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The meeting tonight was well attended…250 (possibly more) folks came to hear Mr. Harries and Dept. Chancellor Lyles. I think they got an earful. John Englert, CCSE Chairperson, made sure that parents were the majority of speakers, while staff had their moments.

Dr. Lyles reiterated once again that the DOE was not looking to re-organize or re-structure D 75. Mr. Harries admitted that he was one week into the job and had much to learn. While staff spoke well, it was the parents who were the most impressive (in my opinion anyway). There were parents in attendance from district based programs for students with IEPs, most notably Chris S. who spoke about her son in a CTT class, Seth who talked about Vision services and parents from many programs in D 75. All who spoke described their child’s experiences and successes and in many cases, the failures of local district programs to have a positive impact upon their child’s eduction. The PTA president of a school in the Bronx, 811X, invited Mr. Harries to his school for the day. I hope he takes up the invitation.

Mr. Harries and Dr. Lyles will be thinking long and hard about any tinkering within programs for students with special needs. They know that folks are watching closely.

Now is the time for other CECs to have Mr. Harries and Dr. Lyles at their meetings, to convene groups of advocates and for parents to keep programs for student with special needs on the minds of the collective DOE policy makers to ensure that programs are improved.