Litigating against A Homeless Autistic Child

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Laguna Beach School District litigates against homeless autistic child

March 22, 5:28 PM · 1 comment

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Imagine you have lost your house in a tragic fire. On coming back to salvage any possessions, you find a summons from the school district taped on your charred front door right next to the "condemned" sign.

Well that is exactly what happened to the Woo* family in Laguna Beach school district. Jana and Jeff Woo have 3 school age children, Pete and Suzy have learning disabilities and (age 12) has high functioning autism along with learning disabilities.

spent several years in a Special Day Class (SDC) that had resulted in a lot of emotional damage. Jana advocated to have him put in the regular classroom with his non-disabled peers as required by Federal law. Federal law requires that disabled children shall be educated with non-disabled peers to the maximum extent possible. was returned to the regular classroom with his peers and is doing very well. However, at the last IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting, the district insisted that they want to put back in the same self contained classroom that caused him so much anxiety. Jana and Jeff refused to sign the IEP. Unless the parents consent to the change in placement, the school district cannot switch 's placement without filing for due process. So that is what the Laguna Beach School District decided to do.

Tragically, the Woo's had a severe house fire last week and the school district decided to file against Woo the next day. The Woo's came back to their house trying to salvage any belongings that might have survived the fire. There, taped to the door, next to the condemned sign, was the summons from the school district lawyer.

Currently, the Woo's have managed to uncover some of 's assessments and case files. They took them to a storage facility to be restored as much as possible and dried out. Their computers, which contained a lot of evidence on the hard drives, may not be recoverable. They are waiting to see what will be salvaged.

After Jana got the summons, she called the special education director and explained the situation. The special education director said she would be willing to work with the Woo family. Jane then called the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) to ask about getting a continuance. OAH told Jana that the easiest way to accomplish this would be to have the "school sign off on a continuance". Jana spent 2 days stalking the suddenly elusive Special Education director for a signature to no avail. Finally, Jana got an email from the Special Education director stating that the district was NOT willing to agree to a continuance and Jana would have to pursue a continuance on her own. Also Jana would have to show "good cause". Since when is having your house burn down, losing your possessions and being homeless not "good cause"?

Jana tried getting help from the Superintendent. The Special Education director's secretary told Jana the Superintendent knew nothing about this.

Fortunately, the Woo's have homeowners insurance. Unfortunately, all their money is all tied up in trying to put back their lives together and cannot afford to hire an attorney.

The fire has been hard on . He lost everything he had, except a box of Lego's. Autistic children have huge problems in dealing with changes and the fire has been devastating for him. Now the school wants to put him back into a classroom that caused him great emotional damage.

Ironically, 's IEP is due in May. The Laguna Beach School District should be worrying about putting together a place for next year and not trying to change his placement for the remainder of the current year which is rapidly drawing to a close!

Now 's fate rests in the hands of the impersonal Office of Administrative Hearing (they rule against parents about 90% of the time), the cold heart of the Laguna Beach School District and the pricey legal firm of Rutan and Tucker. Rutan and Tucker have 31 total partners named "Super Lawyers of Southern California".

http://www.rutan.com/sitecontent.cfm?page=News%20AND%20Updates

Which highly compensated "super lawyer" will be taking on the homeless autistic child with his only box of Lego's?

Ironically, on March 28, 2008, the Laguna Beach Independent printed a feel good piece about how well Laguna Beach treats their high functioning autistic students.

http://www.lagunabeachindependent.com/news/2008/0321/front_page/001.html

In fact, the article states the following: "Assistant Superintendent Hubbell, and a former director of SELPA, said that the district's goals and objectives have always been "to serve our kids in our community."

"For that reason, Hubbell said, any disputes between parents and the district about an appropriate IEP for their child have been resolved without litigation, a claim reflected in a check of court filings. It's a position many public school districts cannot afford, finding themselves embroiled in legal battles over "appropriate education" for autistic children."

Note to Ms Hubbell... Can this school district only afford to fight or intimidate families that can't fight back?

Note to tax payers... Court filings do not represent those cases that are settled thru intimidation or mutual consent. Many parents, who are filed against, get scared and fold like a house of cards because they can not afford to fight back, much to the detriment of the children.

Schools don't have to fight fair under current laws. When a parent files due process against the school, they MUST meet with the district to make an attempt to settle the case. When the schools file against parents, they are NOT required to meet with the parents to work out a settlement prior to due process. Even if a parent goes to due process and wins, the school district is not required to reimburse them for their professionals (such as psychologist or a therapist) time to testify!

I wonder if this is how the taxpayers of Laguna Hills want their tax dollars spent?

* Names of the family have been changed.

To contact Ms Hubbell: nhubbell@... Let her know how you feel.

Jo Anne