DCPS press release
What’s New in Special Education
August 21, 2003

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District of Columbia Public Schools
NEWS Release
Dr Paul L. Vance, Superintendent

District of Columbia Public Schools • Office of Communications and Public Information
825 North Capitol Street, NE 7th Floor- Washington, DC 20002 - Tel: (202) 442-5635 - Fax: (202) 442-5418 • www.k12.dc.us

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS OFFICIALS UNVEIL "WHAT'S NEW" IN SPECIAL EDUCATION AT MONTHLY MEDIA DIALOGUE

"Media Invited to Tour New Special Education Classroom At Barnard Elementary School"

Washington, DC - When the 2003-2004 school year begins on September 2, the District of Columbia Public Schools Special Education program will implement a number of new initiatives. The enhancements are designed to improve delivery of services to special needs students across the city.

Firstly, DCPS has new programs and new and expanded capacity in more than 40 schools. These new programs will provide special education and related services to children with special needs including students with hearing impairment, students who are visually impaired or blind, students with autism or emotional disabilities and those in need of bilingual special education programs. Of the 67,522 DCPS students, the number of students with disabilities and those receiving special education services currently stands at 12,135 or 18 percent. Seventy-six percent of these students are served in DCPS schools, while 24 percent attend non-public day, residential, and interagency programs.

Of the new and expanded programs within DCPS, large concentrations of the programs are at the elementary and early childhood levels. Research indicates that if children with special needs are identified early, the program can remediate issues better and build a relationship with the child and his or her family. As a result, DCPS will reduce the number of non-public placements and discourage parents from looking outside the school system for help.

"Instead of trying to remove students form nonpublic programs, we can build capacity by natural attrition," said Dr. Ray Bryant, Chief of Special Education Reform. "This year we graduated almost 200 students from non-public schools and another 170 were recommended by their non-public school for a different placement. If we are able to build capacity within DCPS and not return replacements for these 370 students, then we will decrease more costly non-public placements without impacting children and their families.

"All too often, we are dealing with fiscal issues in special education and concerns from a due process and litigation perspective," Bryant explained. "The way to resolve those issues is by building into DC Public Schools quality special education programs that will meet the needs of the majority of our students in DC Public Schools. The plan we're talking about is a real step forward to increase capacity with DCS for students with special needs."

The DCPS Special Education Five-Year Plan

Bryant said that the Mayor's Joint Taskforce on Special Education asked DCPS officials to come up with a plan that would allow the school system to live within its budget. The resulting proposal focuses primarily on ways DCPS can build greater internal capacity within each of its schools to serve a higher percentage of students with all disabilities.

In addition, the goal is also to position DCPS to provide better quality services to students with higher intensity needs who may require special education services delivered outside of their own neighborhood schools. One aspect of the program's long-term goals is to build neighborhood program capacity to serve students with disabilities who are now bused across the city.

DCPS Special Education staff have devised a five-year plan which:

• Maintains a full continuum of services for students with disabilities
• Is built upon the assumption that the majority of students with disabilities should be served in neighborhood schools, with the recognition that some students may need to be served in more restrictive settings
• Provides support for all students
• Establishes cluster programs in DCPS Planning Areas for students who require intensive services
• Expands and improves special education centers
• Redesigns special education staffing patterns based on total school population to assist with modification of instruction

More Immediate Improvements and Changes

In the near-term, Special Education officials said, significant changes and additions will begin to be apparent at and during the new school year. Of the 540 new special education seats, 170 will be filled by students with special needs who are returning to DC Public Schools. The remaining seats will be filled by students new to special education within DCPS.

• DCPS has ordered 90 new buses which are due to be delivered by the time school opens on September 2, 2003. Bryant said staff at the DCPS Division of Transportation is making every effort to develop schedules so that each bus meets ride-time requirements as ordered by a federal judge.
• Congress recently appropriated $3 million to DCPS to help build capacity. That appropriation has been used to renovate schools, some examples of this renovation include a relocatable classroom at Janney Elementary School, and divider walls at Wilson Senior High School and Lafayette Elementary School. The funds have also been used for bathroom renovations, to paint classrooms and to make other general repairs. The DCPS Facilities Department staff is committed to continuing to make repairs on nights and weekends through October.
• Special Education Staff has trained 1,867 school principals, staff, faculty and a parent in workshops held this past spring and summer. The Summer Training Institutes offered courses as varied as aggressive replacement training, life space crisis intervention, teaching special needs and drug and violence prevention. The spring modules offered adolescent group therapy design, filial family therapy, behavior management and an introduction to psychodrama.

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Office of Communications and Public Information

Office of Special Education

Proposed New and Expanded Programs for 2003-2004