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  • How Special Education Is Failing T.J. and Many Like Him

    Oct 5, 2018

    10.05.2018 | New York Times | Kerrin said she talked to his teachers and administrators repeatedly, but, she said, they insisted they did not have enough special education students to create a small, devoted classroom. For third grade, T.J. was again placed in a large classroom. T.J. was just being passed through the system, she recalled thinking. “He isn’t where he’s supposed to be, and everyone is ignoring it.”

    Finally, she said, “one of his teachers reached out to me personally and said, ‘You have rights.’” That teacher guided her to Advocates for Children of New York. “The system is very hard to navigate,” said Daniel Hochbaum, a lawyer at that organization who represents T.J. and his family. “A parent can’t know everything there is to know on their own. I’m an attorney and I don’t even know all the answers.” Read article

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