“They’re the Main Characters…I’m the Listener.”
In July 2019, educational news organization, Chalkbeat reported that the City of New York vowed to address special education failures in public schools.

Students with special needs in Brooklyn, NY are at a major disadvantage as they aren’t being properly evaluated, or evaluated at all, to receive the services they need. To make matters worse, staff and faculty are not properly trained to care for these students. Students in the United States who have a special need(s) need an Individualized Educational Program (IEP). An IEP is a customized legal document that states the services the child needs while in school.
The most common services are integrated classrooms (e.g. 12:1 classroom setting) and speech therapy. The IEP is designed to help the child learn and advance with extra help.
When I was part of the admissions team of a DOE elementary school opening in Sunset Park, Brooklyn this summer, I learned that an IEP is just the start of the stress for many parents.
First, parents and children have to deal with the negative stigmas against IEPs. Students with special needs are often teased, judged and singled out. Unfortunately, this doesn’t only happen with fellow classmates, but also with teachers and admin. Some students may have mental disorders or trauma that staff and faculty would rather not address or at least refer the child to a counselor for.
I remember I was helping a parent enroll their child in the school and when we got to the part of the application packet that read, “is there anything else you would like us to know about your child?”, she told me she underwent a series of traumatic events in Mexico which her son saw a lot of, which results in sporadic crying outbursts from him. She ultimately came to the states as an undocumented immigrant to escape her lifestyle and found hope in LEEP Academy — a school where parents’ legal status is not questioned.
It’s not easy listening to parents’ stories about their life at home, whether that’s in another country or another neighborhood. I had a series of parents tell me they were transferring their kindergartners to LEEP because they had learned of what the school offers. The class sizes are small (between 18 and 24), every classroom has two teachers, and every member of the staff and faculty is bilingual. It’s the school’s inaugural year (opened its doors in late August 2019) so I’m sure everyone is learning as they go, but parents decided to put their trust in it.
When I attended the special education Open Newsroom with The City, Chalkbeat, and Brooklyn Public Library on October 22nd, I realized special education was more than just a designation for students who have disabilities. There was a turnout of over 40 people; most of them being parents who are not satisfied with the services their children have and have not received.
One parent noted her child’s high school did not give her son the needed extra time to complete the NYS regents exam, which led to a failing grade. Another parent expressed her concern about the disadvantage for parents who don’t have enough money to put their children in private schools.
“Why is there a difference between public and private schools? And why don’t we have the option to choose what type of school we go to, despite our financial status?” she asked.
A former teacher, who was fired from a DOE high school had some questions about funding. He was curious about where student lottery money went. Even more specifically, “why do teachers have to buy supplies?”, he asked.
Despite the unfair conditions of NYC public schools, my group in the newsroom decided parents actually have more power than they think. If most parents come together and address their issues to higher administration, that can open the door for the first step of change. Students in public schools sometimes have to deal with environmental issues that can even affect their learning — such as not having a fan in a classroom, one parent expressed.
These are just some breakdowns to what we would soon come up with solutions for.
My group came to one conclusion that teachers should undergo re-training for students with special needs. Teaching students the fundamentals of basic learning was also another potential solution that came up. One parent mentioned they were teaching her grandson about the story of “Holes”, and noted that teaching children about black men’s failures is irrelevant and damaging.
“Teach them numbers, letters, how to read — things that will actually benefit them,” she said.
