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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Michaela Shuchman, Skadden Legal Fellow at Legal Services NYC
7:37:43
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164 sec
Michaela Shuchman, a Skadden Legal Fellow at Legal Services NYC, testified about the education rights practice at LSNYC and their work assisting New York City school children and families. She highlighted the challenges in manifestation determination reviews (MDRs) for students with disabilities and shared a specific case example to illustrate systemic issues.
- LSNYC handles nearly 600 education cases annually, but demand exceeds their resources
- Shuchman emphasized the need for more meaningful analysis of students' disabilities in MDRs
- She requested continued support from the city council to expand their legal advocacy work for children and parents
Michaela Shuchman
7:37:43
Good afternoon.
7:37:44
My name is Mikayla Shuckman and I'm a Scadden Legal Fellow at Legal Services NYC.
7:37:49
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
7:37:52
The education rights practice at LSNYC assists hundreds of New York City school children and their families each year to ensure access to quality education through our holistic model of representation.
7:38:03
In addition to representing individual students and their families, we also seek to address systemic issues impacting the clients we serve.
7:38:10
As an example of both direct and systemic advocacy, I represent many students with disabilities in manifestation determination reviews.
7:38:18
As you might know, MDRs take place when a student with a disability is suspended for greater than ten days.
7:38:24
And this critical meeting should determine whether the behavior that led to this suspension stemmed from the student's disability and whether they were receiving their mandated services.
7:38:33
If the answer is yes, the student is able to return to the classroom and services are put in place to help identify the root of the issues.
7:38:40
However, in most of my clients' experiences, schools were more focused on punishment than support.
7:38:45
I wanna briefly share the experience of a client of mine recently, JJ.
7:38:49
So he's a fifth grade student with a disability and he has academic and behavioral needs due to significant trauma in his past.
7:38:57
At every IEP meeting over the last three years, his teachers and guardian have raised concerns.
7:39:01
He struggles to follow the rules, make connections with peers and teachers, and progress academically.
7:39:06
But the school did nothing to change his IEP or add more supports.
7:39:10
Then in February, JJ slapped a peer one day after school after he was taunted and he was immediately suspended.
7:39:18
At the MDR, despite extensive evidence through evaluations and anecdotal observations that JJ was angry and clinically depressed and that this manifested as physical altercations with peers, the team refused to find that it was a manifestation.
7:39:31
They even went to say that although they could punish JJ for his actions off school grounds, they couldn't consider his disability in those actions because his IEP wasn't implemented there.
7:39:43
This is not a meaningful analysis of that student's disability.
7:39:49
This is just one example of a case that we have that then we use to impact our systemic advocacy.
7:39:55
We handle nearly 600 education cases each year across the boroughs, but the need for our education advocacy far outstrips our resources.
7:40:04
So with the support of city councils, with the support of city council, we hope to continue this work and expand the number of children and parents who can receive legal advice so that students like JJ, when we have those experiences, we can continue to work with them.
7:40:16
We can appeal that MDR.
7:40:18
We can help him get the special education services he needs and even use that to fuel our more systemic advocacy to make sure that change is made for all students.
7:40:27
Thank you.