9486 in the collection
Klein ISD sues mom over evaluation request
Ohanian Comment: This is sad, frustrating, and much more complicated than just making the school district the bad guys. One of the most frustrating experiences in my teaching was fighting to get an out-of-house evaluation on a child--and succeeding. And then discovering what an empty victory it turned to be. Sometimes there are no good answers.
By Jennifer Radcliffe
Angela Harris acknowledges her relationship with the Klein school
district is tumultuous. She's been fighting for years to get extra help
for her 12-year-old son, who has special needs.
Still, she was stunned when she learned earlier this year that the
northwest Harris County district was suing her.
Rather than pay for the independent evaluation that Harris requested,
the district took her to "due process," a legal proceeding used to
resolve special-education disputes.
"It's a very uncomfortable situation and it is not a cost-efficient way
of doing things," said Harris, whose son, Marshall, was born with a
type of brain injury called periventricular leukomalacia "Klein has
abused their authority to oversee tax dollars."
District spokeswoman Liz Johnson said the matter cost about $20,000 to
$25,000 in legal fees. On top of that, the state spent roughly $13,000
to provide a judge and court reporter for the two-day proceeding, Texas
Education Agency officials said.
A lawyer for the district estimated that it would cost a fraction of
that — between $500 to $1,500 — to perform the test the mother
requested.
While these cases are rare — 23 of last year's 341 due process hearings
in Texas were filed by school districts — parents and advocates fear
that districts may increasingly opt to take parents to court to
intimidate them, and others, from insisting on the services they
believe their children need.
Feeling overmatched
It's another frustrating roadblock for parents of Texas' estimated
500,000 special-education students, said Louis Geigerman, a
Houston-area advocate for special-education students. Parents in such
situations, he said, often find themselves overmatched by school
districts' high-priced attorneys.
"They would rather litigate than provide services. That's the theme,"
Geigerman said. "They need to look at a cost-benefit analysis when they
want to litigate, for $20,000 or $40,000, something that would cost
less than $5,000."
Jeff Rogers, a partner with Feldman & Rogers, the law firm representing
Klein in this case, argued that the real issue is what's best for
Marshall Harris.
While Rogers and Klein school officials couldn't discuss details of
Harris' case, they questioned whether it was beneficial for a child to
undergo more than 20 tests over six years. The district already had
conducted several tests on the boy and concluded that its employees
were qualified to decipher the results, Rogers said.
"Sometimes a line has to be drawn in the sand over what the
professionals believe is best for the student," he said.
After Harris received notice that her school district was suing her,
she withdrew her request for the test, deciding she'd rather pay for it
herself than pay for attorney fees.
She asked district officials to drop the case, but they refused,
leaving her to represent herself. Feeling overwhelmed, she said, she
sought legal advice from area nonprofit and advocacy groups. She was
frustrated to find that no one could help her.
Harris learned last week that Klein won its case.
In the ruling, hearing officer Sharon Ramage wrote: "It would appear
... that the district agreed to an excessive number of evaluations at
the request of the parent."
Still, the ruling doesn't stop Harris from asking that the district
test her son regarding other issues, which Geigerman says makes Klein's
legal challenge seem even more wasteful.
Extra tutoring
Harris' troubles with the district started when her son brought home
straight F's in the first grade. Despite her pleas, she said, the
district was slow to offer extra help.
After Harris filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency, Klein
was ordered to provide Marshall more than 50 hours of extra tutoring
for writing. He is still struggling in class and on the Texas
Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, however, which prompted Harris to
request another round of tests.
"The law tells you you're entitled to different things, but no one
tells you what to do when it doesn't happen," Harris said. "I never
thought advocacy could end me up in due process."
While federal law entitles parents to independent educational
evaluations, often at public expense, districts can challenge requests
in due-process hearings. Klein filed its case to establish that its
in-house evaluations were adequate.
"In the strict economic sense, it's usually more economical to simply
grant the (evaluation) request, which is why the overwhelming majority
of these are approved," Rogers said. "I know, from an objective point
of view, it seems heavy-handed at times. But once you become more
informed about the totality of it, it becomes a lot more balanced than
it might appear."
— Jennifer Radcliffe
Houston Chronicle
2007-09-17
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5139670.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
