LG's Special Education Blog

Once again, another school district, this time Fort Bend ISD has decided to flex their legal muscles and wage a protracted legal battle against a single mom with a child with disabilities. The Kelly Davis story was profiled again last Thursday evening by Greg Groogan on 8-7-08. When preparing to engage in protracted legal battles in the corporate world, the question is less about who is legally write or wrong, but how much is it going to cost to determine the victor. Essentially, Kelly Davis was requesting compensatory services for her child that amounted to a paltry $3700. FBISD responded by misrepresentations, and delaying tactics to deny her request. Ultimately, Kelly Davis had to file for due process with the Texas Education Agency to obtain justice. On Tuesday 8-12-08 at 9 am. unless this case settles, an open hearing will be conducted by the Texas Education Agency at Dulles High School 550 Dulles Ave in Sugar Land 77478 to determine who is right or wrong under the law. By the time the case is heard, I would estimate that the district will have spent 100K of the taxpayers dollar to fight this case.

Why is this happening? If you quiz school board members, my guess is that they will tell you that if the district does not fight back and go to hearing, then there will be an avalanche of similar claims from other special education parents. The fallacy with that argument is that there are ways to keep that from happening, such as demanding a clause in a settlement agreement that in essence keeps the agreement confidential. If seems as though board members never consider that alternative.

As stated in Greg's story Thursday night, if you are a taxpayer in Fort Bend, you should BE OUTRAGED! if you care about the high taxes that you are currently paying, here is a great example of waste that you have an opportunity to voice your concern about. if you do not speak up, then I guess you get what you deserve. However, if you do want to hold your elected officials accountable, I strongly urge you to call the board members today or Monday at the latest and let them know that this will be remembered come election day. If you do not know how to contact the board, their contact information is located on the Fort Bend ISD web site.

The US Supreme Court today in a 9-0 decision ruled that parents have a right to assert their child's rights in all levels of litigation including federal district court in a dispute regarding The Individual's with Disabilities Education Act.  Previously, appeals courts had ruled that the only way a parent could assert their child's right is through counsel.  For many this has been a cost prohibitive option.  While most parents may not have the expertise to wage a protracted legal battle, it has opened the door for parent's to challenge an unjust system.