From Disability Scoop..
A day after a controversial new secretary of education was sworn in, a federal website focused on special education went down, but officials said the issue should be no cause for alarm.
The U.S. Department of Education' website about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act returned an error yesterday morning.
However, agency officials said the issue is nothing more than a technical glitch that is being addressed.
"We were made aware of the problem early this morning and we are actively working to resolve. There have been server issues relating to this going back to at least Jan. 27, " said a department spokesman who did not wish to be named. 'We're actively working to resolve right now and hope to have the site up and running."
The digital hiccup comes less than 24 hours after Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was confirmed.
DeVos faced significant opposition from special education advocates during the confirmation process after she fumbled when senators questioned her about IDEA.
The education secretary initially indicated that it is a "matter that's best left to the states" when asked if all schools receiving tax dollars should be subject to IDEA's mandates.
She later acknowledged "I may have confused it" and said in letter to one senator that she is "committed to enforcing all federal laws and protecting the hard won rights of students with disabilities."
Midday Wednesday, it did not appear that any other Department of Education websites were down, but the agency did not respond to questions about the status of other pages.
"We're sorry for the outrage. If you need immediate assistance, please call )800)872-5327, the agency posted on Twitter yesterday morning.
Last month, nearly every disability reference was removed from the White House website after the Trump administration took over. To date, the online presence of Pennsylvania Ave. contains just a handful of references to disabilities.
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