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Special ed reform hearing

The City Council's Education Committee, chaired by Council Member Robert Jackson, will hold an oversight hearing on the DOE's Special Education Reform, as well as to consider Res. No. 1330-2012 regarding mandatory kindergarten. In the fall of 2010, the DOE launched the first phase of its reform of special education at 265 schools throughout the City. In September 2012, DOE will expand its special education reform to all schools. Key goals of the reform include providing instruction to students with an individualized education plan, or IEP, in their neighborhood school and in general education classrooms, as much as possible. This hearing will focus on questions and concerns about DOE's plans to expand its special education reform system-wide. The Committee will also hear testimony on Res. No. 1330-2012 - Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign A.9861/S.7015, legislation which would amend the State Education Law enabling New York City to require that all 5 year old children in the City attend kindergarten. We invite members of Community Education Councils, parents, students, educators, advocates, and all other stakeholders and interested members of the public to testify at this hearing. Testimony will be limited to 2-3 minutes per person to allow as many as possible to testify. Although the hearing starts at 1:00 pm, the Administration (Department of Education), as well as other witnesses (such as elected officials) have been invited to testify and answer questions from Council Members at the outset, so we do not expect to hear from others until sometime after 3:00pm. If you are unable to attend the hearing and wish to submit written testimony, please email your testimony to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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