Fenty Administration Announces Special Education Agreement in Court Case

WASHINGTON, DC—During a court hearing yesterday, the District of Columbia announced that it entered into an agreement with the plaintiffs in the Blackman/Jones litigation to commit to a wide-ranging reform of special education that would bring substantial benefits to children in the District and permit the city to meet outstanding consent orders.

The Agreement is a result of a lengthy Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process directed by the court, which involved the court monitors, plaintiff’s counsel and counsel for the District. Both the District and the plaintiffs have agreed to work together to build and successfully implement a comprehensive plan to effectively serve special needs students and provide them with the quality care and education they deserve.  

Agreement highlights include:


Case Management Project
The school system will work collaboratively with plaintiffs on the development of a case management program to serve special education students.  The goal of the case management project is to mitigate the difficulties experienced by individual students while the District is reforming the current service delivery system.  In consultation with plaintiffs, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has engaged consultants with expertise in designing case management systems to draft a scope of work for the development and implementation of a case management system. Case managers will seek to build a trusting relationship with each student on the case manager's case load and the student's family, including making home visits. Case managers will facilitate implementation of the student's Individual Education Plans (IEP) and OSSE will develop a process by which case managers can access resources on behalf of specific children.

Parent Resource Center
A Parent Resource Center will be put in place to serve all DC Public School students and the