From Betsy Combier:

The national crime of deliberately harming children with special needs has to stop. I believe this sad and legally indefensible pattern and practice in too many school districts comes from believing that these children and their parents have no voice for a strong defense. As a parent advocate, I often hear from families horror stories of abuse and negligence from administrators, special education teachers and principals. When I step in, I am attacked so that I will go away. I never go away. Why can't we all just focus on the disability, and get the services that are needed to provide a safe and appropriate education at the start?

Let's do it.

See:
Significant Disproportionality in Special Education: Current Trends and Actions for Impact
https://ncld.org/resources/

Betsy Combier, Editor.


DC Schools Discriminated Against Students with Disabilities, OCR Finds
By Linda Jacobson, March 19, 2026
The district, which has cooperated with the investigation, is working to improve transportation services, a spokesman said.
https://www.the74million.org/article/dc-schools-discriminated-against-students-with-disabilities-ocr-finds

The District of Columbia Public Schools violated the civil rights of students with disabilities and created an “adversarial system,” that often forces families to sue in order for their kids to receive services, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday.

After a yearlong investigation, the department’s Office for Civil Rights said the district must create a new division focusing on students with disabilities, improve transportation services for those students, and take steps to better identify and accommodate their needs.

“The district must take immediate action to remedy their violations and protect the rights of current and future students to a free and appropriate public education,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.

The proposed resolution agreement also requires the district to train staff, including bus drivers, on any updated policies. If officials don’t agree to the terms, OCR “may initiate enforcement,” the announcement said.

The district, which said from the outset that it would cooperate with the department, is “carefully reviewing” the findings, a spokesman said, adding that OCR makes important points about providing clear information to parents and getting their children to and from school.
Neither the department nor the district, however, has made the full results of the investigation available.

With OCR largely focusing its resources on investigating districts that allow students to compete in sports or use bathrooms based on gender identity, the D.C. investigation is one of the few disability-related cases it has launched and completed since President Donald Trump returned to office. A 2024 report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which sparked the probe, found that the district has one of highest rates of special education complaints in the nation. An advisory committee to the commission determined that young children in the district were under-identified for special education services or accommodations for disabilities and that parents were often encouraged to file lawsuits in order to get their children help.

“That obviously favors those who have means, can hire an attorney and know how to get through the system,” said Craig Leen, former vice chair of the advisory committee. A civil rights attorney who served in the Labor Department during Trump’s first term, he also struggled to get services for his daughter. Now a senior at a charter school in the district, she has autism and an intellectual disability.

The bus was often late or didn’t arrive at all, creating disruptions to his daughter’s routine, Leen said. Since the investigation began, he said he’s seen improvements. The bus comes on time, and to keep parents updated, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which oversees transportation for students with disabilities in both DCPS and charter schools in the city, is developing a bus tracking system.

The district, according to the spokesman, is working with the state agency to “improve real time visibility into bus delays to make certain students do not lose instructional time or access to required services.”

Leen said he’s not concerned about Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s plans to transfer OCR or the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to another federal agency as she continues efforts to phase out the department.

“My main concern is that they have a designated agency addressing special education,” he said.

Many of the advisory committee’s recommendations were based on testimony from Maria Blaeuer, director of programs and outreach with Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc., The organization trains parents and provides legal aid to families who haven’t been able to get services for their children.

The organization is “thankful that OCR is paying attention to the many challenges that students with disabilities in the District of Columbia are facing,” Blaeuer said. But she added that it would be premature to comment on the department’s announcement “without access to the actual determination” or until a resolution has been reached.

Linda Jacobson is a senior writer at The 74.

@lrj417 Linda@The74Million.org

See also:

Commission’s D.C. Advisory Committee Findings Spur Federal Investigation into Special Education Barriers in D.C. Public Schools
https://www.usccr.gov/news/2026/commissions-dc-advisory-committee-findings-spur-federal-investigation-special-education

Accessing Services for Students with Disabilities in DC Public Schools
https://www.usccr.gov/reports/2024/accessing-services-students-disabilities-dc-public-schools

District of Columbia Advisory Committee Announces Public Briefing on Accessing Services for Students with Disabilities in D.C. Public Schools
https://www.usccr.gov/meetings/2025/06-16-district-columbia-advisory-committee-announces-public-briefing-accessing

District of Columbia Advisory Committee Public Briefing on Accessing Services for Students with Disabilities in D.C. Public Schools - Panel V
https://www.usccr.gov/meetings/2024/05-10-district-columbia-advisory-committee-public-briefing-accessing-services

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