|
 Special
Education: Unbelievable Cases Continue
WrightsLaw, April 26, 2005
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Amid Affluence, a Struggle Over Special Education
In
Amid
Affluence, a Struggle Over Special Education,
Alison Leigh Cowan of The New York Times takes a hard look at
the intense, expensive battles between school districts and
parents of disabled children.
Cowan begins in Westport, Connecticut where "Parents are likely
to be pouring over Gary Mayerson's
How to
Compromise with Your School District Without Compromising Your
Child,
or
Wrightslaw: Special Education Law
by Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright."
She moves on to
Hamilton County,
Tennessee, "where school officials spent $2.2 million on lawyers
and expert witnesses to avoid having to reimburse Maureen and
Philip Deal the $60,000 annual cost of providing their autistic
son with one-on-one behavioral training."
(See also
The
Inside Story of Zachary Deal v. Hamilton County Board of
Education, Part I by Gary Mayerson
Next, Cowan focuses on the Bret Harte Union High School District
in Calaveras County, California. That district "fought so hard
to block the claims of a student that Judge Oliver W. Wanger
took 83 pages to berate the district's 'hard-line position' and
its law firm for 'willfully and vexatiously' dragging out the
case so long that the student is now 24."
(Note:
The judge awarded the student and his attorney sanctions against
the Lozano Smith law firm, a former associate at Lozano Smith,
and the Bret Harte Union High School District. Lozano Smith was
ordered to provide at least six hours of ethics training for all
associates. The former associate was ordered to attend 20 hours
of ethics training. The judge concluded, "The totality of the
sanctioned conduct visits an unendurable burden on the justice
system in the name of misguided advocacy.")
Cowan found that parents go to court, leave public schools, or
move to other districts in an effort to get special education
services for their children. These parents wonder how their
lives would be different if the districts simply "spent the
money on education, instead of litigation."
Read
Amid
Affluence, a Struggle Over Special Education
(Registration is required to read articles on the NY Times site)
Breaking News! School Board Plans to Appeal Case to Supreme Court -
And Work Toward Settlement (April 26, 2005)
On Tuesday morning, April 26,
the Hamilton County School Board voted to continue their appeal
of the autism lawsuit that has cost them at least $2.3 million
so far.
(See
Amid Affluence, a Struggle Over Special Education
above) The
Board also announced that "a committee will be formed to work
toward settlement of the case." This committee will seek a
meeting with Gary Mayerson, attorney for the Deal family.
In December 2004, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth
Circuit ruled in favor of the Deals and refused to reconsider
that ruling. (Read the decision in
Zachary Deal v. Hamilton County TN.)
The only appeal remaining is to the United States Supreme Court.
But the Supreme Court has already agreed to hear a special
education case in
Weast v. Brian Schaffer
during their next term.
School
officials describe this as "a precedent-setting case that would
require schools to provide a 'Cadillac' program for special
education students" that could cost the county $10 million or
more.
Gary Mayerson, attorney for the Deals, disputes this claim.
Mr. Mayerson said the case could have been settled and the
services provided for the Deal child for less than the schools
paid for just one expert witness. He added that no other similar
requests have been filed with the schools.
Interestingly, Mrs. Deal learned of the school board's plans to
appeal while also pursuing settlement from her local television
station.
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