NYC Special Education Students Achieve Historic Settlement

NYLAG class action lawsuit secures timely hearing decisions for NYC students with disabilities seeking special education supports

NEW YORK - For years, New York City students with disabilities and their families have faced harmful delays in accessing the special education supports they need and are entitled to by law. A class of these schoolchildren with disabilities, represented by the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) and pro bono co-counsel Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, has secured a historic settlement with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) that comes one step closer to addressing this injustice. The settlement protects students' right to timely decisions on their due process complaints-the administrative complaints many parents must file to fight for services their children need. On Tuesday, the Court granted final approval of the settlement in J.S.M. v. New York City Department of Education, No. 20-cv-705 (E.D.N.Y.).

"We see students and their families experience life altering setbacks when they can't get prompt decisions on the special education services they need," said Jessica Selecky, director of NYLAG's Special Education Unit. "Federal law guarantees the right to a public education that accommodates the needs of children with disabilities, but timing matters-especially when parents have to challenge the City to get services that have been denied. The longer students go without the supports they need, the more challenging it becomes to make up for lost ground. NYCDOE and NYSED disregarded our clients' rights to timely hearings to secure special education services for too long. This lawsuit, and this settlement, are finally changing that."

The settlement guarantees that New York City schoolchildren will get the timely decisions they are entitled to and so desperately need. When NYCDOE denies students special education that their families have requested, they have a right to challenge the denials by filing "due process complaints" and having a hearing to push for the services they need. NYCDOE and NYSED must provide decisions on those complaints quickly-usually within 75 days-because the law recognizes how critical and time-sensitive it is to access these supports.

When NYLAG and Sullivan & Cromwell filed this lawsuit in 2020, data showed that, despite the clear legal obligation to provide timely decisions, NYCDOE and NYSED were taking three or four times as long to issue decisions to New York City schoolchildren with disabilities and their families, doing catastrophic harm to students' ability to learn. Delays especially impact families experiencing poverty, because, unlike families with means, they cannot pay up front for private special education services and wait years to be paid back. These families have no choice but to rely on these public school complaint procedures to meet their child's needs-which can leave them waiting months or even years for the services they're entitled to by law.

"For years, the agencies tasked with supporting students made families wait months or more to find out if their children would get special education supports, causing immense harm to these students' educational and social wellbeing," said Danielle Tarantolo, director of NYLAG's Special Litigation Unit and lead NYLAG attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "It's unjust for even one family to experience this, but the systemic inequities at play were especially detrimental for lower income New Yorkers across the board. Our settlement puts NYCDOE and NYSED on track to address these harmful delays and get students and their families the support they owe them-on time."

"When we originally filed this case in early 2020, the New York City Department of Education was totally out of step with the legally mandated timeline for providing families with hearings to obtain needed educational services-cases were languishing," said Bill Monahan, a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. "We are proud of our work with NYLAG in securing this comprehensive settlement, as we forge a path for improvement in the due process complaint hearing system."

Under the settlement, NYCDOE and NYSED will ensure that substantially all families receive timely decisions on their due process complaints. It also requires that NYCDOE and NYSED make systemic changes to improve their hearing systems, including improving their technological systems to make them more efficient; changing the way they handle resolution and settlements of complaints; providing oversight and training to hearing officers; increasing transparency into the system for families and advocates; and providing special protections for students whose hearing decisions are overdue.

In approving the settlement, the Court lauded the "extensive" work that NYLAG and Sullivan & Cromwell have done to represent the students in this "very complex case."

Read the Key Documents Here:

• Final Approval Order
• Final Stipulation of Settlement
• Motion for Final Approval Memorandum of Law
• Amended Complaint
• Class Notice

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About NYLAG 
Founded in 1990, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) is a leading civil legal services organization combatting economic, racial and social injustice by advocating for people experiencing poverty or in crisis. Our services include comprehensive, free civil legal services, financial empowerment, impact litigation, policy advocacy and community partnerships. Prioritizing client-centered, trauma-informed and community-rooted programming, NYLAG worked at more than 200 community sites and impacted the lives of more than 127,000 people last year.  

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