12.16.2019 | The 74 |\u00a0The special education system in New York City is vast, serving upward of 200,000 students across K-12. Its handling of these students\u2019 individual learning needs has been widely criticized, with recent reports exposing skyrocketing special-education-related complaints and severe delays in addressing them. Even with the revelation that 84.3 percent of students in special education last year received all of the services mandated by their Individualized Education Programs \u2014 up from 78.4 percent in 2017-18 \u2014 organizations such as Advocates for Children of New York have stressed that there are still nearly 29,000 students not getting their full, legally required supports.<\/p>
When Marisol Nunez recalls how her daughter was left behind in school, it brings her to tears.<\/p>
Emely, a Latina student in NYC, was still reading at a second-grade level when she was 14. And although school staff had brought Emely\u2019s floundering academics to her mother\u2019s attention, it was years before anyone told Nunez a crucial detail: Something could be done about it.<\/p>