The LAUSD has a well-documented history of indifference for special needs students even before the COVID pandemic. Moreover, together with the entire political establishment it is falsely claiming that the pandemic is essentially over and that the population “must learn to live with the virus,” contributing to mass infections among teachers and students. And, failed to develop and implement a plan adequate to remedy the instances in which students with disabilities were not provided a FAPE during remote learning.īy closing twelve special needs day classes across the city, LAUSD is spitting on the agreement they reached with the OAC in April and is leaving tens of thousands of children with special needs out in the cold. Informed staff that the district was not responsible for providing compensatory education to students with disabilities who did not receive FAPE during the COVID-19 school closure period because the district was not at fault for the closure. Directed district service providers to include attempts to communicate with students and parents-including emails and phone calls-as the provision of services, documenting such on students’ service records. Failed to accurately or sufficiently track services provided to students with disabilities. Limited the services provided to students with disabilities based on considerations other than the students’ individual educational needs. Federal civil rights law entitles all students to FAPE.Īccording to the OAC, the district’s violation included: The OAC investigation found that LAUSD violated the civil rights of students with disabilities by failing to provide them with FAPE during the pandemic. In response to the OCR investigation, LAUSD offers no explanation for how the elimination of a large percentage of special needs classes across the city is in any way ‘compensatory,’ especially in light of the recent estimate by the Legislative Analyst of a $33 billion budget surplus for California TK-12 public schools and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget, which includes an increased per-pupil spending of $3,000.Īs one parent in the Channel 2 report stated, “unfortunately, we are an afterthought, this community, the special needs community is an afterthought.” What prompted the investigation were claims from parents of more than 66,000 LAUSD students with disabilities who complained that their children had been neglected since the beginning of the pandemic, with little or no education or specialized assistance, despite federal law requiring that districts provide free appropriate public education (FAPE).Īccording to the agreement with the OCR, LAUSD agreed to “take steps necessary to ensure that students with disabilities receive educational services, including compensatory services, during and resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.” This cynical attack on a vulnerable section of the student body also comes shortly on the heels of an agreement that the district had reached with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), after they had investigated LAUSD for violating the civil rights of students with disabilities and special needs. The move comes even as representatives of LAUSD, the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the California Teachers Association (CTA) and other organizations crow daily about how the California schools are flush with cash. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will be shuttering at least twelve special needs day classes across the city by August, a report by CBS Channel 2 revealed Thursday.
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