Judge Puts City's Special Ed Plans Under Scrutiny

[Judi Lynn]

Jan 5, 2006 8:45 pm US/Eastern

Judge Puts City's Special Ed Plans Under Scrutiny

(AP) BALTIMORE, Md. A federal judge has ordered Baltimore school officials to adhere to a strict reporting regimen on their progress providing services to special education students after their repeated failures to make up for a massive breakdown in services last year.

And Maryland's governor criticized the city for running up legal fees appealing the case while special education students are not being helped.

"This didn't happen over last year, this has been happening for years. It's frustrating to see every subdivision making good except Baltimore City, " State School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick tells WJZ's Sharon Lee.

The twin blasts aimed at beleaguered school officials marked the latest legal and political fallout of a 1984 lawsuit on behalf of students with disabilities. Plaintiffs in the 21-year-old case maintain that the city and state have failed to provide special education students with the adequate education mandated by federal law.
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http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_005132453.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. One concern seems to be that the numbers keep changing

I bet that one reason they do is that kids come in and out of the system with great regularity. This is far more common in urban areas than in rural ones, where populations tend to remain more stable. That being said, it seems that the state and local officials are doing a lot of finger pointing instead of working on solving the problem. The judge appointing managers seems to be a good idea-is the problems lack of funds from the state or mismanagement by the school district?

The funny thing is that repuke guy who is running for mayor saying that this shouldn't be politicized-isn't that what he's trying to do?