Lawsuit claims special-needs students are not receiving adequate education through remote learning

The lawsuit was filed last week against both the city’s Department of Education and the state Education Department by a nonprofit called Advocates for Children.

News 12 Staff

Nov 25, 2020, 3:35 AM

Updated 1,318 days ago

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A new lawsuit filed by a group of parents of children with special needs claim that kids are not receiving adequate education through remote learning.
The lawsuit was filed last week against both the city’s Department of Education and the state Education Department by a nonprofit called Advocates for Children. It claims that students with special needs have not received an appropriate education.
The lawsuit also claims that their special needs have not been accommodated properly. They’re asking the court to require the city and state departments to provide makeup service to these students.
"I want to get him as much help as I can get - tutoring, extra services - because he is going to need it. We are talking about his future and the future of other kids as well. What this lawsuit seeks is a system for the Department of Education to provide compensatory services to students with disabilities who lost either instruction or services during remote learning,” a mother of a 15-year-old boy with autism tells News 12.
A spokesperson with the NYC Department of Education tells News 12, “We're doing everything we can to safely offer in-person services as quickly as possible. The court recently ruled that the transition to remote learning does not amount to a denial of services, and we are closely monitoring student progress."


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