The Newark-based Education Law Center has filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) for its failure to regulate local school districts as they use the internet to deliver “virtual” services to students with disabilities.
In the fall of 2017, NJDOE issued a four-page memo describing the circumstances under which school districts can provide home instruction and certain related services (speech, occupational therapy, and counseling) remotely by computer – a practice termed “telepractice.” Already, at least one large New Jersey district has entered into a contract with a private provider to provide a significant level of services using this computer-based method as an alternative to direct services by qualified staff in schools and classrooms. Read the memo as a PDF.
In opening this new avenue for service delivery, however, NJDOE did not promulgate administrative rules governing its use.
The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, challenges NJDOE’s violation of the State Administrative Procedure Act in its failure to properly regulate the use of “telepractice”. New Jersey agencies, including NJDOE, are prohibited from authorizing new practices and policies unless the agency enacts formal regulations after proper notice and the opportunity for public comment. This process is essential to government transparency and for eliciting feedback from stakeholders to assist the agency in designing new regulations.
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