Former state official alleges Rhode Island neglects vulnerable students' special-ed needs

PROVIDENCE — A former hearing officer for the Department of Education is accusing the Department of Children, Youth and Families and state education officials of failing to ensure that children in DCYF care placed in residential treatment are receiving the schooling they are entitled to by law.

Paul Pontarellli, who worked as a hearing officer for the state Department of Education for more than three decades, has filed suit in U.S. District Court alleging that DCYF, Gov. Dan McKee, the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, and Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green violated federal law and discriminated against students with disabilities in state care by denying them timely and appropriate special education services.

Pontarelli, of East Greenwich, is asking a federal judge to order the defendants to develop and implement policies to ensure that the state provides an appropriate free education to children in DCYF care who are living in residential facilities. He also asks that a review be conducted of all foster children with disabilities who have been placed in residential treatment since Nov. 16, 2019, but do not have a local agency responsible for their education.

The lawsuit targets children in state care who have specialized behavioral and mental-health challenges that require residential treatment. The action aims at ensuring that the state is stepping in to ensure that vulnerable students’ special education needs are being met.

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Under federal law, each state must ensure that it provides special education services to all children with disabilities ages 3 to 21. State law dictates, too, that the local educational agency in the town or city in which the child lived upon entering state care is financially responsible for that schooling.

Kelly Brennan, spokeswoman for DCYF, said Wednesday that the state had not received the complaint.

Currently, there are 77 children placed in-state and 62 in out-of-state residential treatment programs, Brennan said. Another four are at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

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Child welfare advocates estimate that 75% of the children in out-of-state treatment settings are female.

A lack of residential treatment beds in Rhode Island, particularly for adolescent girls, has forced Family Court judges to send scores of girls in state custody out of state for treatment in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont and elsewhere or order them held at the Training School.

But even those options have dried up due to widespread staffing issues that have led to months-long delays in placement. That has contributed to about 30 children on any given day remaining at Bradley Hospital or sometimes Hasbro with “nowhere to go,” Child Advocate Jennifer Griffith told the House Committee on Oversight in November.

“Today, we have kids who need to be in the right placement,” Griffith said. Some are “not going to school,” or even outside, she said.

“Nationwide there is a shortage of beds in psychiatric, residential and foster care for our youth in need. The Department has been vocal about placement shortages due to the staffing crisis many of our service providers are experiencing,” Brennan said in an email. “Many of our providers have capped capacity, and some have closed intakes. This has resulted in waiting lists for many essential programs.”

Brennan said the department is working with McKee’s Rhode Island Rebounds campaign, which includes $12.5 million of American Rescue Plan funding to provide wage stabilization for service providers.

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“DCYF has already created mechanisms to get these dollars to providers immediately and hopes it will begin to alleviate placement shortages,” she said.

DCYF Acting Director Kevin Aucoin also told the lawmakers in November that the contract to provide in-state residential treatment for girls had been put out to bid, with proposals due that month. The state plans to use $3.5 million toward that effort, he said.

Pontarelli said he filed 14 complaints against the DCYF and the state Department of Education in November about special-ed services being denied to foster children in residential treatment. The state dismissed the complaints as being “based on entirely upon factually unsupported assumptions,” he said.

Pontarelli argues that the state Department of Education is required to monitor and ensure that the local educational agency is providing appropriate education services in the least restrictive setting, but that such oversight has been falling through the cracks. He faults Infante-Green for failing to investigate his complaints.

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Pontarelli was fired from the Department of Education in December 2020, he says, in retaliation for engaging in activities protected under the Rhode Island Labor Relations Act. As a hearing officer for the state, he decided numerous DCYF requests to determine the local educational agency financially and educationally responsible for a child in state care.

Pontarelli's labcase remains pending.

The state Department of Education declined to comment on Pontarelli's allegations.

“RIDE will not be commenting on ongoing litigation and personnel matters,” Victor Morente, spokesman for department, said in an email.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Former RIDE official files lawsuit against DCYF, Gov. McKee, others