NYC Just Changed the Rules on School Avoidance

New York City just settled a class action lawsuit over its handling of students whose disabilities caused them to avoid school. For the first time, the city has agreed to a citywide policy instead of leaving it to each school to figure out on its own.

Here's what's in it, where it's still vague, and how to use it—explained by Jenn Choi, founder of Jenn Choi Advocates, who has spent years helping NYC families navigate the IEP process.

As told to Lighthouse by Jenn Choi

To date, there's no official DOE definition of "school avoidance" — but that doesn't mean you can't recognize it yourself. If your child is arguing with you every morning before school, calling from the nurse's office when they're not sick, or developing real physical symptoms from anxiety, that's school avoidance — and it's affecting their education.

Your child needs support, even if they make it through the doors that day. The problem doesn't disappear just because attendance held for one day. If you're bracing for it to happen again tomorrow, that's your answer.

Most important: Trust your gut. Never do the wait-to-fail approach for school avoidance. For each day a child avoids school, it becomes exponentially harder for them to return.

This is new. By October 31, 2026, each NYC public school must name a full-time staff member (full-time teacher, administrator, guidance counselor, or social worker) as its Liaison.

It's vague on who's in charge before that date, and on how much authority the Liaison has once named.

Most important: That said, if your problem is happening right now, don't wait for a Liaison to be named — the school is still responsible for supporting your child. Talk to your school now, and ask for a "Student Attendance Success Plan" — yes, that's a real, newly required document. Escalate to the superintendent's office if you're stuck.

An FBA exists to figure out why a behavior is happening — not to diagnose misbehavior. If your child is avoiding a class, a test, or school altogether, that behavior is a barrier to their education, whether or not it looks like "acting out." The FBA identifies the function of that behavior and produces a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) to address it.

Under the new settlement, if your child's avoidance is keeping them from being evaluated at school, the team must consider doing the FBA somewhere else — even at home. It's a required step, not an automatic guarantee — so if no one's offering it, ask directly.

Most important: Your child can have an FBA even if they are not coming to school. 

Parents’ thoughts matter! Because there's still no DOE definition of school avoidance, and no fixed way to determine it's connected to a disability, your account of what's happening carries real weight.

Write down what you're seeing — the mornings, the nurse's office calls, the meltdowns before drop-off. In the absence of an official definition, your documentation is often what convinces a team to act.

Most important: Keep a written record. Right now, you're one of the few people actually defining what this looks like in practice.

Things like a "Success Mentor," "walking school bus,"  and “Student Attendance Success Plan (SASP)” appear in the new regulations without real definitions — and the list even says "etc." If the school doesn't know what something means, that's proof that your school needs help, not a dead end.

Most important: Ask for these supports by name. If they say no, ask why, get it in writing, and escalate to a higher authority. 

STEP 1: Your first stop should always be the School Avoidance Liaison and your child's principal. If they seem unfamiliar with the process, or things aren't moving after working with them, go to step 2.

STEP 2: Reach out to the central Special Education Office for NYC (aka DIAL-Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning). 

Call: (718) 935-2007 and get a ticket number. Your complaint is that your child’s IEP process is stalled. Insist on getting the ticket number.

Email: [email protected]

Email: The superintendent of your school and the Student Services Manager at your superintendent’s office. Find them here: https://sites.google.com/schools.nyc.gov/edudirectory/home

Email: [email protected]   (This email will go to the Central Attendance Team for NYC Public Schools)

You can do all of these concurrently. The goal is simple: get the right people to find out that your school needs support to support your child. You don't have to be angry — you just want more help.

STEP 3: At any point in this process, you're free to reach out to attorneys and advocates, including a list of pro bono options.

Families whose children attend charter or nonpublic (parentally placed) schools should visit schools.nyc.gov/CSE to find out how they can still be supported by the NYC public school district.

None of this is automatic. The settlement gives you leverage but we are far from this being the norm. 

Jenn Choi is the Founding Principal of Jenn Choi Advocates, LLC, and has spent years helping New York City families navigate the IEP process to secure appropriate access and participation for families of students with disabilities.

For more NYC special education coverage, visit the Lighthouse homepage.