Remembering Dee Alpert, “Fearless” Advocate for Special Education (US)

April 13, 2011

Dee Alpert, a lawyer who spent her professional life as a special education advocate, di ed of a brain aneurysm this weekend at the age of 65, reports the Wall Street Journal. Alpert had dedicated her career to helping special education students in the New York City public school system.

She was considered something of an unofficial inspector general, since she had a rare grasp of the “arcana of school regulations, audits and budget.” She used this knowledge in assisting parents and advocates, often for no charge.

Over the course of her investigations, she uncovered a discrepancy in handling abuse allegations, which depended on whether a victim was a special education student. In one of her most controversial exposes, titled “Abu Ghraib on the Hudson” Alpert broke down the proposed state regulation and uncovered a clause that would allow schools to lock up students with disabilities in a “seclusion room.”

State officials said they wanted to help schools better manage behavioral problems. But Ms. Alpert pointed to loopholes that she said opened the door to corporal punishment.

In 1970, Alpert became an employment compliance attorney for the National Organization of Women. She was in charge of assessing the methods that corporations and government agencies employed in handling discrimination complaints.

Maryann Lombardi, the founder of Advocacy Solutions, remembers Alpert as dedicated and fearless:

    “She was a crusader. She was valiant and tireless. She was always willing to step in and help. And she absolutely, almost to a fault, told the truth. When she saw things that weren’t right and corrupt, she said so.”