Special Education Law Blog

New Federal Hate Crimes Law Includes Disability

The Federal Hate Crimes Bill has been revised and signed into law. Among important changes to the law is that crimes that are related to a person's disability can be considered hate crimes.  It will be interested to see if this new law will act as deterrent to repeated acts of bullying, harassment and violence directed at individuals with disabilities. Given the the recent round of staff on student violence that has been reported in the press, this law is very timely.

Student With Autism Saves Teacher

Here is the antidote to the depressing news of students with special needs either being killed or killing staff posted earlier. A student with autism who was a Cub Scout saved his teacher from choking.

School Cop Beats Student With Special Ed Needs Caught on Tape

At a school in Dolton, Illinois, an on campus police officer was caught on videotape  beating a special education student for not having his shirt tucked. It would be great if such incidents were uncommon but they are not. The tension on many school campuses that I visit is palpable. I sometimes feel like that the staff is expecting the students to stage a rebellion at any time, so any real or perceived slight or disrespect can be met with stiff consequences, albeit not normally in the nature of a physical beating.

One of my first cases over a decade ago involved a student who would not confess to being the next Columbine-style killer. The incident arose in the weeks following the tragic incident when any "odd" special education student received extra scrutiny and were profiled as a threat. My client came close to a full emotional breakdown when the staff brought the school detective in to take over the interrogation. Although she was not physically violent, her aggressive words had a bad effect on my client's mental well-being.

ADA Amendments Passed and Has Become Law!

The following is a posting from Jess Butler who is an attorney and officer with COPAA.org one of the leading special education advocacy organizations in the U.S. She has summarized and explained the effect of the new amendments for school age children and in later life. These revisions represent a win for people with disabilities.

Senate Press Release on ADA Amendments

The following is a press release from Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah who along with Senator Harkin of Iowa have sponsored a bi-partisan bill to overturn the Supreme Court's narrowing of the scope and application of the  ADA. Here is an un-annotated version of the pending bill. Download ada_restoration_bill.doc The bill has already passed the House. The reforms in the bill would also apply to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.  (Nod to Jess Butler of COPAA for making both the draft bill and press release available)

Majority of Due Process Cases Resolved Without Hearing

A recent study from CADRE, a federally-funded organization that studies and trains interested parties in dispute resolution in special education cases, found that 80% of due process cases that were filed resolved through mediation, resolution sessions or other informal means. State by state data on resolution of disputes is available here.

This report is totally consistent with my experiences and supports several of my long held beliefs and refutes myths about parents, their attorneys and the system:

• the prevailing wisdom in some circles is that money hungry attorneys are driving numerous cases to hearing to recover large sums from school districts. In the wake of recent court decisions (in most states), there is no fee-shifting when a case settles pre-hearing. The findings of this report flat out rebut any notion that fee hungry parents' attorneys are driving the system out of control;
• another popular view is that parents are unreasonable and file due process without a valid claim. The simple fact is that without a valid claim the majority of cases would not settle to the degree described in this report.  It is a fair inference that the vast majority of due process claims are valid with at least a colorable basis that lead the parties to settle;
• schools are being swamped and tied up in hours of unnecessary hearings. Obviously this belief is not founded since most cases are not even going to hearing.

The simple reality is that parents file due process in incredibly small numbers relative to the violations of the law that occur systematically and frequently. The reason for the small number of filings are numerous among them are a deep-seated need and desire to work with the school, limited personal resources which are already taxed when raising a child with special needs, and the enormous disparity of know-how and expertise that schools have relative to parents.   Schools need to stop complaining of parents' imaginary abuses of the due process system and stick to the facts.

Long Island, N.Y. Service Dog Case Finally Gets to Court

After quite some time the issue of the legality of the service dog a Long Island, N.Y. school district finally came to court before the Federal Court. The court heard  presentations of both sides and will make a ruling at a future date. From the news accounts it did not sound like either side took the high road in argumentation which unfortunately has been one of the hallmarks of this case.

Candidates Long on Rhetoric and Short on Details

Here is the latest summary from the candidates of their respective positions. They have sharpened their differences on vouchers (Obama-con and McCain-pro) but with precious little that relates to IDEIA or particulars on NCLB. The candidates could take a cue from some urban education leaders who are clearly calling for greater accountability under NCLB; no ambiguity there.

Teacher Reassigned For Revealing IDEIA Violations

I always give enormous credit to courageous teachers who take positions against their interests, in favor or children, even at risk of their jobs or job assignments. Here is a recent article regarding a Brooklyn teacher who was apparently reassigned  to the "rubber room" (a term of art in New York Public Schools) for speaking out against violations of IDEIA in her school.

Milwaukee Public Schools Strike Out Again

The common refrain is that schools are short on money largely because of the costs attributable to students with special needs. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin no school official can even remotely make this argument with a straight face. The school officials in Milwaukee applied for roughly $40,000 of the nearly $5.4 million available state-wide. Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin with a long history of not meeting students needs.  Its problems are systemic and long-standing.  Even in a time of great need, it left a lot of money on the table, that it would have received but for apparent administrative inaction or worse. Short on cash MPS,  do not blame the students with special needs just look in the mirror.