I just spent the afternoon at a public hearing about the state’s proposed changes to special needs students’ individualized education plans. I’ll have more to say about the controversial proposal soon, but one thing that surprised me was that the hearing overlapped with parent-teacher conferences for self-contained District 75 programs in New York City. With 23,000 students with special needs enrolled in District 75, I wonder how many parents would have liked to attend the hearing but prioritized meeting with their child’s teacher instead?