News

For Immediate Release: August 2, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – On July 10, 2024, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) found Trenton Public Schools to be non-compliant with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and state regulations, following a complaint filed by Disability Rights New Jersey. NJDOE’s complaint investigation report concluded Trenton Public Schools denied students with disabilities their legally required free appropriate public education (FAPE) and now must provide compensatory educational services to those students. Trenton Public Schools is also required to complete a corrective action plan. 

The NJDOE’s complaint investigation report substantiates and confirms the issues Disability Rights New Jersey set forth in the formal complaint it filed with NJDOE on May 14, 2024. Prior to filing the complaint. Disability Rights New Jersey, in partnership with the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), raised the issue with Trenton Public Schools to resolve their failure to timely reactivate/reenroll students returning to the school district from out-of-home placements. Conversations continued for more than a year without a resolution. 

The May 14, 2024 complaint requested the NJDOE investigate Trenton Public Schools’ process for reactivating/reenrolling students returning to the school district from out-of-home placements. Disability Rights New Jersey’s complaint centered on students with disabilities, in particular those returning home from youth detention centers and mental health treatment facilities. The complaint alleged that all students returning from out-of-home placements faced obstacles and delays getting back in the classroom. Students with disabilities faced additional delays that lasted from weeks to months, sometimes while receiving no education at all. Trenton Public Schools systematically denied these returning students FAPE guaranteed by the IDEA. 

According to Disability Rights New Jersey Legal Director, Michael Brower, “One strategy to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline includes ensuring students with disabilities returning to the community from youth detention centers and residential treatment facilities seamlessly transition back to school. We thank the New Jersey Department of Education for its swift investigation, finding that school districts cannot shirk their legal duty to these students when they return from out-of-home placements.” 

Disability Rights New Jersey is grateful for the partnership and legal advocacy contributions of Ms. Brenda Shum, Esq., and the entire team at NCYL. “Missed learning time negatively impacts a student’s educational trajectory and long-term academic outcomes,” states Brenda Shum, Senior Directory Attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. “For students returning to the District following an out-of-home placement, particularly those with disabilities, the failure to provide an appropriate educational placement and services may also violate the law. The District can and must do better to ensure that these students have immediate access to the education they are entitled to.”

Since 2020, Disability Rights New Jersey has assisted more than twenty students with disabilities returning to the Trenton Public School district from detention centers and residential treatment centers. Lisa Quartarolo, Managing Attorney of Disability Rights New Jersey’s Youth Practice Group, added, “We look forward to robust enforcement of the corrective action from the Department. Disability Rights New Jersey and our Youth Practice Group will vigilantly ensure that Trenton Public Schools and other New Jersey school districts remain compliant with their obligations to our clients.”

Youth with disabilities returning to Trenton Public Schools from any out-of-home placement who experience(d) barriers returning to school or a loss of educational services should contact Disability Rights New Jersey at (800) 922-7233, email us at [email protected], or complete the online intake form under Get Help at disabilityrightsnj.org.

A copy of NJDOE’s complaint investigation report can be viewed here.