Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parents and advocates tell board special-education supports are inconsistent; OSD oversight and staffing questioned
Summary
Parents, advocates and union representatives described repeated failures to implement students’ IEPs, staffing shortages of SECA/paraprofessionals, missing transportation and delays; speakers and a newly elected family advisory board president called for oversight, reestablishing an advisory committee and transparent reporting
Multiple parents, advocates and union representatives told the Chicago Board of Education on Sept. 25 that special-education services are inconsistently implemented in district schools and that staffing shortages and administrative gaps are harming students.
Tremaine Reeves of SEIU Local 73 said requests for additional classroom assistants (SECAs) are going unfilled and argued the district should reestablish a Special Education (SED) advisory committee. Doctor Angel Alvarez, president of the Family Advisory Board for the Office of Students with Disabilities (OSD), said school‑level budget reporting and additional oversight are needed; Alvarez said that only about one‑in‑five elementary schools had offered advanced instruction in recent years and raised concerns about placement and compliance for students with disabilities.
Parents provided specific accounts. Dr. Taylor Spencer said her nonverbal autistic second‑grade son was not consistently provided the 1‑to‑1 paraprofessional required by his IEP, leaving him in unsafe situations; she said school officials had banned her from the building after she repeatedly sought help and asked the board to enforce her child’s IEP and consider a therapeutic day‑school placement. Dulce Dominguez and Yvonne Sanchez described delays in evaluations, missing or late transportation and the trauma families experience when services are not delivered.
Speakers urged the board to require transparent reporting on IEP compliance, to prioritize hiring and assigning SECAs and paraprofessionals, and to ensure that OSD has the oversight mechanisms needed to find and address gaps in services. Several speakers requested enforcement action and more parent engagement in oversight.
Board members thanked speakers and asked staff and OSD to provide follow‑up information, and parents and advocates said they would continue organizing to press for near‑term reforms.
