Feds launch inquiry into whether Mass.' special education system fails to comply with law.
Parents concerned abut oversight in Massachusetts Special Education Residential programs and lack of oversight
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Malden. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The federal government is starting a review of the state's special education system in response to family concerns. It raises concerns about whether Massachusetts supports students with disabilities sufficiently and if the state properly monitors its network of private special education schools or public schools.
In a Sept. 29 letter obtained by WBUR, the U.S. 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. 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. These schools receive public dollars to teach students whose needs can’t be met by their district schools.
Recently DESE met with school districts and Made Sure they understood their responsibilities to those students placed out of district. The school district is required to monitor the provision of services to and the programs of individual students placed out-of-district. Documentation of monitoring plans and all actual monitoring shall be placed in the files of every eligible student who has been placed out-of-district. To the extent that this monitoring requires site visits, such site visits shall be documented and placed in the student's files for review. The duty to monitor out-of-district placements cannot be delegated to parents or their agents, to the Department, or the out-of-district placement. The school district may, however, contract directly with a person to conduct such monitoring. 603 CMR 28.06(3)(b).
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