Comments on: Audit: City failed to give timely services to needy children http://gothamschools.org/2009/06/18/audit-city-failed-to-give-timely-services-to-needy-children/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ellen McHugh http://gothamschools.org/2009/06/18/audit-city-failed-to-give-timely-services-to-needy-children/comment-page-1/#comment-137709 Ellen McHugh Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:48:46 +0000 http://gothamschools.org/?p=16783#comment-137709 Even if Mr. Dinowitz is correct that the problem with the report is that it relied on payment statistics, "the areas highlighted....concern the timeliness of payments made to providers" parents and advocates at last have proof of the Board's cumbersome book keeping and payment methods. For years, it has been necessary for parents to intervene on behalf of providers who went un-paid...some for as long as ten or fifteen months. This puts a tremendous strain on the relationship between the parents and the providers or the schools and the providers. Maybe now there will be an effort to repair the problems with the Board's reimbursement methods. Next we need to get the Board to pay rates reflective of the average going rate in NYC, not some arbitrary figure that keeps providers from working with the Board. Even if Mr. Dinowitz is correct that the problem with the report is that it relied on payment statistics, “the areas highlighted….concern the timeliness of payments made to providers” parents and advocates at last have proof of the Board’s cumbersome book keeping and payment methods. For years, it has been necessary for parents to intervene on behalf of providers who went un-paid…some for as long as ten or fifteen months. This puts a tremendous strain on the relationship between the parents and the providers or the schools and the providers.

Maybe now there will be an effort to repair the problems with the Board’s reimbursement methods. Next we need to get the Board to pay rates reflective of the average going rate in NYC, not some arbitrary figure that keeps providers from working with the Board.

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