NYC small schools in the news again

Ed Week has a new article this week on small schools in New York City. NYCSB is giving $45,000 for two years to hire a special education teacher.

Lyons Community School in NYC will open this year. It is one school that will receive funds to support 8 students with special support needs and 10 who require self-contained or inclusion support in the regular education classroom. I am so curious how they will staff this person in a 6-9 school.

"The Department of Education announced on Feb. 20, 2007, that Lyons is one of 10 new small schools to receive special funds to allow them to accomodate special education students in their first two years. The funds require that the school enroll at least eight students who require special education teacher support services (SETSS) and at least 10 who require a self-contained or collaborative team-teaching class."

New York’s Citywide Council on High Schools (CCHS) is involved and has filed a lawsuit with the Department of Education Civil Rights office.

Looks like the Gates foundation is also looking at the issue, but not specifically at the special education policy. They are looking at more of the population that has been low-performing or at-risk of receiving weak education. Maybe they should be looking more closely at the graduation rates related to ELL and Special ed students.