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How Does a Child With Autism End Up In Handcuffs?

By Theo Meranze It’s October of 2019, and in a Glendale Unified School District elementary school bathroom there’s an 8 year old girl in handcuffs. She is screaming. Her parents were unaware. The girl’s school principal, school psychologist and her two aides sit outside watching the police. They’re the ones who called the cops, and they aren’t doing anything to …

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Judge Orders School District to Overturn its Expulsion of a 12- Year-Old

Expulsions serve no deterrence for past behavior and instead contribute to the prison to school pipeline.  Today, our client, a 12 year old student, E.S., did not become another unfortunate statistic that faces young, intelligent black students with disabilities. On April 21, 2020, the Office of Administrative hearings found in favor of our client, who was wrongfully expelled for an alleged incident …

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Blocking Parent Experts from School Observation is Against the Law

In 2005, Long Beach Unified denied access to a private evaluator to observe a proposed placement for a student with Autism.  Bonnie Z. Yates took the matter before the California  Court of Appeals and won the seminal and often cited Benjamin G. case, that established the right of experts to observe prior to a due process hearing. Almost 14 years …

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Adulthood Transition: Graduation and Curriculum

By Diana Maltz, Esq What is the difference between a diploma and a certificate of completion? A high school diploma certifies that your child has met state and school mandated graduation requirements.  A certificate of completion certifies that your child has completed high school, but did not meet graduation requirements. Many students with IEPs receive certificates rather than diplomas.  This …

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Adulthood Transition: An Overview

By Diana Maltz, Esq What is adulthood transition?Adulthood transition is a process by which the school district prepares a student in special education for life after high school. If your child has an IEP and is 16 years old, the District must prepare an Individualized Transition Plan (ITP). When should transition planning begin?Transition planning can begin when your child is …

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The IEP: From the Document to the Classroom

JOIN ATTORNEY BONNIE YATES, this Sunday, September 16 • 4:00 – 6:00 PM Bonnie Yates, Esq. will lead attendees through a discussion on what is possible to accomplish in the IEP process, the steps you can take to ensure that your child’s IEP is implemented, and that the agreed upon accommodations are in place and being utilized in the classroom. Ms. …

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Free Speech Rights – Student Walkouts and School Discipline UPDATE

Law Offices of Hirji & Chau support the right of students to protest. In anticipation of the April 20 school walkouts in support of gun control, we are providing free legal advice to any student or parent that wants to know what their rights are before and/or after the walkout. Call us to schedule a time to speak with an attorney. …

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Free Speech Rights – Student Walkouts and School Discipline

Law Offices of Hirji & Chau support the right of students to protest. In anticipation of the March 14 school walkouts in support of gun control, we are providing free legal advice to any student or parent that wants to know what their rights are before and/or after the walkout. Call us to schedule a time to speak with an attorney. Here …

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Managing Attorney, Rosa Hirji, authored a chapter on the School to Prison Pipeline, in this new publication

Violence Against Children:                  Making Human Rights Real Purchase from Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Violence-Against-Children-Making-Rights/dp/1138563269/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1511390379&sr=8-4&keywords=violence+against+children This is what she writes: The school to prison pipeline describes an actual and metaphorical trajectory for Black, poor, and vulnerable children in the United States. Children who dealt with the double barriers of racial segregation in schools and unequal educational opportunities …