winkler, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center who is representing parents in the lawsuit.
“We know that it works in a traditional system to have it centralized. Obviously, it’s a different system that we’re in, but it can be done. And if that’s what’s best for children and families, it’s probably what should be done.”
In 2010, families filed a lawsuit alleging violations at some charter schools, including that students were denied admission because of their disabilities and didn’t receive accommodations they were legally entitled to.
Since then, officials have centralized enrollment and created a hearing office for expulsions, limiting charters’ ability to pick and push out students.
A settlement in 2015 led to regular reports from an independent monitor, which, to this day, continues to flag possible violations of federal disability laws in New Orleans schools.
While individual schools are still flagged, the district and state have been in “substantial compliance” under the settlement since the 2016-17 school year, according to the monitor’s most recent update.
The state also appears to have paid more attention to New Orleans schools in recent years. Louisiana’s legislative auditor reported last year that more than 60% of special education-related inspections were conducted in New Orleans schools.
In February, the district and state asked the court to end the monitoring, arguing they had fulfilled the terms of the settlement.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which represents parents in the case, is challenging the request.
Parents say issues persist
Parents who spoke on Wednesday shared stories of how they believe their children have been mistreated or underserved in New Orleans public schools.
Many parents said they’ve struggled to get schools to fulfill their children’s individualized education programs, known as IEPs — legal documents that outline the services and accommodations a student is entitled to.
They said some schools claim they don’t have the resources to provide their children with the support they need to learn, and even attend school, including one-on-one support, transportation accommodations and therapies.
Parents said this means their kids aren’t learning at school and, in some cases, are even regressing.
Others described their children being secluded in closets, left to sit in soiled clothes, and physically restrained by staff and police.
Several pointed to the lack of specialized programs available in New Orleans for children with severe needs and said they feel like there are no appropriate school options for their kids.
Some said they’re considering leaving the parish or state to access a better education — a luxury many families don’t have.
“I don’t want to abandon the city that I love because I feel it doesn’t love my children,” said a mom who has two kids with special needs.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have said the district and state need to take more proactive measures to ensure schools meet the needs of all children with disabilities instead of only intervening when families report violations.
Proposals that plaintiffs have suggested that have not been implemented include:
- Creating an ombudsman within the school district (the state already has one) to help families resolve conflicts with schools and issue reports on its activities each year
- Increasing transparency in special education, including in school choice, complaint procedures and how students with disabilities are performing
- Incorporate the consent judgment monitoring into the district’s monitoring and compliance system
Some parents said they’re afraid of the Trump administration’s moves to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, and that it’s too tumultuous a time to scale back oversight.
Throughout the hearing, Zainey maintained that he believes the district and state are doing what they’re supposed to do.
“They have gone above and beyond,” he said. “You may not have seen it. But I’ve seen it.”
District promises to keep ‘doing better’
New Orleans’ head of schools attended Wednesday’s hearing along with several other district officials and staff from Louisiana’s Department of Education.
“I take every concern very seriously,” Fateama Fulmore, NOLA Public Schools’ superintendent, told families. “We have an obligation to every child. We have been doing better, and we will continue doing better.”
The district’s latest plan is to create an education service agency so that schools that opt in can share resources, like therapists and technology, a concept it's currently piloting.
Louisiana’s state ombudsman for special education and others handed out their business cards and promised to address parents' concerns. Several said they’d already been in touch, though, and nothing had come of it.
Winkler, with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said they’re preparing for Zainey to lift the consent decree. But she hopes that after hearing what parents have to say, he’ll change his mind.
“Our goal with this opportunity is to persuade him that these issues are systemic. They’re not one-offs,” Winkler said. “What’s in place right now is not sufficient to ensure that kids' rights aren’t being violated.”
