The situation at the Bronx Integrated Service Center (ISC) this morning was a nightmare. My office had gotten several calls this week that tipped us off to the problem, but it was much more of a mess than I expected. There were probably over 150 people in line when I was there -- about ten past eight in the morning -- and many of them had been returning each morning over the past 4 days. The parents had apparently been notified by the DOE to come and register, but when they arrived, there was either no space, no record of their children or no programs for their kids.
Many of these parents had taken off work, and many had their kids with them- the general feeling of the parents was total frustration. Their children aren't in school, these are kids with special needs, it's even harder for them than other kids and their parents are just trying to get them placed in school.
So I went up to the Department of Education staff - to see what the problem was - and they told me that DOE central had ordered them not to talk to me. Once again we see that the DOE's policy of stonewalling parents extends to their elected representatives, too. I called Joel Klein right away to inform him of the situation – let’s hope the DOE is working around the clock to get this resolved.
Are you having problems getting a placement for your child with special needs?
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