In June a court ordered Chicago Public Schools to provide Christopher Cruz a private placement for the coming school year, but September came and went with Cruz biding his time at home instead.
When the Chicago Tribune got involved, however, it took the school district just half a day to sort things out. But Cruz’s case illustrates the great lengths parents must go to secure appropriate special education services for their children, advocates say.
In Cruz’s case, it took two years of advocacy, a lawyer, a court order and ultimately a newspaper reporter to get the boy, 13, who has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorder, the services he needs.
Advocates say the situation is emblematic of a broken system whereby school districts prefer litigation over solutions. Admittedly, Cruz’s school district says they should have placed him sooner so that he could start the school year on time.
This week, Cruz started at a local private school and his mother says she’s already seen a change. For the first time in a long time, Cruz came out of school with a smile on his face, reports the Chicago Tribune. To read more click here.
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How ironic is the placement of this story in the same newsletter with “Duncan said he’s committed to working with state and local leaders to define “success” and close the achievement gap.” Since Duncan was CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Let’s hope Mr. Duncan, in his national position, is more that “talk.” Where was he on this case above!
What a surprise “… school districts prefer litigation over solutions.”. I have done well over 1,000 days of due process hearings in over a dozen states. Now parents are not allowed to have non-lawyer advocates assist them in due process hearings. Instead a parent is first to consider doing mediation which many school districts refuse to do as it is their chose. Then there is a 30 day delay for a meeting to try to resolve the issues where school staff threaten the parents they are going to sue them if they refuse to withdraw their request for a due process hearing. They tell parents they can’t go to hearing with out a lawyer. It is just a delay until you get into the undocumented pre-hearings with the administrative law judge/hearing officer who gets to pick and chose the issues of the hearing with the input of the school lawyer who makes the final decision on what will be the issues they pick for the hearing. Many parents are being denied due process hearings by motions school lawyers make during the undocumented pre-hearing where the administrative law judge/hearing officer makes rulings that the parent is not entitled to a due process hearing. The school will pay with taxpayers money for as many expert witness they can get even those who have never seen or evaluated the child. The parent if they win (only about a 15% chance nationwide)will never get reimbursement for any expert witness. I tell parents the chance of winning a due process hearing is slim, nil and never but if you don’t fight for your child no one else will. So to parents learn to do due process hearings and fight. There are more parents then school lawyers and school staff. Fight one issue at a time not many issues that they will refuse to let you have a hearing on. They deny you a hearing then appeal to Federal Court. If you can find a lawyer good luck there are a few great caring lawyers out there willing to help but don’t wait to find one. Get in there and fight. The school district does not expect you to do a due process hearing so go do it.