In the movie "Its a Wonderful Life" at its climatic moment Jimmy Stewart says to his hapless uncle "Do you know what this means ? Bankruptcy, scandal and jail." In Baltimore school officials may be saying the same to themselves. Court ordered compensatory services have woefully not been implemented; of 90,000 hours of service ordered less than 4,000 have been provided. While the school officials are short on services there is no shortage of excuses and finger pointing among the politicians and school administration. Contempt of court orders are possible with penalties to include jail time.
The school district is not only failing to deliver on past compensatory services, it is failing to deliver all of the current services mandated in student’s IEPs. It is unfathomable how the additional and greater compensatory time will be provided, when the school system can not even make a meaningful dent in the current shortfall. The most important numbers are the 9000 students who from year to year are being short changed in their entitlement under IDEA. While many things are uncertain in this mess, the one certainty is that these children will not get this time back and important developmental opportunities have been lost.
As if service shortfalls were not bad enough, audits of the school records reveal that last year 80 students with IEPs graduated even though they did not meet graduation requirements. So current students are not receiving what they need to realize a FAPE, and at least 80 students are gone from the system without even the minimally mandated levels of education to have a fighting chance in college, vocational school or work. This is the second posting on the troubled Baltimore school system but certainly will not be the last.