ELC-PA Files Complaint to Remedy Preschool-to-Kindergarten Transition Failures in the Philadelphia School District.

ELC-PA filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education on behalf of thousands of children with disabilities who transition each year from Preschool Early Intervention to kindergarten in the School District of Philadelphia (District). The District and PDE have failed to ensure that legally-required transition processes are followed and the result has lead to a significant deprivation of rights. As a result, young children begin kindergarten in the District without an appropriate IEP in place or they do not begin kindergarten on time because an appropriate program was not timely identified, despite parents complying with transition timelines and advocating for their children. Children are deprived of a FAPE once they begin school, and their families experience significant anxiety, uncertainty, and concern for their children’s wellbeing in the months prior. ELC-PA’s complaint seeks individual and systemic relief from both the District and PDE to remedy these violations. Read the Complaint here.