On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, the Public Policy Program at Roosevelt House and the Hunter College School of Education hosted a public forum titled "Beyond Compliance: Realizing the Promise of Special Education" at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute in New York City.
CE-IDEA Principal Investigator Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides joined Christina Foti, Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning at New York City Public Schools, for a featured dialogue. The conversation was moderated by David Bloomfield, Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership, Law, and Policy at Brooklyn College.
From left to right: David Bloomfield, Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides, and Christina Foti during the panel discussion at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.
The discussion centered on the complex intersection of civil rights, disability policy, and racial equity within large urban school systems. While the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides critical legal rights and protections, procedural compliance alone often fails to eliminate longstanding racial disparities in identification, placement, and discipline.
Drawing directly from the CE-IDEA project's core research themes and Dr. Voulgarides's work on systemic policy enactment, the panelists examined:
Where urban special education systems encounter structural friction and why administrative compliance does not automatically produce equitable outcomes.
How district leaders, educators, and policy actors can exercise agency within federal and state regulatory constraints.
Fw: Join us for Beyond Compliance: Realizing the Promise of Special Education
Pathways for moving beyond narrow procedural checklists toward learning environments that recognize students' whole identities and foster meaningful inclusion.
The event brought together researchers, practitioners, teacher candidates, and community members committed to advancing equity across New York City and the national special education landscape.