Lawyers for Advocates for Children New York will relaunch its case against the city Department of Education for its alleged failure to provide children with disabilities with the necessary learning resources during the pandemic.
The Gothamist reported the lawyers will revive the case after the appeals court overturned the 2022 dismissal on Thursday. The lawyers initially filed the case at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, in response to the department's failure to allegedly provide remote learning devices among others.
The director of litigation for Advocates for Children Rebecca Shore, said the lawyers wanted the department to implement systems that accommodated the learning needs of children with disabilities.
She lamented that the lack of resources also affected the parents who could not read English, despite the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act making provisions for children with disabilities to “receive a free appropriate public education."
“[Students] didn’t have access to the necessary equipment to even access remote learning. Or their parents didn’t read English and so couldn’t understand the instructions on how to access remote learning. So students with disabilities in particular suffered greatly during the remote learning that was provided in New York City," said Shore.
