A Thanksgiving greeting

Dear friends,

As the newest member of the Skyer Law family, I was asked to write a Thanksgiving greeting to the families the firm serves, you know, as some kind of hazing ritual. But I’m honored to do so because I’m one of you, and I know how the holiday season can be so complicated for families like ours.

My children, twins, just turned 4-years-old, so I’m still new(ish) to all of this. As such, I am often afflicted with self-doubt, dizzied by how much change there is in my life, exhausted by the learning-curve, and daunted by the strength and endurance I am expected to summon out of the smoke and ashes of the very different dreams I had for my family a few short years ago.

But what’s miraculous to me is that far from being alone in this, I have recently woken up to the fact that I am surrounded by this incredible professional community that supports special needs families and their children. Therapists and teachers. Social workers and doctors. Psychologists and lawyers. They see me and my kids at our worst and don’t judge. They scoop us up and dust us off when we collapse. They offer unsolicited (and solicited) advice that is actually helpful. They have our interests at heart, not some agency’s bottom-line. And they jump up and down and cheer in shared joy, celebrating every victory that others who I love and call family may not even know to acknowledge.

And then there’s you: my community of parents. You are the unexpected extra pair of hands on the city bus on a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. You are my heroine who has an extra fidget toy in her purse in yet another waiting room. You are the angel who brings wine every month to our parent support group meeting. (Seriously: Bless you, Tracy.) You are the friendly dad who sits in the back and swaps intel with me on the school open house circuit. You are the playdate mom who I’m actually excited to invite into the chaos of my home. Because you are me and I am you. And I’m grateful for that.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Eliyanna Kaiser

The Squeaky Wheel Part 2: (Another) Update on 2016-17 Tuition Reimbursement Settlements

“I hate to be a kicker,
I always long for peace,
But the wheel that does the squeaking,
Is the one that gets the grease.”

— Josh Billings (1870)

By Regina Skyer 

Since October 17th, when we first sent our open letter to the City Council making our ‘Demand for Payment,’ we haven’t stopped squeaking.  As of November 15th, thirty-one percent of the outstanding stipulations have been executed and returned to us.  That leaves us squeaking about the remaining sixty-nine percent.

Similarly, reimbursement payments are once again flowing into our escrow account and are being sent on to clients forty-eight hours later.  As of today, almost thirty-five percent of the cases that were awaiting payment as of two weeks ago are now paid.  Again, we are relieved to see this movement—but the battle is far from over.

We have continued to provide regular updated information on both non-executed stipulations and non-paid cases to the appropriate department heads at the DOE. We have repeatedly demanded that they execute and pay out these cases immediately. In response, the Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel and the Finance Department inform us that they continue to work diligently on our cases.

What I strongly suggest is that if you are one of our clients whose 2015-2016 case has not been executed or paid, that you write to your City Councilmember, inform them of your situation, and request that your attorney, Regina Skyer be given an opportunity to address the City Council about this issue affecting many hundreds of New York families of special education students.  Remember, there is a city election next year, and no one up for re-election including the Mayor, wants negative publicity.

Find your Councilmember’s name and contact information using this online form: http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml. You will see a district office address and legislative office address listed for your representative. If you decide to use snail mail, address your letter to the district office.

Please also send a copy of your personal letter to your Councilmember to the following legislators:

NYC Council Education Committee Chair Daniel Dromm
250 Broadway, Suite 1826
New York, NY 10007
ddromm@council.nyc.gov

NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
250 Broadway, Suite 1856
New York, NY 10007
mviverito@council.nyc.gov

Tens of Thousands of Special Needs Kids Are (Still) Falling Through the Cracks

by Lara Damashek

While there has been important progress in NYC special education (such as the Mayor’s “fast-tracking” of settlements, which has been the topic of many blog posts here), it would be irresponsible not to remind ourselves that there are a great many children who still need the community of special education advocates to keep on fighting.    

Earlier this month, the NYC Department of Education released long-awaited numbers that show how badly the City continues to struggle to serve its roughly 212,000 students with IEPs. Alex Zimmerman reported on widespread lags in completing required assessments in a November 1st article published by the education watchdog blog Chalkbeat. In the article, he reports that “[a]bout 30 percent of students had to wait longer than the two months allowed under law to be assessed for education plans that outline the services the city is required to provide them[.]” 

According to the numbers the Department of Education released, 71 % of students got their IEPs within the legally required time frame, as compared to 69.5 % during the prior school year.  As many of you are well aware, the city is required by law to evaluate a child, hold an IEP meeting, make a recommendation, and implement that recommendation within 60 school days of a parent giving their consent. See the NYC special education timeline in more detail at http://www.nyc.gov/html/acs/education/pdf/timeline%20requirements.pdf

And this wasn’t even the worst news. Chalkbeat further reported that the same data showed that “[j]ust 59 percent of students received the full range of services required on their individualized education programs, or IEPs, compared with 60 percent the previous school year.”

Although the city has warned against the reliability of its statistics, the message we take away from articles like this remains the same – there are far too many kids in our city who suffer as a result of ongoing delays in the delivery of special education services.  

Attention Parents of Children Born in 2012! (Your To-Do List Just Got Longer.)

The NYC Department of Education’s Special Education Office has sent out an important letter to parents of children who will be “turning 5” during the 2017 calendar year, and who are expected to enter kindergarten in September 2017. 

This letter clarifies that the parents of all children turning five, including those with IEPs, must apply to kindergarten through the NYC application process.  This obligation applies regardless of whether you feel that your child’s needs could ever be met in your local public school.

Applications for kindergarten are open from November 30, 2016 to January 13, 2017.  Parents can apply in one of 3 ways:

1)      Apply online at schools.nyc.gov/ApplyOnline

2)      Apply over the phone by calling 718-935-2400 (M-F, 8 am – 6 pm)

3)      Apply in person at a Family Welcome Center (see schools.nyc.gov/WelcomeCenters for locations and hours)

All families with children receiving CPSE services who have a 2012 birth date are also expected to attend a kindergarten orientation meeting. These meetings are happening all over the five boroughs beginning mid-November and running through mid-December. A full list of dates, times, and locations is posted on the DOE website.

Despite the fact that the kindergarten placement process is different for children with IEPs, this DOE letter makes it very clear that parents of children who receive special education services through the CPSE are required to participate in the NYC kindergarten application process.

If you have not received a letter on this topic from the Department of Education, it is still important to be an active participant in the kindergarten application process.  For important updates and more information regarding the transition to kindergarten for special education students, please visit schools.nyc.gov/Academics/SpecialEducation/AcrossGrades/Kindergarten.

The Squeaky Wheel: An Update on 2016-17 Tuition Reimbursement Settlements

“I hate to be a kicker,
I always long for peace,
But the wheel that does the squeaking,
Is the one that gets the grease.”

— Josh Billings (1870)

 

I couldn’t have said it better. Our squeaking and the emails our clients have sent, and continue to send, to their City Councilmembers are helping to expedite the execution of stipulations and outstanding reimbursement payments.  Following our October 17th open letter to City Council leadership, scores of stipulations that were sitting on desks at the Department of Education (DOE) for months, just waiting for a counter signature, are finally being signed and sent back to our offices as fully executed. 

Similarly, reimbursement payments are once again flowing into our escrow account and 48 hours later being mailed clients.  We are relieved to see this movement on both fronts, but the battle is far from over.

Last Friday our accounting staff and paralegals prepared a comprehensive financial update, which we are providing to the finance division of the Department of Education tomorrow morning.  Our memo breaks down in detail what monies are still due to which of our clients.  We will continue to write weekly reports to the DOE until all the stipulations are all executed, and if the flow of payments seems to slow down we will call on you again to call and email the City Council once more and make noise in the media too.

But for now, the squeak has traveled up to the Mayor (who is running for re-election next year and needs all the goodwill he can get) and we are hopeful that all our clients will get their due reimbursements without too much more of a delay.