During the 2004-2005 academic year, the system suffered a breakdown in providing the services to which students are legally entitled because of their disabilities. As a result, U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis ordered the state to send in managers to oversee special education in the city, and the system had to provide 90,000 hours in makeup services - a requirement that it only recently fulfilled.
While service delivery has improved over time, it was the one area of the consent decree where the system acknowledged that it was not in compliance last year in asking for court relief.
In March, the special master in the case recommended less judicial oversight in most of the city's elementary schools; in middle and high schools, she found that far more work remains to be done. Garbis has not issued an order in response to her recommendations.
