Hello All,
The second and last round of OSSE’s public hearing on Secondary Transition; Comprehensive Child Find System; Early Childhood Transition Policy; State Complaint Policy & Procedures and Early Intervention Services was concluded yesterday. There were only few CBOs which attended the hearing. Among those, Seeds for Tomorrow, Catholic Univ. America, Children’s Law Center, School Talk, Family Choice of DC and one parent (Freddy Martinez) were the only ones who testified. I would like to share with you the following three points that are raised in the hearings:

1. Some participants were concerned about the huge number of regulations/policies that are being adopted by OSSE. They said that they did not have sufficient time to discuss with their clients on the regulations since they are many and adopted at the same time. OSSE admitted that a number of regulations are being issued very quickly but they promised to issue regulations within a reasonable period of time. They said the reason they are adopting many regulations at the same time is because the District is being sued before courts for its failure on SPED and the supervision from DOE is getting very strict.

2. OSSE was also asked if there will be more regulations coming up soon. We were informed that there will be regulations on Procedural Safeguards and they want to review DCMR on IDEA soon. And

3. Lastly, participants were concerned on the low number of attendance in the hearing. OSSE promised that they would do their best to attract more people through outreach. And they mentioned that they need AJE’s and other CBO’s help to get more people in hearings.

Thanks!

Bereket Banbore