By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 20, 1999; Page B01

Anne Gay, the principal of Janney Elementary School, in Northwest Washington, will take over the D.C. school system's ailing special education program and oversee major changes that will require dozens of special education administrators to reapply for their jobs, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said yesterday.

Gay will leave Janney when school ends next month to become the first director of special education in three years, giving new emphasis to overhauling a program that has evolved into one of the system's costliest and most problem-plagued.

Fixing special education was cited by Ackerman a year ago, when she became superintendent, as vital to improving the overall school system.

Ackerman, who has been working secretly for months on a reform plan, said yesterday that the new steps she is taking will change "the entire way we do business" to serve thousands of children with emotional, psychological or learning problems.

"I finally see the light at the end of a long, long, long, long, long, long tunnel, but at least I can see the light," she said.

Part of Ackerman's plan will require more than 100 staff members and administrators -- but not teachers -- to reapply for their jobs at the end of June, Ackerman said. Starting in the fall, principals will be responsible for more special education assessments and services, though details are still being worked out.

The shake-up is Ackerman's second major department restructuring. Last summer, she fired most employees in the personnel office, which is still being put back together by a new administrator. The problems fixing the personnel system and her newest effort with special education reflect how hard it has been for Ackerman to improve one of the nation's most troubled, change-resistant public school bureaucracies.

Mary Levy, counsel to the education advocacy group Parents United, said she is delighted that a top principal is taking over the special education program. But she cautioned that it will take an enormous effort to fix it, noting that reform promises by previous superintendents have gone unfulfilled.

"The ideal is the person who is inside and knows the system and the players but who is not beholden, and who is tough-minded. That is Anne," Levy said.

But other special education activists said even the best director will have trouble improving the system without far more money. And it will be tougher, they said, because of a decision last week by a U.S. District Court judge that effectively lifts a cap Congress set on fees that attorneys in special education cases can charge the school system.

School officials had hoped to save millions of dollars a year with the cap -- $50 an hour and $1,300 a case. The officials have argued that when the program works properly, families will not have to sue the school system for services.

"Where are they going to get the money for new services, especially if they have to keep paying for attorneys who sue the system?" said Teresa Bollech, a schools activist. "We need the attorneys to hold the system accountable. But there just isn't enough money for everything."

Gay, who last night declined comment on her appointment, has been at Janney for 10 years. She is credited with running a well-recognized program that successfully integrated special education students into mainstream classes, and she also participated in a principals task force on special education.

"She is the perfect person to do this job because she has successfully handled these issues at her school," Ackerman said. "She truly understands them and the system."

Gay will inherit a program that involves more than 1 in 10 children in the 72,000-student system. It eats up nearly 30 percent of the annual budget -- $170 million out of $575 million -- including millions to pay private school tuition for about 1,400 children who couldn't receive the services they need within the 146-school system.

Most of these children are bused across the region by the school system's transportation division, another troubled operation that is without a director. A newly awarded contract for bus drivers is aimed at alleviating student delivery and drop-off problems.

The special education problems have been so severe that a year after signing a 1998 compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Education to stave off the loss of federal funds, the school system has not met a single goal.

Gay will be joined by another principal, whom Ackerman would not identify, who will take over support services that go beyond the basic special education program. In addition, Paula Perleman, who has served as an attorney for the appointed school trustees panel that helps oversee the school system, will take over special education compliance issues.

Ackerman said the system will provide funds for 100 teachers to receive master's degrees in special education. She said the goal of her plan, to be made public in its entirety next month, is to build programs in D.C. schools so that students won't have to go to private schools or be bused outside their neighborhoods.

Ackerman said that with help from Frieda Lacey, a special education expert from Montgomery County who will remain to help Gay during the summer, she has created a mediation process to resolve conflicts before they hit the legal system and has issued a brochure on families' special education rights. She also has expanded efforts to assess children, including creating teams that can work at night and on Saturdays.