These two stories, which recently appeared on opposite sides of the same page in the New York Times, show what one might call the dark side of special education. The first details a preschool provider's billing fraud to steal millions of dollars from the city's special education funds:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/nyregion/audit-says-special-education-provider-illegally-diverted-government-funds.html The second, an editorial, discusses the insensitivity of local law enforcement officials in dealing with a man with Down Syndrome in a manner that ultimately led to the man's death following a scuffle: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/opinion/ethan-saylors-death-and-a-cry-for-down-syndrome-understanding.html Both kinds of stories are all too common. It seems like we read about this kind of thing every other day. What's it going to take to achieve better oversight and more effectively raise awareness?