A whopping 20,000 students with learning disabilities haven’t received special-education services because of a shortage of qualified staffers, according to a bombshell survey by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s office.
That’s 13 percent of the 150,000 students eligible for special ed.
The survey, overseen by Deputy Chancellor Carmen Farina, said there aren’t enough therapists and other specialist to provide speedy services to learning-disabled students.
“The shortage of skilled professionals in the special-education-related fields is a challenge across the nation,” Farina said.
Still, Farina said, the city Department of Education has hired 200 additional therapists this year, resulting in 3,000 more students receiving services.
Thousands of additional students have been evaluated to see if they need special education. But the results of many of the evaluations have not yet been recorded because of “data entry” problems.
Farina said the department will now be contracting out data-entry services to a private firm.
The unprecedented survey confirmed many of the criticisms about backlogs cited by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and union officials.
Farina said the survey found that there are still 636 students who require an evaluation more than 60 days after a request – down from thousands just a few months ago.
Union officials blamed the elimination of jobs for the problems.
“The same Department of Education that fired over 350 special-education supervisors is now blaming the resulting problems on the scarcity of expertise. The DOE cannot have it both ways,” said Council of Supervisors and Administrators President Jill Levy.
Teachers-union President Randi Weingarten credited Farina with attempting to straighten out the problem, but argued the city had cut spending too deeply on special education and botched the implementation of changes.
Klein defended the changes, noting that nearly 1,000 special-education teachers were taken out of desk jobs and returned to the classroom, and 1,000 instructors from 400 schools were trained in cutting-edge reading programs.