FuN with ARD/IEP Meetings!

[sl_underwood]

I have enjoyed reading some of the silly posts on this thread but it saddens me to see so many struggling to get the school system to provide our children with what they need. I know it costs money and that it is more work for the schools but our kids deserve a good education. And us parents are already overworked and overstressed just trying to give them what they need at home. We shouldnt have to fight so our children will be treated decent, cared for, and educated.

 

[deerhart]

Val,
Your experience matches mine. If the teachers and school administrators do not want to help it is because the lack knowledge about the need or way to meet it or their responsibility under IDEA, District and state are all about the $ and administrative convenience.
Be aware that the state was not allowed to reduce SPED ed $ this year if they took the SPED stimulus $.
It is interesting that well developed and run programs are much less expensive in the long run that what most schools are doing now.
I do a lot of state level IDEA regulatory advocacy (including federal filings) so I see it at all levels.
One other area of need is good volunteer ESPs, since these are the kids most at risk.
Thanks for all you do.
bookwormde

And two really good lawsuits will shape a district up in no time. We are set up a bit different here. We have a special education district that covers 23 different school districts in our county, serves over 26,000 sped kids in over 265 schools and has 5 sped schools.

The district was sued hard in the 80's to the tune of several million in each suit and it really changed the way they approached SPED education. Your still going to be hit or miss depending on the staff you have and how hard the local district is pushing, but everyone we have met is really quite good at what they do. The district spends about $12,000 per student (and yes this is in addition to what the local district spends per student, but our local districts per student expenditure are lowered because they aren't paying the cost of all their sped students)

 

[deerhart]

Just wanted to say that I got a couple of good chuckles out of this thread!

I went through the IEP qualification meetings a couple of months ago - DS (with ADHD) did not qualify for an IEP, and the school psychologist (who met DS twice and worked with him one-on-one and did not observe him in the classroom) also tried to say he didn't even need accommodations under section 504 - we'd just "make do without a formal plan". Mama Bear did come out, and I talked circles around that psychologist until he caved! I felt so proud of myself that day for talking circles around a psychologist!

This is one of the reasons why we waited until my youngest had been suspended 6 times for impulsive behaviors (hitting) before asking for an IEP. It's difficult to state their is no academic need for accommodations when the child has spent on 1.5 days each school month out of class for ADHD behaviors! For good measure, if needed, we will argue that he is disruptive to the classroom and to the other children and therefore prohibiting THEM to obtain FAPE.
Truly, we want the IEP in order to have a BIP (behavior intervention plan) in place to deal with the impulsive behaviors and stop the suspensions.

 

[momejay]

What would you consider grounds for a "good lawsuit?" Stress? I have had to get a lawyer every year for one child or another since they started school. (least restrictive environment, no placement...) I have 2 on different ends of autism spectrum.
This year I was told, "We don't provide "related services."" Of course they have been providing for the past 10 years. (not only that, but they have "no idea of the qualifications of the provider", of course they hired & have been sending this person for 10 years.)
I could go on for days about this topic.
I hate that they compare children by disability instead of ability. Not all autistic kids sit in a corner & stim!

 

[deerhart]

What would you consider grounds for a "good lawsuit?" Stress? I have had to get a lawyer every year for one child or another since they started school. (least restrictive environment, no placement...) I have 2 on different ends of autism spectrum.
This year I was told, "We don't provide "related services."" Of course they have been providing for the past 10 years. (not only that, but they have "no idea of the qualifications of the provider", of course they hired & have been sending this person for 10 years.)
I could go on for days about this topic.
I hate that they compare children by disability instead of ability. Not all autistic kids sit in a corner & stim!

With an IEP you can't even consider a lawsuit until you have exhausted due process. And your not going to want to spend the money on smaller issues like the child needs 45 minutes instead of 30 extra minutes after a due process hearing or you want a 75 minutes of speech instead of the due process result of 60.

Usually the suits that hit federal court are because the services offered are so completely inadequate OR are LRE issues. I know a case around here that had finished due process and was headed to federal court involved the school refusing to allow the child to bring his therapy dog to class. The case current resolution in the case (and its not entirely over yet) was to remove the child from the home school and place him in the Illinois state autism school nearby with the dog.

A lot of circuit court cases have to deal with parents removing the child from public school and placing them in private school and asking for the school district to pay for it. In general nowadays, the cases where people are just being stupid and difficult are worked out in due process and don't make it to court. Usually because the lawyer for the school and school board get involved at that point and law down the law (Federal court is VERY VERY expensive).

Really, the purpose of IDEA is so that schools DO NOT judge the child by the disability, but rather by the individual need of the child. This is why a diagnosis is not required (but it can help), just a showing of a disability. It is supposed to be individually based instead of lumping them all together.

 

[bookwormde]

You do not need an lawyer to file in Fedearal court, parnets can do it.

bookwormde

 

[deerhart]

You do not need an lawyer to file in Fedearal court, parnets can do it.

bookwormde

Of course, anyone who knows how to write a proper petition, putting in the correct language and citing the correct law, knowing what relief to ask for (and which ones your eligible for) and fulfill all the other requirements of the federal court can file a petition. Federal court has very strict requirements on formatting etc..

Further, anyone can do discovery, can do their own trial etc...

But then again, as a pro se litigant, you are held to the same standard as the attorney who WILL be representing the school district and you had better know all the court requirements, know your rules of evidence, etc because the judge is not going to budge one iota to give you any slack nor are they going to give you any legal advice except to go pay a lawyer to get you out of the mess your in.

Almost every case that starts out pro se that crosses my desk the first thing that has to be done is to amend all of the paperwork they have done already (petition/answer/discovery/financial etc) because they are rarely ever close to being correct. This is true even for the cases that are using the standard pro se forms offered by the state supreme court, because it's either inappropriate for the case, filled out incorrectly, or things were left out.

Filing a civil court case outside of things like small claims, very simple divorces, and orders of protection without a lawyer is sort of like performing surgery without a doctor/hospital. You can do it, but your likely to end up with a larger problem then you originally had. Even more so with a legal case because if you get dismissed or tossed out on a motion for summary judgment an attorney may not be able to clean up your mess afterwords.

 

[bookwormde]

If you cannot get heard any other way for IDEA cases it is better than nothing, and often it will bring the districts to the table since they do not want to incur the expense and often the state will push the district since a ruling will affect the entire state. Idea is actually a relatively small body of law so it is not hard to find all precedent.
It is not hard to find pro bono assistance for making sure the filing is adequate.
bookwormde

 

[deerhart]

If you cannot get heard any other way for IDEA cases it is better than nothing, and often it will bring the districts to the table since they do not want to incur the expense and often the state will push the district since a ruling will affect the entire state. Idea is actually a relatively small body of law so it is not hard to find all precedent.
It is not hard to find pro bono assistance for making sure the filing is adequate.
bookwormde

I think that will really depend on where your at. Around here, your not going to find any pro bono work for IDEA cases. Why? Because our legal aid system is already overwhelmed with other types of cases, and because IDEA does allow the recovery of attorney fees (so long as you properly plead for them). Also, going without an attorney is not as likely to bring the district to the table because the district lawyer knows that your likelihood of winning without a lawyer is very low just because 99% of the people will not know how to properly get their evidence submitted at trial. Further, IDEA also has procedures for the school district to get its attorney fees from the parent.

As for finding precedent, you will only need to do the book research in the federal recorders for the federal district your in and the USSC. Which you can do at any law library. But, don't ask a lawyer to help you do the book research because most use online paid research sites and don't know how to do book research anymore. In fact, many law schools no longer even teach how to do book research.