Manhattan's six school districts are split between two Committees on Special Education, one downtown on Seventh Avenue and one uptown on West 125th Street. Many Manhattan children with IEPs attend private, parochial or charter schools, and those are exactly the students the committees coordinate for, so knowing your committee is often the first step when services were missed. This page is from an independent, no-cost referral site. We are not the Department of Education, not a law firm, and we do not give legal advice.
CSE 9: Districts 1, 2 and 4
333 Seventh Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10001. Phone 917-339-1600. School-age email CSE9@schools.nyc.gov; preschool CPSE9support@schools.nyc.gov.
CSE 10: Districts 3, 5 and 6
388 West 125th Street, New York, New York 10027. Phone 212-342-8302. School-age email CSE10@schools.nyc.gov; preschool CPSE10support@schools.nyc.gov.
These details are taken from the city's committees page. Each committee also has a separate inbox for private school families' Notice of Intent submissions (CSE9PNI@schools.nyc.gov and CSE10PNI@schools.nyc.gov). That inbox is for a different purpose; general questions go to the main CSE address.
Uptown or downtown?
For a school-age child, the city assigns the CSE by the district of the school the child attends. For a preschooler, it goes by home address. Home address also governs for a child who is homeschooled, has an IEP and is not in school, or attends school outside the city. So a family living uptown whose child attends a private school in District 2 would generally deal with CSE 9. The GOAT address tool (Function 1B) gives the district for any address.
The committees coordinate for preschoolers; students at private, parochial, charter, State Supported or State Approved Non-Public schools in the city; city residents placed at non-public schools outside the city or state; students whose IEP placement is home or hospital instruction; homeschooled students; and students not attending school. A child in a Manhattan district public school is handled differently, and the school is the place to begin.
Pursuing make-up services in Manhattan
Start with a record. Our documentation guide shows how to line up the IEP's service frequency against what actually happened. For a private school student, missed services are often ones the IEP or IESP said a provider would deliver at the school, so note provider names and dates if you have them.
Then put the request in writing. If your child is in a group the committee serves, email CSE 9 or CSE 10 with your child's full name and date of birth, any language need, whether you are deaf or hard of hearing, and what you are asking for. The city says it aims to reply within 48 hours.
When writing does not settle it, a parent may file a due process complaint, which leads to an impartial hearing. Our due process guide outlines the general steps, and how to get compensatory services lays out the whole path.
Providers for Manhattan families
Awards usually take the form of an RSA for related services or a P4 letter for SETSS, and both put the choice of provider in the family's hands. Our RSA guide covers the paperwork. In Manhattan the question is often less about distance and more about timing: whether a provider can meet a child at home after school, fit a session around a private school's day, or work online. Ask directly, and ask how missed sessions are rescheduled, because unused hours on an award can run out.
Official background: Committees on Special Education and Committees on Preschool Special Education, NYC Public Schools
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