Newark Schools Are Hitting Goals For Special Ed. Timelines: Report

NEWARK, NJ — The Newark Public School District has made progress identifying and evaluating students with disabilities over the past decade after previously seeing “historic delays” that led to a class action lawsuit, advocates say.

After a recent meeting, attorneys accepted a state monitor’s recommendation that the “extensive” level of reporting required by the settlement agreement was no longer necessary, according to the Education Law Center (ELC), a nonprofit based in Newark.

Approved by the federal district court in 2012, the settlement agreement obligated Newark to achieve 95 percent compliance with the following two requirements:

• Within 20 days of a request for a special education evaluation, meeting with parents to determine whether an evaluation is warranted, and, if so, obtaining parental consent for evaluation
• Within 90 days of parental consent, conducting a special education evaluation and implementing special education and related services for eligible students

These goals were established in response to “historic delays” ensuring that local students with disabilities received special education services in a timely manner, according to the ELC, which shared the following update last week:

“District and state reports to monitor and verify NPS compliance with these goals have been issued every six months since 2012, demonstrating remarkable progress by NPS over time. NPS started the monitoring process in July 2012 with a 90-day compliance rate of 32% and verification rate of 36% and is now achieving compliance rates that are above the 95% goal set by the Settlement Agreement. The district’s 20-day compliance rate has also risen impressively since July 2012, when it started at 84% with a 60% verification rate. That rate has been consistently at 98% or higher since February 2021.”

“The progress achieved by the Newark Public School District is a victory for the parents and children of Newark and for the named plaintiffs who courageously brought this case,” said Elizabeth Athos, a senior attorney with the ELC.

Athos said the plaintiffs have received assurances from the state monitor and the New Jersey Department of Education’s Office of Special Education that the district currently has the support and structure in place to sustain the progress it has made.

“While we are pleased with the progress that has been achieved, going forward, the district must broaden its focus to ensuring the quality of its decision-making during the child find and evaluation process,” said class co-counsel Lawrence Lustberg of the Gibbons law firm.

“We will not demand that the Newark Public School District continue its extensive reporting to us, but we intend to watch closely during the next year, to make sure there are no signs of backsliding,” Lustberg said.

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