AFC filed the class action lawsuit in 2003, alleging that, after parents of children with disabilities received favorable orders in special education administrative hearings, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) was failing to implement the ordered remedies. The parents also claimed that the DOE did not have a system of tracking and monitoring implementation of the orders. Until 2024, the law firm Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP was co-counsel with Advocates for Children, and since 2024, Morrison & Foerster has partnered as co-counsel with Advocates for Children in this class action.

In December 2007, AFC, on behalf of Lead Plaintiffs and the Class, entered into a settlement agreement with the DOE that provides injunctive and compensatory relief to class members. The Settlement was approved by the Honorable Richard J. Holwell at the Settlement Fairness Hearing held on April 10, 2008.

Según el acuerdo, el DOE debe implementar todas las órdenes de audiencia imparcial dentro del plazo establecido en la orden o 35 días calendario a partir de la fecha de la orden si no se especifica ningún tiempo. Las órdenes que requieren acción inmediata deben implementarse dentro de los 7 días hábiles. Un auditor independiente revisa la implementación de cada orden por parte del DOE y si el auditor determina que el DOE no implementó oportunamente alguna parte de la orden, el DOE debe notificar a la matriz por carta de su incumplimiento de implementar oportunamente la orden. Ese aviso puede utilizarse como prueba durante cualquier procedimiento para hacer cumplir la orden. Sin embargo, el DOE no cumplió con los términos del acuerdo durante más de una década y los estudiantes continuaron esperando la reparación ordenada.

In 2019, when the DOE did meet the requirements of the Stipulation, and rates of implementation of hearing orders remained low, we requested that the Court appoint a Special Master to investigate the DOE’s delays in implementation of hearing orders, whom the Court appointed in 2021. In March 2022, the Special Master, David Irwin from Thru Consulting, issued his findings on the failures within the DOE’s hearing order implementation systems; the following year, the Special Master issued recommendations on DOE actions necessary for timely implementation of hearing orders.

In July 2023, Judge Loretta A. Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order compelling the DOE to change its systems for complying with special education administrative orders. The order incorporates the changes to the DOE’s systems and internal structures that the Special Master recommended, and includes more than 41 required steps that the DOE must take with deadlines ranging from two months to a little over a year. Among other changes, the order requires the DOE to create a structure for parents to contact the DOE when their special education administrative hearing orders are not implemented, including a support hotline for order implementation; improve and build DOE technology systems for implementing hearing orders; and recruit and fund new staff to implement hearing orders. Since 2023, the Special Master has issued reports on the fulfillment of the July 2023 Order.