School District Strikes Back After Mother Requests Due Process 22 Times

A Pennsylvania school district is suing the mother of two gifted students after she requested due process 22 times in the last eight years.

The school district contends that Diane Zhou is merely trying to “drive up costs” so high that it would be cheaper for the district to pay for a private school for her children.

The move by the Bethlehem Area School District is part of a growing trend districts are employing to limit attorney fees.

Among the requests Zhou allegedly made are that the school district provide a Mandarin interpreter for her children at their individualized education plan (IEP) meetings.

The suit further alleges that Zhou told a state mediator that she was “engaging in due process procedures to drive up costs for the district so that the district would agree to pay” for a private placement, reports The (Allentown, Penn.) Morning Call.