![]() “DESE works closely with schools and districts to provide high quality special education services to students with disabilities.”įederal law mandates school districts provide “a free and appropriate public education” to students with disabilities schools also must help develop and administer individualized education programs (IEPs) for these students and make sure their plans are followed with the proper services.Įllen Chambers, founder and former head of the advocacy group SPEDWatch, said parents of students with disabilities in Massachusetts have long complained about challenges they face proving to state authorities that their child was denied appropriate educational services. "DESE believes the services and support schools and districts provide to students with disabilities is critical to the students’ success in school and beyond,” Johnston said in an emailed statement to WBUR. The feds’ scrutiny comes just months after it announced Massachusetts was one of 22 states that had met the requirements of the federal law for the 2021-2022 school year.ĭESE plans to issue a “thorough and detailed” response to the feds’ inquiry, according to Russell Johnston, the department’s deputy commissioner. The Department takes these concerns seriously,” a spokesperson for the U.S. "The Department has been alerted of potential issues related to the implementation of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act at state and school district levels in Massachusetts. ![]() State education departments are supposed to oversee local school districts and make sure they follow special education laws - and correct them when they find issues of noncompliance. These schools receive public dollars to teach students whose needs can’t be met by their district schools.ĭESE came under the feds’ microscope after advocacy groups, parents and school districts' personnel raised concerns for months that the state failed to properly investigate complaints about inadequate education for students with disabilities. Part of the inquiry focused on whether the state’s roughly 100 private special education schools were equipped to manage the specific needs of students that attend them. Department of Education demanded the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) deliver within 60 days a slew of documents about how the state monitors several key special education programs. It is questioning if Massachusetts adequately supports students with disabilities, and whether the state provides proper oversight of public schools or its network of private special education schools. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Ĭiting concerns from families, the federal government is launching a review of the state’s special education system. ![]() Facebook Email The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Malden. ![]()
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