Busing Blog: Part 2 of 4

BUS ROUTES FOR CHILDREN WITH AN IEP AND A FULL TIME SPECIAL EDUCATION RECOMMENDATION

Once your child has a New York City ID number, the question becomes how to get this number into OPT’s system so that s/he can be on a bus to and from their private special education school. There is not  one easy answer because each case is unique to each student. Here are some helpful guidelines.

For children who are entering the DOE system for the first time and have an IEP that recommends a full-time special education program (12:1:1, District 75, defer to CBST), that child is automatically entitled to busing. In this situation his or her nine digit NYC ID number should be sent to OPT by the District Representative who ran your child’s CSE/IEP meeting. My suggestion is that at the end of the CSE/IEP meeting, ask for the email and telephone number of the district representative. Do not tell them that this is to arrange for busing to a private school. Remember at this meeting you are open to considering all placement recommendations – which means both private and public. Simply get this person’s contact information for any further questions you may have.

What happens next can be either that the private school enters your child’s NYC ID number into the OPT system for a bus route, if they are permitted to do so, or the district will do this once they get Notice that your child will be attending a private school. Notice will be the subject of another blog, but for now, suffice it to say that Notices are filed in late August and that’s when bus routes start to get sorted out. At the end of August, you can check the OPT website to see if your child has been assigned a bus route: schools.nyc.gov/offices/transportation/default.htm. If not, I recommend that you contact the district representative to assure that this has been done. This might even mean going down to the CSE with the IEP that has a full time special education recommendation. Be prepared to camp out at the district for hours to accomplish this! Also, make sure to have a back-up plan in case transportation is delayed which can happen for a variety of reasons.

If a child is recommended for a full time special education program and your district or private school is not able to get the child on the bus, speak with your attorney or advocate. In some situations this can give rise to a claim for reimbursement for the cost of your transporting your child to and from school. 

Busing Blog: Part 1 of 4

          Busing tends to be a source of worry and concern for many parents at the start of the school year. Even if you are a veteran to the world of special education, making sure that your child is on the correct bus and has a reasonable route to and from school is an important consideration in making school a successful experience. The next series of blogs will explain how the transportation system works and assist you in getting this needed service, or help you make alternate plans.

          The Office of Pupil Transportation (“OPT”) is the office at the Department of Education (“DOE”) responsible for assigning and routing school busses. For a child to be assigned a bus route, OPT must have the child’s nine digit NYC ID number in their system. Sometimes this number is still referred to by its old name as “OSIS” number. This number is assigned to all children registered with and known to the DOE. If a child has never attended a public school or has never received services through the Committee on Special Education (“CSE”) or the Committee on Pre-School Special Education (“CPSE”), s/he will not have an ID number and have absolutely no right to a bus. This is always the case when a child is coming out of a private school and there has never been any contact with the DOE concerning this child. If your child does not have a DOE NYC ID number and you want a DOE bus or a metro card for your child, the first order of business is to get this number assigned to your child. If you are working with an attorney or advocate, they should start working on this with you. If you are doing this on your own, either go to your local public school and register your child and get a number or write to your CSE for an evaluation and a review, and a number will be assigned. 

Re: June 2014 Mayor de Blasio Press Release

Dear Clients and Members of the Special Education Community,

            I am writing in response to yesterday’s announcement by Mayor de Blasio entitled: “New Steps to Help Families of Students with Disabilities.” I have spoken with my counterparts at the Department of Education to get their understanding of this new policy and how it will be implemented. They are uncertain but clearly everyone at the DOE is talking about how to implement this. The policy is scheduled to go into effect September 1st and certainly could impact tuition reimbursement cases for the 2014-2105 school year. I will now distill this new plan and help you understand how it might apply to your child and your case.

            The one line “tweet” on this is that the new policy is going to fast track cases where there is sufficient reason for the DOE to recommend a settlement. It is not an open check book nor is it a benefit program available to anyone who wants it!

            As many of you know, the first step in the process of seeking tuition reimbursement requires filing with the DOE a Notice of Intent to Unilaterally Place. This notice has to be sent ten days prior to a parent placing a child in a private special education school/program. In our office we do this on behalf of our clients, and submit individual notices on each child to each school district. This year the notices are due on August 20th. Our staff has already begun writing the notices and we want to make them as strong as possible so that they can trigger a determination to settle. In order for us to effectively do this please return your retainer, the client questionnaire and notes from your CSE review, if you had one, and any school visit information you might have made. Please email to us your most recent IEP, placement notice and any current evaluations you have.

            Here is where the new policy becomes very helpful. The DOE is now obligated to review the notices within 15 days of receipt. If the notice can convince the DOE to settle the case, the entire hearing process which can take months can be skipped over and the case moves right into settlement negotiations and processing payments. We are not sure how the DOE will implement this, but our read on this is that they are now obligated to do this and will have to hire staff or reassign staff to assist in this process. For the 2014-2015 school year, notices are due by August 20th. Because the policy is scheduled to be implemented on September 1st, we are unsure of how this will effect for the current school year. I have asked this question to the DOE, but have not received an answer.

            There are other features of the policy which we are hoping will mean an increase in settlements for parents. For example, if a child’s case has settled in past years and the same recommendation is being made then the case should settle, according to our read of policy statement issued by Mayor de Blasio. Additionally, if a child is about to enter the final grade of a school (which applies most specifically to seniors in high school) the case should settle as well. Again, we all have wait and see how this plays out, but we are anticipating that the number of impartial hearings will be drastically reduced as a result of this new policy.

            The section of the policy that deals with reduced paperwork is very unclear and we are awaiting clarification from the DOE.

            The bottom line answer to everyone’s question is: YES, this is good news, possibly great news for parents of special needs children. It can be even better news for parents who do not have the means to pursue tuition reimbursement year in year out, and are suffering great hardships from the DOE’s untimely delays in payment. However, it does not mean that parents are relieved from fully cooperating with the CSE, attending all meetings, visiting any program recommended, and providing the district with their evaluations and reports or making their child available for testing.

            We at Skyer Law are continuing to work diligently on your behalf and will keep you updated as this policy unfolds and becomes viable.

                                                            Best Regards from all of us for a good summer –

                                                                                 Regina Skyer