The independent monitor for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Modified Consent Decree, Frederick Weintraub, died at his home following a brief illness on May 2. He had served as the independent monitor since being appointed in 2005.

Sharyn Howell, executive director of the LAUSD’s Special Education Division, said a new independent monitor, Dr. David Rostetter, has been assigned. She said the district is already feeling the loss of Weintraub, but she does not anticipate any major alterations to the district’s attempt to come into compliance with the decree.

“We do feel confident that Dr. Rostetter is more than able to lead us in the direction we need to go,” Howell said. “We should continue the work that we have started and are well down the road to doing.”

After a federal court case, the LAUSD entered into the Chanda Smith Consent Decree in 1996, and in 2003-2004, the decree was replaced with the Modified Consent Decree, which established 15 outcomes that the district must meet to be released from the court, according to district information.

The outcomes revolve around assessments, graduation/completion rates, suspensions, placement, transition, “disproportionality,” complaint response times, service delivery, parent participation, translations, teacher quality and behavioral interventions for the district’s special education students.

Howell said the district is getting close to compliance, with only two remaining outcomes to meet. Outcome 7 states that students with disabilities — excluding students with specific learning disabilities and specific language impairment — will receive increased instructional time in the general education program with support and services. Outcome 13 was established by the independent monitor to measure the district’s delivery of services as dictated by a student’s individualized education plan (IEP).

Howell said Rostetter will pick up where Weintraub left off in moving the district toward compliance. Rostetter, who has been legally blind since the age of 12, is an associate professor at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.

He has served as a consultant for many school districts, including the LAUSD. Howell said Rostetter had worked with Weintraub extensively, and had consulted with the office of the independent monitor on some outcomes.

She said he has an extensive history in special education, and that he has been involved in consent decrees in other school districts. He’s also written papers on how to develop systems to show systemic compliance, Howell said.

However, she said the special education division was very saddened to hear that Weintraub had passed. Howell said she had worked with him for nine years, though he was not a district employee.

“His passing has been very sad for us,” she said, adding that Weintraub was highly respected and had more than 45 years of experience in special education. “He really was the leading authority on special education policy, and we’re really going to miss that on the consent decree. …There’s no doubt that his passing is very sad for all of us. We are going to continue to do our best to continue our work that he thought was very important.”

Howell said the district has a commitment to meet the remaining outcome requirements by June 2015, and that the LAUSD will ensure that they have systems in place to monitor their own compliance with state and federal laws.

Attorney Eric Jacobson is representing a group of parents who disagree with the district’s implementation of the Modified Consent Decree. The group hoped that an independent monitor who is not biased in favor of the full inclusion of all special education students would be appointed, he said.

“Theoretically, if an unbiased individual were selected who chose to enforce the provisions of [the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act], the district would have to change its practices,” Jacobson said.

In court declarations, the parents have accused the district of improper treatment and placement of their children, who suffered as a result. They have also claimed that the district is manipulating IEP meetings in an attempt to close special schools, such as Frances Blend School, a facility for the visually impaired. The district has denied all of the claims.

In February, two different parent groups filed motions challenging the implementation of the decree, and U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lew ruled against them. The groups are appealing, and Jacobson said his appeal brief is due in July.

In the interim, he said he is “filing due process claims left and right” to circumvent the district’s placement proposals.