After special-education advocates criticized Philadelphia鈥檚 plan to create a $54 million separate program for students with disabilities, the city鈥檚 school reform commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve a $10 million contract to start a school that will serve 100 special education students.
Special-ed school resolution - $10m contract with Catapult - passes unanimously.
鈥� Kristen Graham (@newskag)
Kristen Graham with the Philadelphia Inquirer that the commission鈥檚 original plan was to create a program for 600 special education students who are now being educated in private schools. Opponents said that the commission was creating a segregated school, and that the money would be better spent on helping children integrate into less-restrictive settings.
The commission, on the other hand, said that the new program was needed to get students out of restrictive settings such as Wordsworth Academy, a private provider for children with emotional and behavioral disturbances. David Hess, a 17-year-old from Lebanon, Pa., died at a Wordsworth residential treatment facility in 2016 . The facility has since closed and .
The new program will be run by Catapult Learning, with the goal of transitioning the program to school district staff, the Inquirer reported.
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