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check out this article in yesterday’s Herald Sun newspaper.
I don’t understand why the communciation between parents and schools has to be so darn difficult. Seriously, if someone emails or calls to discuss their child, why not just call or email them back…or at least acknowldge that you received a message. Is it that hard to do????
Nothing to report on with regards to the case. Waiting for something to happen…waiting is all we do these days.
There are a lot of other things on my mind, however. ARRA $ is just one of them.
Does any one know how the $1.4 million in federal ARRA funds designated for IDEA PartB that Orange County has received have been allocated? What about the money allocatd to Durham? CHCS? Wake? Just curious.
So I know that I’ve already filled you in about the School’s attempt to appeal their appeal and the subsequent denial of that motion AND I’ve already filled you in on the fact that we have filed in federal court. But in case you’re in need of a good summary of these events you may want to check out this article from today’s News of Orange County.
Hey, so we found out some rather interesting news yesterday that I can’t yet share with you…still not sure if it’s good news or bad news or if it’s doesn’t- make-much-of-a-difference news….but I’ll tell you soon, I promise.
The latest action by the Board of Education’s attorneys left us with few options. Today we took the next step and filed a complaint in District Court.
The complaint, as filed, can be found here.
Not much more to say then what the title suggests.
Here’s what the State Review Officer had to say about the Board’s motion to amend the SRO’s decision:
Still not sure what they were thinking…anyone got a theory???
So I think the big question around here is whether or not this case will find its way into federal court. It was never our intention, and definitely not our desire, to have the case get to this point, but after the latest filing made by the school’s attorneys we feel as though we are left with no choice but to file a complaint in district court.
Honestly, after the State Review Officer’s decision came back, even with all of its errors and its dilution of the strength of Judge Lassiter’s original decision, because we were still the prevailing party, it wasn’t really on our radar to appeal. We were hoping that we would be able to start discussions with the School district regarding settleing this matter. That was all shattered to bits, and without warning, I may add, when the school filed a motion with the same State Review Officer asking him to amend his decision and find that they did nothing wrong. There are so many things wrong with this move on their part, primarily that such a motion is essentially an appeal of their appeal and while I’m not a lawyer, in cases such as these, I don’t believe that is allowed. Secondly, they did not inform our side that they were even going to file such a motion before doing it. Is it me or is that just in bad taste? I’ve included both motions – theirs and ours — under court documents but will post them below as well.
O.M.M Response to Motion to Amend
Next up….complaint to be filed with district court.
Check out the latest article that was published in today’s edition of The News of Orange County. I know that I haven’t give many details on the most recent decision made by the State Review Officer, aside from publishing the decision on this blog under “court documents”, but this article should shed some light on that matter.
Also, right around the time the reporter called to talk about the article and see if there was anything I wanted to say and to find out whether or not we made a decision to appeal (which we have not decided on yet, in case you’re wondering), she forwarded me an email that was sent to her from the School District’s lawyer that included the District’s most recent press release. (OCPS Press Release-August 20, 2009). I can’t even begin to describe what is written in this document and the rather creative analysis of the review officer’s decision — you have to just read it to believe that they actually released it, cause I’m still scratching my head in confusion about this one.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering what the status of Owen’s IEP is and what’s going on with him actually starting school….the IEP is done, Owen starts preschool in a regular pre-K class at Central Elementary on Sept 4th and we will start transitioning him into the school environment next Monday. I’m contemplating actually posting his current IEP for anyone intersted but I’m not sure yet….anyone interested???
I would like to say that this is all coming to and end but until the legal proceedings are over I’m not sure when I’ll be able to say that.
Owen is home again. This would be day # 2 where services are not being provided to a child whose IEP is dated to start on 8/25/09.
At least we have an IEP mtg at 9am. I’ll let you know how that goes later on.
Excuse the absence but I’m currently away trying to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Some day soon I’ll tell you about them, my parents that is, and their own struggle to secure an appropriate education for my twin brother. But for now, let me fill you in on what’s going on with our case….
First off, today, as it had been expected,the News of Orange County included another article in its weekly paper about our case, specifically on the appeal. The article can be found in its entirety here: http://www.aconews.com/articles.2009/0/8/19/noc/news/news13.txt
Now, unexpectedly, we received the State’s Review Officer’s judgement on the appeal. I say unexpected because we didn’t think it would be in until tomorrow. Now, keeping in line with my policy on this blog, I’ve posted the decision on the Court Documents page. (It’s the last document listed.) As far as what the decision says….I’ve only read through it once, and rather quickly at that, so while there are a number of changes and some additions, I need to read it a whole lot more carefully before commenting on. But in short, we are still the prevailing party and the the private placement we provided was appropriate. What this all means is still unclear to me as it was the first time around.
I’d feel a while lot better if we had an IEP in place for Owen and that I knew what he’d be doing come Tuesday when school starts. But unfortunately that whole process has seemed to have stalled and I fear we will be in the same position as we were last year when we didn’t have anything in place come the beginning of the school year. Nothing like trying to start the school year off on the right foot.
Stay tuned as I’m sure they’ll be interesting commentary to come.
edited to add: I have now included a direct link to the SRO’s decision in the above post. I would have done it earlier if I had regular access to the Internet. But now, since I’m back home, I figure it would help some of you out — like my mother — who may have a hard time finding the document
Keeping in line with what I started by posting the original hearing documents under “court documents” I’ve now included the documents related to the appeal.
I’ve also posted them here, the last two of which where submitted yesterday:
Notice of Appeal – from OCPS
Request for Written Arguments – from the review officer
The school’s written argument against Judge Lassiter’s decision
Educating Owen: one mother's very special education 
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