Our lawsuit against the mayor's appointed Board of Education, and Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Education, is about providing instruction for some of our city's most vulnerable children. #thread
We were forced to this point by the U.S. government's failure to provide the guidance, resources and support needed to serve special education students during this global #COVID19 pandemic.
The students who need the most are again given the least. This is a pattern with CPS.
This is collective collapse at both city and federal levels. Failed U.S. education policy during the #COVID19 pandemic has dovetailed with ill-conceived CPS remote learning policies for special education that undermine learning, support for thousands of special needs students.
Betsy DeVos failed children throughout the country when her department neglected to offer states guidance on how to adjust to best serve SPED students and maximize learning. She has been a failure in her position, and this lawsuit exposes her gross incompetence and negligence.
Consequently, the state trusted local school districts to create plans that reflect best practices. Instead of working with educators and parents, however, CPS deferred to their lawyers to limit liability.
Remember, CPS is currently under state monitoring for illegally dismantling SPED services. The district's malfeasance in this regard goes back years. This isn't new behavior, and while parents and educators hoped for change with new leadership in City Hall, the issues remain.
If anyone can take the weight, however, it's our educators, and our special education educators in particular. They would much rather be fully equipped to teach and provide support to parents. Instead, they are forced to shuffle papers for the CPS legal department.
But this is the state of SPED in our city under Lori Lightfoot, and nationally under Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos. Leaders *should* work together to better serve, but instead, poor stewardship makes living through a global pandemic much worse for SPED students and families.
