Earlier this month, we described a new report from a federal court monitor that placed heavy blame on the District for its inability to provide special education services for its nearly 11,000 special needs students. As Post columnist Colbert King put it somewhat dramatically at the time, “the courtroom drama I witnessed this week underscored a sad reality: The one true safeguard between the city’s most vulnerable residents and acts of governmental injustice is the black-robed figure in the courthouse.” While we’d like to think that statement veers toward the hyperbolic, court involvement in city administration is nothing new, and neither is what came next – the city official responsible ducking out of the spotlight.

Only about a week after the report’s release, Phyllis Harris, DCPS’s deputy chancellor for special education, took a leave of absence, without giving comment or reason. Dena Iverson, a DCPS spokesperson, did deny an earlier report that had been floating around various teacher blogs that Harris had been fired, but would not comment further. While Harris did not directly manage the District’s response to the court monitoring of special education services, many seem to be holding her responsible, especially as complaints surface that some DCPS schools are still lacking proper special education staffing.

While it’s hard to overstate the difficulties and bureaucratic frustrations involved in special education administration, it’s also true that under the new culture of accountability that Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has worked to initiate, this kind of gross oversight simply mirrors the DCPS of the past. If Harris is taking responsibility for the failures of D.C. special education, that should be made clear, along with plans to address the enormous backlog of special education cases and staffing shortages.

Photo by dullshick