With 2016 in full swing, this blog focuses on some of the results and achievements our office has secured for our clients throughout the 2015-2016 school year. Though this is not an exhaustive list of our achievements, it is more of a reflection of the hard work put in by our attorneys, advocates, staff, and clients toward pursuing remedies for the students and individuals we serve. Some of the results include:
- A settlement of $7,000 for a student who lost educational opportunities due to the district failing to appropriately implement his work skills program and transitional services before his exit from special education;
- An settlement of over $30,000 for a student who was subjected to exclusion and discrimination based on disability related behaviors;
- Over 150 hours of compensatory intense academic instruction for a special needs student who was subjected to over 3 years of inadequate substitute teachers and instruction, which caused a complete stall in his educational progress;
- Over 75 hours of compensatory mental health counseling services for a student whose new school district failed to provide him with mental health services as part of his IEP;
- Over 55 hours of compensatory assistive technology services for a student whose district failed to implement his services as indicated in his IEP for over 2 years;
- Numerous district funded independent evaluations (“IEEs”) ranging from transitional evaluations, psycho-educational evaluations, language and speech evaluations, occupational therapy evaluations, and educationally related mental health (ERMH) evaluations for students whose districts evaluations either failed to comply with the law or failed to be comprehensive in regard to identifying the student’s unique needs;
- District funding for a ten week, full time Linda Mood Bell reading program for a student whose district tried to rescind his inter-district permit due to finding him eligible for special education and related services;
- Reimbursement for services such as counseling, behavioral services, and academic services for parents who privately funded these services due to the district(s) failing to do so as part of the student’s educational program;
- Reimbursement to parents who privately funded school placements, when the district failed to offer their child an appropriate placement;
- Successfully defended against numerous frivolous and aggressive attempts by a school district to strike our lawsuit alleging that the district retaliated against our client (the lawsuit is still pending);
- Successfully defended against multiple motions to strike and/or motions for demurrers on our clients’ civil complaints;
We pride ourselves on maximizing results for our clients. Some of these results were obtained through resolution sessions and mediations, while others were obtained through either an informal resolution process, outside of mediation negotiations, or through a formal hearing. In a majority of these cases we were able to obtain for our clients a reimbursement of their attorney’s fees. We look forward to a successful 2016, in which we will continue to strive to obtain reasonable and fair results for our clients.